ABSTRACT
This chapter explores, the national education narrative constructed by successive Australian federal governments. The narratives of the Whitlam Labour Government, Hawke Labour Government and the Howard Liberal-National Government together created the political context for the 'education revolution' of the Rudd/Gillard Labour Governments. When it looks at the 'education revolution', in evidence are residues of previous policies of both Labour and Liberal-National governments, as well as traces of international policies, namely from the United Kingdom and the United States. Ewans commented on a recurring theme in Australian educational politics which still continues today and reflects global concerns. In this theme, the so-called 'Captains of Educational Consciousness' that is, the key senior policy-makers constantly fear that education is not sufficiently responsive to the changing global economic situation. Teachers' unions threatened strike action in 2010 against the introduction of National Assessment Program: Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN) and the use of the NAPLAN results to rank schools on the My School website.
