1 SCHOOL SIZE, SCHOOL ORGANISATION, AND DIVERSITY IN THE YEAR 11 AND 12 CURRICULUM Gerald R Elsworth Centre for Program Evaluation Institute of Education, The University of Melbourne Presented at the Annual Conference of the Australian Association for Research in Education, Freemantle, November, 1993 Introduction Pursuit of the goal of a comprehensive curriculum has, until recently, been the single stated purpose of the reorganisation of secondary schools in Victoria (Ministry of Education, Victoria, 1989). Since the election of the Kennett coalition government in October, 1992 economic arguments have also become salient in the policy statements (A Quality Provision Framework for Victorian Schools, Directorate of School Education, 1993) and a new urgency has dominated the reorganisation processes, but the basic goals of the policy have remained the same. A central assumption of the reorganisation discourse has been that larger secondary schools make possible the diverse curriculum that is necessary to ensure equitable opportunities and outcomes for the considerably increased numbers of students who are now continuing to the two final years of schooling. In its revised version the discourse also embraces the proposition that larger schools are less expensive to operate, equity is linked with efficiency and thereby 'captured' by the economic rationalist conception of 'Quality Provision'. The present phase of reorganisation of Victorian secondary schools commenced during the mid-1980s (Directorate of School Education, 1992). In response to concern about rapidly declining enrolments in some schools and the effect of this decline on curriculum provision a strategy was prepared for one of the large Melbourne metropolitan school regions. The proposal involved devolution of planning for reorganisation to the 'district level' through the formation of Local Planning Committees. A Ministerial Task Force was convened in 1985 to develop a State-wide industrial relations policy to support school reorganisation and a Structures Working Party was established in 1986 to advise on a range of acceptable organisational patterns for schools. The work of these groups was consolidated later into an ongoing representative School Reorganisation Advisory Group. A important policy statement (Comprehensive Curriculum Provision Within a District: School Reorganisation, generally known as the 'District Provision Policy') was published in 1989 and followed by supporting materials (Ministry of Education and Training, Victoria, 1989, 1991). The District Provision Policy mandated a consultative curriculum review process. If a curriculum audit revealed that individual schools could not expect to offer a comprehensive curriculum with present and projected enrolments they were required to negotiate and develop a proposal for reorganisation within their district. Acceptable organisational models for secondary schooling which led to the development of a group of 'reorganised secondary colleges' included Year 7 - 12 schools, multi-campus Year 7 - 12 secondary colleges consisting of one or more junior campuses (normally years 7 - 10) and a senior campus (normally Years 11 - 12), Year P - 12 colleges (single or multi-campus) and co-operating clusters of Years 7 - 12 secondary schools (approved for remote areas only) (Directorate of School Education, 1992).1 A further possible model for reorganisation is that involving autonomous Year 7 - 10 schools in association with one or more autonomous Year 11 - 12 schools. In the mid-1970s an autonomous Senior Secondary College had been established in a Victorian regional city but this model was opposed for the District Provision Policy by the teacher unions and was not used in the 1986 - 1992 period. From approximately 1910 the government secondary education system in Victoria had been based on two types of schools. High schools, higher elementary schools and continuation schools offered an academic curriculum to selected students and provided tracks into teacher education and the university (Ministerial Review of Postcompulsory Schooling, 1985). In contrast the technical schools and others offered a practically oriented curriculum with a possible track into the technical institutes and later, through the Year 12 'Tertiary Orientation Program', to the universities. A formal move towards comprehensive schooling in Victoria commenced in 1983. From that year all new secondary schools were designed as 'post-primary' schools to offer both academic and practical curricula along with a small number of pre-existing 'high-technical' and 'technical-high' schools. The District Provision Policy and the school reorganisation which commenced in 1986 therefore might be seen as a second phase