ABSTRACT
Chapter two provides a detailed historical analysis of the rise of the education revolution and key developments since. I begin by examining how the federal Australian Labor Party crafted the education revolution agenda in the lead up to the 2007 election and the national reforms that emerged following its victory. Labor developed an all-encompassing national agenda that rearticulated schooling as a national policy problem in need of national reform in the Australian federation. The education revolution was primarily justified as an economic revolution, with attempts to align, nationalise and standardise policies and processes seen as central to fostering productivity. Equity was a core part of this agenda but framed as primarily important for ensuring human capital was not wasted. I then consider developments in the latter half of federal Labor's tenure, up to its election loss to the Coalition government in 2013. During this period, the political landscape shifted and there was an initial proliferation of rhetoric that suggested the Coalition might significantly alter or walk away from core elements of the reforms established under Labor. However, the education revolution reforms proved resilient, and as time progressed it became clear that the Coalition was equally committed to strengthening and expanding the national agenda. The final sections of the chapter analyse subsequent developments under the Coalition. As the nation enters the 2020s, the power and allure of alignment thinking persists under a federal government strongly committed to national policies and practices based on evidence that ostensibly tells us ‘what works'.
