National Curriculum frameworks are now in place in both England and Wales and Australia. Those in England and Wales are seen as prescriptive and rigid, whereas those in Australia are more flexible. Based on case study research as part of the OECD's Innovations in Science, Maths and Technology Education Project, the authors found that the Australian model of national frameworks with localized interpretation and implementation has worked well. Even though Ministers of Education might equate curriculum with content, the authors found that teachers had a much broader view of curriculum and saw it not only as content, but also as including professional development, pedagogy and student-teacher relationships. Consequently, as a result of adapting the National Curriculum to suit the local context of the school, teachers were changing their pedagogical practices. The data indicate that overprescription with national curricula at the system level should not be attempted and, instead, a more flexible implementation at the local level will result in continuity in curriculum across states, systems, schools and grades, but with a contextualized focus.

This article describes the formation of The Tasmanian Historical Dataset a longitudinal data resource spanning the 19th and early 20th century. This resource contains over 1.6 million records drawn from digitised prison and hospital admission registers, military enlistment papers, births, deaths and marriages, census and muster records, arrival and departure lists, bank accounts and property valuations, maps and plans and meteorological observations. As well as providing an account of the many different sources that have been digitised coded and linked as part of this initiative, the article outlines current and past research uses to which this data has been put. Further information on tables and key variables is provided in an appendix.