A Situational Model of Curriculum Implementation

This chapter introduces a new conceptual model for understanding curriculum implementation in Australian transnational vocational education, focusing on how teachers balance the needs of transnational students with national curricular mandates. It offers an alternative to a standardised approach to curriculum implementation, revealing the dynamic transformations that occur when curricula are enacted in countries for which they were not designed. Informed by previous discussions and a synthesis of the findings, the model emphasises a teacher-centric perspective, highlighting their role as mediators between a “top-down” curriculum and “bottom-up” situational pressures. Teachers engage in three distinct phases: (a) assessment, (b) deliberation, and (c) curriculum remaking. They recontextualised their ideas of curriculum quality when they realised that the curriculum was impracticable, irrelevant, and unenforceable to varying extents. Consequently, teachers became curriculum-makers by remaking the curriculum to increase its relevance, learnability, and attainability. These findings highlight the necessity of situational analysis, deliberation and ongoing development of Australian vocational curricula to ensure alignment in implementation with the diverse needs and interests of students and sponsors across transnational contexts.