Curricular justice and contemporary education: Policy learning from Australia and the United Kingdom

Abstract In a time of increasing global volatility, uncertainty, complexity and ambiguity, it is timely to consider the role of curricular justice in helping to prepare young people for a world of significant upheaval, difficult challenges and cascading socioeconomic, political and environmental crises. For this special issue, authors working in Australian and different UK contexts were invited to respond to the concept of curricular justice in contemporary schooling, in an attempt to engage in policy learning rather than policy borrowing across different national and international education contexts. The papers in this special issue provide diverse perspectives on curriculum making in Australia, Scotland and England, which draw on a range of methodological and empirical approaches. In doing so, the special issue provides important lessons for schools and other education contexts that seek to engage in more socially just curriculum policies and practices. In this editorial introduction to the special issue, we argue that a commitment to curricular justice across diverse educational contexts is essential to help young people face the complex challenges ahead.