Shaping Australian Policy on Cultural Understandings: Alternative Approaches to Inclusive Education

Abstract

This paper examines Australian national policy documents that have brought together developments in competency-based education and inclusive curriculum in the formulation of a Key Competency concerned with cultural understandings. Particular attention is given to the definitions of culture and workplace culture, the choice of contexts for the display of cultural understandings as a competency, and the proposed evaluative frameworks. The paper also shows how the documents are variously consonant with the emphases of critical and liberal approaches to culturally inclusive curriculum practice. Finally, consideration is given to the ongoing uncertainty surrounding the cultural understandings competency.