National assessment of civic and citizenship education outcomes in Australia : the impact of the IEA civic education study on Australian policy and practice in civic and citizenship education

The paper posits that the knowledge gained from Australia's participation in the International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement (IEA) Civic Education Study has been instructive and influential in facilitating and shaping significant developments in Civics and Citizenship Education (CCE) in Australia. The first part focuses on an analysis of the conceptual model and item types used in the IEA Civic Education Study, and comment on how these impacted on the kinds of findings reported in CivEd reports. The second part focuses on the key Australian findings derived from secondary analysis of the national data in the IEA Civic Education Study, and the response from interested parties in Australian to those findings. The third part describes and canvasses issues associated with the National Sample Assessment, to be undertaken in Australian schools across all jurisdictions in 2004. Comparisons of CivEd instrumentation with National Assessment trial instrumentation and data demonstrate the extensions that have been developed. Fourthly, the initial impact of the national assessment policy on school and teacher activity is briefly examined. The Australian teacher and school data in the IEA Civic Education Study, and the findings associated with these, indicate a conflict between intent and capacity in Australian jurisdictions to deliver the CCE learning outcomes they espouse. Discussion of this dynamic policy development in CCE in Australia will conclude what is only a beginning conversation for systems and practitioners in Australia. The ways in which dominant studies such as those with the IEA can contribute to educational policy in general is canvassed. In 'Proceedings of the IRC-2004 Conference, volume 4, CivEd-SITES' edited by C Papanastasiou, pages 20-39. Nicosia Cyprus : University of Cyprus