ABSTRACT
Chapter one introduces the aim of the book and provides historical, theoretical and methodological foundations for the chapters that follow. I begin by considering how schooling policy and governance processes have historically been arranged in the Australian federation and how the federal government's landmark suite of ‘education revolution’ reforms sought to disrupt existing norms and arrangements. Following this, I outline my theory of policy alignment and consider how the aims of alignment interact and often grate uncomfortably with the principles and constitutional division of labour underpinning the governance of schooling in the Australian federation. I then introduce the methodological and analytical approach informing the book, with a focus on interpretive policy analysis and ‘policy assemblage’. I finish by providing a succinct overview of the argumentative structure of the chapters to follow.