in the development of comprehensive secondary schools in Victoria, commencing implementation of one of the recommendations of the 1985 'Blackburn Report' that the activities and programs of neighbouring high and technical schools (be integrated) under a single council from 1 January 1987 .... and that by January 1988 all schools become comprehensive rather than being designated, equipped or staffed as technical or high schools (Ministerial Review of Post-compulsory Schooling, 1985, p 51). Concurrently with school reorganisation, an integrated Year 11 and 12 curriculum leading to a single certificate (the Victorian Certificate of Education (VCE) - also recommended by the Blackburn Report) was being planned to replace the diversity of academic and alternative curricula that had existed previously. Following a staged implementation, the first cohort of students completed a full Year 11 and 12 VCE course of study in 1992. The concept of a comprehensive curriculum for Years 11 and 12 was closely linked to the VCE. In the postcompulsory years, a comprehensive curriculum is one in which individual students within a district are able at least to gain access to VCE programs in each of the following five broad areas: Arts, Business, Humanities, Mathematics/Science and Technology. In this case, a program is defined as being at least 12 related units of study that build a coherent program of studies within one of the five broad areas. Further, students will need to satisfy the requirements relating to common studies (4 units of English and 2 units of Australian Studies) and studies mandated for breadth (2 units of Arts/Humanities and 4 units of Mathematics/Science/Technology). In stating this minimum provision, it is understood that, within these five broad areas, the goal would be for each student to have access to at least two mathematics units at semesters 3 and 4 level, and by 1995 be able to study two units of two VCE languages other than English (Ministry of Education, 1989). In subsequent supporting materials this statement was taken to mean that the immediate District Provision target for a comprehensive curriculum at Years 11 and 12 was that students should be able to have access to a minimum of six Year 11 and six Year 12 semester-long units in each of the Arts, Business, Humanities, Science (excluding Mathematics) and Technology fields, and, within the Humanities, to have access at each year level to four units outside the Physical Education/ Home Science group. The Victorian Curriculum Advisory Board (VCAB) additionally specified that 4 units of English were compulsory for each student (along with the mandated studies for breadth) although the requirement for obligatory Australian Studies was subsequently dropped. The absence of a specific policy for Mathematics may be related to knowledge that, by the mid-1980s, over 90 percent of Victorian students were studying Mathematics at Year 11 (Taylor, 1987). Within the context of the renewed debate on the perceived advantages of larger schools, some recent studies in Australia and the United States have examined in detail the relationship between high school size and the extensiveness of the curriculum offered (see, for example, Monk, 1987; Haller et al, 1990; McKenzie, 1992; Monk and Haller, 1993). These studies have described a positive relationship between school size and the breadth of the curriculum both across and, in aggregate, within major groupings of subjects, possibly attenuating as higher enrolment levels are reached. Monk and Haller (1993) have, however, questioned the generality of this relationship across curriculum fields, arguing that a number of 'supply side' and contextual factors will influence the extent to which growth is achieved within particular clusters of subjects. The factors discussed included, on the supply side, differences in the availability of teachers, the levels of specialisation within various subject fields available in teacher training, and differences in the perceived effects of class size on learning outcomes. Contextual influences such as the mean SES of parents of students, the rural/suburban/urban setting of the school and its grade configuration were also argued to be salient. Monk and Haller showed that size-related differences in the American academic high school curriculum indeed differed according to subject field. The percentage share of the curriculum allocated to Foreign Languages and the Performing and Visual Arts increased with increasing graduating cohort size while the share allocated to Mathematics and Social Studies decreased. As there are currently a finite number of subjects in the VCE, the externally mandated curriculum structure itself might be expected to operate