The authors draw on some powerful practitioner research they have been associated with recently to envision ways in which a national curriculum might redress the inequities experienced by Australia's most disadvantaged young people.

This paper reports on a work in progress, a critical-historical study which considers two issues: (1) the nature and scope of the English curriculum in primary and secondary schools in South Australia from the 1920s to the 1950s; and (2) the role of schooling in shaping young people as future citizens for a nation in a time of great change. The…

Explores the largely unexamined years of English teaching between the 1910s and 1960s in Australia in order to supplement available forms of English curriculum history. Contends that an examination of teacher training curriculum and materials for this period would provide a useful way of further investigating the kind of English…