Policy (re)cycling in education, the arts and culture

The paper presents an historical account of the development of Educational, Arts and Cultural Policy in Australia from 1975 to the present day. Policies evolve and develop over time and are directed by government, agency and community priorities. The development of national policies in the form of a national curriculum in Education will be considered, alongside the development of a national cultural policy. Developments in these policy areas have been marked by changes in the national and state governments with differing ideological perspectives and priorities. Over this period there have been significant tensions regarding the development of national policies with implementation responsibilities at various levels of government. Through the consideration of the policy developments will be an articulation of the place of music and in particular music education at various levels. The paper will provide observations and reflections on developments, applications and implementations, changes and learnings in an evolving policy landscape.