as a potent supply side influence in the Victorian context, acting along with teacher availability and other factors to generate differences in the pattern of the curriculum offered by larger schools. This paper presents an analysis of curriculum provision at Years 11 and 12 in the population of government secondary schools in Victoria in 1992. The analyses are designed to address five main questions: (i) what is the relationship between school size (as measured by a school's total 1992 enrolment in Years 11 and 12 - the 'VCE cohort') and various indices of the breadth and comprehensiveness of curriculum provision? (ii) do the recently developed comprehensive schools (Reorganised and Post-primary) offer a broader VCE curriculum than those with more specialist orientations (the former high and technical schools) ? (iii) what is the relationship between the 'comprehensive - specialist' orientation of a school and curriculum provision, allowing for the observed differences in VCE cohort size? (iv) does the curriculum in the comprehensive schools reflect a more balanced provision across subject areas? (v) does the impact of school size on the diversity of curriculum provision vary according to the subject area? Data Sources AND DETAILS Data on curriculum provision were derived from 1992 enrolments in Units 1 and 3 of the VCE made available by the Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Board (VCAB). 2 Units 1 and 3 are offered in the first semester of Years 11 and 12 respectively. While VCE units are studied over one semester only they are 'paired' so that it would be most unlikely for a school to offer Unit 1 without offering Unit 2 in the same subject, and similarly, to offer Unit 3 without offering Unit 4. As the data were made available mid-way through 1992 enrolments in Units 1 and 3 (first semester) were chosen to estimate the numbers of Year 11 and 12 subjects that were offered. 3 Information on the total number of students in Years 11 and 12 was available, independently, from Directorate of School Education (DSE) records. In using these data to draw inferences about curriculum provision it was assumed that the VCE subjects that students chose were equivalent to those that were provided. Provision was seen as the outcome of the interaction between expressed or inferred student interest in the subjects that are presently available in the VCE and the various structural and administrative factors at the central and local level that limit the number of units that can be offered in an individual school. It was therefore assumed that time-tabling decisions would, to varying extents, take account of both student interest and the availability of staffing and other resources in determining the range of subjects that were finally provided (and chosen) in any one year. Schools were categorised into various 'types' according to their organisational structure and administrative history. The categories used were: (i) 'Re-organised Colleges', including all schools that had reorganised under the 1986 -1992 policy and commenced operation in their new structure by the beginning of 1992;4 (ii) 'Post-primary Schools', comprehensive secondary schools including the Post-primary schools that were developed subsequent to 1983 and a small number of 'High - Technical' and 'Technical - High' schools which also offered curricula that extended across the boundaries of the former 'binary' secondary system in Victoria; (iii) 'Former High Schools'; (iv) 'Former Technical Schools'; and (v) 'Community schools'. Table 1 Curriculum Categories Represented Among the VCE Subjects Offered by Schools in 1992 Ainley et al Curriculum Category Year 11 Subjects Offered Year 12 Subjects Offered English 1 2 Mathematics 6 6 Humanities and Social Science 13 17 Economics and Business 5 5 Physical Sciences 2 2 Biological and Other Sciences 5 5 Creative and Performing Arts 10 11 Technical Studies 3 3 Home Science 1 1 Physical Education 3 3 Languages other than English 31 31 Computer Studies 1 3 Total Offered 81 89 Data for the study were available on 347 schools. Of this population, 31 (9%) were Re-organised Colleges, 23 (7%) were Post-primary Schools, 215 (62%) were former High Schools, 71 (21%) were former Technical Schools and 5 (1%) were Community schools. Four indices of curriculum provision are examined: (i) the Number of Units offered at Unit 1 and Unit 3 levels (from which the number of subjects offered at Years 11 and 12 are directly inferred) ; (ii) the Breadth Across subject areas of the curriculum offered at the two levels, defined as the number of broad categories of subjects represented among the total offered; (iii) the Breadth Within 5subject areas offered at the two levels, defined as the average