This volume is part of a series of monographs from Australia devoted to outlining an alternative approach, based on neo-Marxist concepts, to educational administration. The introductory essay considers the way in which those making decisions about school curricula are influenced by their administrative and social context. The first part of the essay develops a sociological model of curricular decisionmaking which is then used to analyze the way in which individual teachers, schools, and policymakers make decisions about instructional content, pedagogy, and evaluation. Examples are then presented of teacher-based, school-based, and externally based curricular decisions to illustrate the systemic influences upon, and effects of, these decisions. The next section examines the position of agents of curricular respectability at the national/regional level, and also the curricular influence of universities, teachers' unions, and the economy. Four readings by separate authors follow: (1) "The Limits of Curricular Experience: An Analysis of Experience and Possibility," by Peter W. Musgrave; (2) "Secondary Education for All: The Evolution of Policy and Practice in Victorian Secondary Schools, 1968-1978," by Shiela Spear; (3) "After Bureaucracy What?: An Australian Case Study," by Alan Rice; and (4) "Dangerous Knowledge: A Case Study in the Social Control of Knowledge," by Ken Johnston. An annotated bibliography is included. (TE)