Moving towards Technology Education: Factors That Facilitated Teachers’ Implementation of a Technology Curriculum

Australia has a National Technology Statement (Curriculum Corporation, 1994) that specifies the content and process of technology studies in schools. However, as in the United States, the implementation of curricula is a state responsibility. In the state of Queensland the implementation has been a very gradual process with schools having the option of adopting new curricula on a school-by-school basis or waiting until implementation becomes mandatory in 2007. The introduction of school-based management has augmented the localization of decision-making about curricula. Decisions about curricula in resource intensive areas such as technology education tend to reflect local priorities. As a consequence, the technology curriculum in many schools reflects a pre-1980’s industrial training orientation (Warner, 2001).