number of subjects offered within the broad categories used to define Breadth Across; and (iv) whether or not a school Reached District Provision Requirements, separately at Year 11 and 12. The categories used to define the indices of Breadth Across and Breadth Within the Year 11 and 12 curriculum were those developed by Ainley, Jones and Navaratnam (1990) for their national study of subject choice at senior secondary school. Twelve of the fourteen curriculum categories devised by Ainley et al were represented among the VCE studies offered in 1992. They are shown in Table 1, together with the number of subjects that were offered at Year 11 and Year 12. School Type and the Size of the Year 11/12 Group The size of the student group is clearly one important factor related to comprehensive curriculum provision although there may be limits beyond which schools, in practice, do not offer a more extensive and varied curriculum as they get larger (McKenzie, 1992). It was expected by the DSE that the reorganisation of secondary schools in Victoria would result in sufficiently large cohorts of students at Years 11 and 12 to enable the development of the greatest possible breadth of VCE studies in each school. Table 2 Distribution of VCE Enrolments Among Five Types of Secondary School School Type Mean Median Maximum Minimum Reorganised College 415.5 376 1,585 104 Post-primary School 234.2 245 392 72 Former High School 203.5 204 608 16 Former Technical School 177.6 159 680 69 CommunityÊSchool 25.6 27 29 19 The average (mean) size of the 1992 VCE cohorts in the 347 schools was 217 and the median was 200. The distribution of enrolments was markedly skewed towards the higher values; six of the ten largest schools were Reorganised Colleges. Table 2 shows the distribution of 1992 VCE enrolments among the five types of secondary school. It can be seen that the Reorganised Colleges had the largest numbers of VCE students. They are followed, in order, by the Post-primary Schools, the former High Schools and the former Technical Schools. The small group of Community Schools had very low VCE enrolments. Using the median as the better estimate of the 'centre' of the enrolment ranges for each group in this instance it can be seen that in 1992 the Reorganised Colleges had, on average, about 130 more VCE students that the Post-primary Schools, 170 more than the former High schools and 220 more than the former Technical Schools.6 Total Number of VCE SUBJECTS Offered At Year 11 in 1992 the mean number of VCE subjects offered by Victorian government secondary schools was 21.5 (median 21.0) the minimum was 7 and the maximum was 37. At Year 12 the mean was 20.6 (median 20.0) the minimum 6 and the maximum 40. At both year levels there was a strong but slightly curvilinear relationship in the scatter plot between the total number of VCE subjects offered (TOT SUB) and the VCE enrolment (VCE ENROL). The lines of best fit (a second degree polynomial fitted these data reasonably well) tended towards a plateau at the higher enrolment levels. Figure 1 (Appendix 1) displays the data for Year 12. The curve was slightly flatter at the top for Year 11 than is apparent for Year 12, suggesting that at Year 11 a plateau of approximately 36 to 37 subjects was being reached at a total VCE enrolment of approximately 800. At Year 12 an extrapolation of the line of best fit suggested that a plateau of possibly 40 subjects might be reached at a total VCE enrolment of about 1,000. The mean number of VCE subjects offered by the five different types of school is shown in Table 3. The Reorganised Colleges offered considerably more subjects on average than all other types of secondary school, while the Post-primary Schools offered a marginally greater number of subjects than the former High Schools and a clearly greater number than the Technical and Community schools. Table 3 Estimated Mean Number of VCE Subjects Offered by Five Different Types of School School Type Year 11 Year 12 Reorganised Colleges 27.6 28.2 Post-primary Schools 23.3 22.4 Former High Schools 21.4 20.6 Former Technical Schools 19.9 17.5 Community Schools 8.8 6.8 Is the extra capacity to offer the VCE which is observed in the average number of subjects offered by schools with different organisational structures due to the greater size of the Reorganised Colleges and Post-primary Schools in itself, or is it also due to the comprehensive nature of these schools; to the melding of 'academic' and 'practical' curriculum cultures anticipated in the recommendation of the Blackburn Committee? This question can be investigated by adjusting the estimated number of subjects offered by the size of the VCE cohort in each school. The appropriate analysis will also take