Examining Relations of Power in a Process of Curriculum Change: The Case of VCE Physics

Through interviews with members of the setting panel, this paper probes the process of setting the first external test for the VCE Physics course when it was implemented in 1992. The development of the course itself had been highly contested, but the contest was enacted largely outside the structures set up for formal negotiation between interested parties. Consequently the process was obscure, and the issues never clearly articulated. However, the outcome was that the course was much closer to a traditional course in physics than had originally seemed likely. The test setting panel provided a microcosm in which the contest that had shaped the development of the course was replayed. In the deliberations of the panel, certain discursive mechanisms can be identified as having operated to ensure that particular decisions became inevitable. Once identified in the deliberations of the test panel, similar mechanisms can be discerned during the process of devising the course itself. Some implications are noted for future efforts to reform curriculum and assessment in physics, and for current classroom practice.