School size and curriculum provision in Years 11 and 12

Do large secondary schools provide more comprehensive curricula in Years 11 and 12 than small schools? Is there an enrolment point beyond which the curriculum advantages of size are no longer evident? This paper examines these questions by drawing on preliminary results from a study of curriculum provision and resource use that is being conducted in conjunction with the University of New England. The study, which was funded by the Australian Research Council (ARC), uses data on the operations of four Australian government school systems in 1990. This particular paper focuses on Victorian schools. The paper has four main sections: a brief overview of the connections between school size and curriculum provision; the methodology for analysing curriculum provision; a summary of the data used in this study; and a discussion of the results.