Resistance, reinvention and reform: lessons about curriculum change and teachers' work

Confronting the field of educational change are pivotal challenges about who controls the curriculum of the future and the work of teachers. Curriculum has been variously defined as a teacher determined course and one which is jointly constructed by students and teachers. Increasing contestation about curriculum innovation from policymakers, teachers and the community influences teachers’ work, pedagogy, and emergent professionalism. This paper shows how curriculum contestation in New South Wales (NSW) leads to History teachers’ resistance, reinvention and reform. It reports the key results from a survey of 238 History teachers about their responses to the 2000-2001 NSW Higher School Certificate.