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

Sep 18, 2026

This paper argues that knowledge gained from Australia’s participation in the IEA Civic Education Study significantly shaped developments in Civics and Citizenship Education (CCE) through policy changes affecting assessment, curriculum, and pedagogy. It analyzes the study’s conceptual model and item types, reviews national findings from secondary national data and stakeholder responses, and considers issues for a 2004 National Sample Assessment across jurisdictions. It concludes with evidence of a mismatch between policy intent and delivery capacity.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages20

Reading Time50 min

AccessFree to download

Abstract

Background

The State of Australian CCE at the Time of the CivEd Study

Australian Participation in IEA Studies

National Sample Assessment and Policy Impact

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 Suzanne Mellor Australian Council for Education Research, Australia Abstract The paper will posit that the knowledge gained from AustraliaÕs participation in the 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 will focus of 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 will focus 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 will describe and canvass 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 will demonstrate the extensions that have been developed. Fourthly, the initial impact of the national assessment policy on school and teacher activity will be 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 will be canvassed. BACKGROUND The importance and impact of IEA studies is not confined to the location and analysis of national and international data on student achievement. This paper will hypothesise that the knowledge gained from Australia's participation in the IEA Civic Education Study has been instructive and influential in facilitating and shaping the significant developments in Civics and Citizenship Education (CCE) in Australia since the study began, and especially since the publication of the National Australian report (Mellor et al., 2002) . These developments include policy changes in assessment, and thus curriculum and pedagogy, in Australia. The first part of the paper will focus on an analysis of the role of the conceptual model and item types used in the IEA Civic Education Study, and how these impacted on the kinds of findings to be reported in the national and international CivEd reports. The second part of the paper focuses on the National Sample Assessment. The State of Australian CCE at the time of the CivEd Study The IEA Civic Education Study took place in Australia from 1996-2002 against a background of national questioning of civic institutions. The Federal Government's commissioned report: Whereas the People... was published in 1994. At its commencement, there was an active debate about Australia's constitution and the British connection amongst citizens and particularly amongst political leaders. The debate surrounding the republic referendum, and preparations being made to celebrate the centenary of Federation due in 2001, were part of the political context for civic education being given a profile in the school curriculum documentation in the late 1990s. The Australian context for the CivEd study additionally included civic education just becoming a policy priority for government. Successive Australian governments in the 1990s had provided powerful impetus for the introduction of formal civic education in Australian schools. In 1997 the Federal government initiated a largescale curriculum development exercis

FAQs

What impact does the paper attribute to Australia’s participation in the IEA Civic Education Study?

It credits participation with informing and influencing major developments in CCE in Australia, particularly through policy changes in assessment that affected curriculum and pedagogy.

How does the paper analyze the IEA CivEd study’s design?

It focuses on the conceptual model and item types, and explains how these shaped the kinds of findings reported in national and international CivEd reports.

What issue does the paper identify regarding implementing CCE?

The teacher and school data suggest a conflict between intent and capacity in Australian jurisdictions to deliver the CCE learning outcomes they endorse.

Sep 18, 2026

Uploaded by Ben Jamin