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studies, civics or History, this report garnered widespread support. For example, Kevin
Donnelly, otherwise a critic of MacIntyre wrote this of the report:
Anyone interested in the Australian education scene, in particular the school sector,
will find much of value in the report. The report acknowledges the mistakes in
educational practice and theory over the last 25 years and, while I do not agree with
all its recommendations, the report offers a valuable starting point for the debate
about what we need to teach our young about civics and citizenship education.
(1996/1997, p. 21)
An outcome of the research that informed the report was an identified deficit in civics and
citizenship knowledge and understanding, with the report stating “...there is a low level of
understanding across the community about Australia’s system of government and its
origins...” (Civics Expert Group, 1994, p. 12). The report then made the following
recommendations for what would need to be done to ensure an effective level of civics
knowledge about Australia’s government:
• the basic liberal democratic values that sustain our system of government and
enrich its operation
• not just formal knowledge of the system of government but appreciation of
how it works in practice and how the operations of government affect citizens
• the role of non-government organisations as well as government agencies in
public affairs
• the rich diversity of Australian society, the ways in which the different sections
of the society are able to live together, and the principles that enable them to do so
with tolerance and acceptance
• what it means to act as a citizen – the rights and responsibilities of citizens and
the opportunities for exercising them. (Civics Expert Group, 1994, p. 7)
The impact of this report in developing a knowledge base of civics and citizenship education
in schools, both at the time of its release and in the years following, is significant. This
occurred, arguably most visibally, through a set of classroom resources, Discovering
Democracy, developed as a result of the report and distributed to all Australian schools.
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