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One newspaper’s role in the demise of the Tasmanian Essential Learnings Curriculum: Adding new understandings to Cohen’s moral panic theory in analyzing curriculum change

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Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to analyze the role of print media in the development of systemwide curriculum change. Consideration is given to the nature and influence of newspapers on public opinion about curriculum change through the examination of the role of the Mercury in one period in the history of Tasmanian curriculum change. The application of Cohen’s (Folk devils and moral panics: The creation of the mods and rockers (3rd ed.), London: Routledge, 2002) work on moral panics in influencing public opinion is utilized as a theoretical framework.

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Notes

  1. For an overall history of the Mercury’s reporting on ELs, see Chap. 4 in Mulford and Edmunds (2010).

  2. Historically, Tasmanian students have always fared poorly in national comparisons of literacy and numeracy attainment. Demographically, Tasmania is an aging population with young families drifting to the mainland for employment opportunities and older people moving to the island for retirement. It is also the most regional and least urbanized of Australian states and territories. During the years of the ELs, the Department of Education published an annual Literacy and Numeracy Plan for Schools outlining the state’s progress in literacy and numeracy achievement with explanations of demographic trends (see http://www.education.tas.gov.au/annualreport/04-05/pre-compulsory/initiatives/achievement).

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  1. School of Education, Charles Darwin University, Darwin, NT, Australia

    Grant Rodwell

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Correspondence to Grant Rodwell.

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Rodwell, G. One newspaper’s role in the demise of the Tasmanian Essential Learnings Curriculum: Adding new understandings to Cohen’s moral panic theory in analyzing curriculum change. J Educ Change 12, 441–456 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10833-011-9163-0

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