account of the slightly curvilinear relationship between VCE enrolment size and the number of subjects offered. It can be seen in Table 4 that while the rank order of the schools remained the same after adjustment for size the differences between the group means was considerably reduced. After adjustment, the Reorganised Colleges offered more VCE subjects than all other types of school and the Post-primary Schools also appear able to offer relatively high numbers of subjects. The expectation that these schools would develop a more diverse curriculum in terms of the number of subjects offered net of their size was thus confirmed, but the data show clearly that the larger size of the comprehensive schools is also an important factor. Table 4 Estimated Mean Number of VCE Subjects Offered by Five Different Types of School Adjusted for VCE Enrolment Size School Type Year 11 Year 12 Reorganised Colleges 23.2 22.9 Post-primary Schools 22.3 21.4 Former High Schools 21.5 20.9 Former Technical Schools 21.0 18.7 Community Schools 16.3 14.8 Breadth ACROSS AND WITHIN Curriculum FIELDS The absolute number of subjects offered is not in itself a completely adequate measure of curriculum provision (McKenzie, 1992). McKenzie proposed an identity in which curriculum provision, defined as the total number of class groups formed, is disaggregated into curriculum Breadth (the number of broad curriculum areas covered), curriculum Depth (here called Breadth Within - the number of subjects within each curriculum area) and Access (the number of class groups formed for each subject).7 While each disaggregated aspect of provision might be expected to be correlated with the number of subjects offered, a separate analysis might reveal different relationships with school size and organisational structure. McKenzie (1992) for example, noted that curriculum Breadth seemed to be less strongly determined by size than was Depth (Breadth Within). The relationship between the size of the Year 11 and 12 cohort and Breadth Across the curriculum takes a similar curvilinear form to that between enrolment size and the estimated number of subjects, but the lines of best fit tend to flatten rather more quickly. A plateau approximately mid-way between 11 and 12 broad curriculum areas was reached at a VCE enrolment of about 500 at Year 12. At Year 11 a similar plateau was reached at a total VCE enrolment of about 350. Figure 2 (Appendix 1) with a smoothed line of best fit, shows the nature of this relationship at Year 12. Table 5 Per Cent of Secondary Schools That Offered Higher Levels of Curriculum Breadth School Type Percentage of Schools Offering At Least 10, At Least 11, and All 12 Broad Curriculum Areas Year At Least 10 At Least 11 All 12 Reorganised College Year 11 96.7 80.6 51.6 Year 12 96.8 80.7 32.3 Post-primary School Year 11 100.0 78.2 13.0 Year 12 87.0 56.6 4.4 Former High School Year 11 91.1 69.7 33.0 Year 12 83.3 55.1 17.1 Former Technical School Year 11 78.9 32.5 2.8 Year 12 45.1 16.9 0.0 Community School Year 11 0.0 0.0 0.0 Year 12 0.0 0.0 0.0 All Year 11 88.4 62.6 26.7 Year 12 75.8 48.9 13.9 The extent of Breadth Across the curriculum achieved at Years 11 and 12 can be seen most clearly by examining the proportion of each that offered at least 10, at least 11, and all 12 curriculum fields (Table 5). Looking first at the last two rows of Table 5 it can be seen that over 88 per cent of schools overall offered at least one subject from 10 or more curriculum fields at Year 11 and that over 75 per cent were able to offer a similar degree of Breadth Across the curriculum at Year 12. About 63 per cent of schools were able to offer 11 or more fields at Year 11 as were about 49 per cent at Year 12. A similar margin showing greater Breadth Across the curriculum at Year 11 is evident when only those schools which offered all 12 curriculum fields are considered. The body of the table also shows that greater Breadth Across the curriculum was available at Year 11 as compared with Year 12 in the four main types of school (similarly for the Community schools at lower levels of Breadth). But the margin in favour of Year 11 is only evident for the Reorganised Colleges when all 12 fields are considered. Table 5 also shows a clear rank order of the various types of school at the higher levels of Breadth Across the curriculum. Over 96 per cent of the Reorganised Colleges offered at least one subject from 10 curriculum fields at both Year 11 and 12 and just over 80 per cent similarly offered at least one subject from 11 or more fields. All of the Post-primary Schools offered 10 or more fields at Year 11 as did 87 per cent at Year 12, while 78 per cent of the Post-primary Schools offered 11 or more fields at Year 11 and 55 per cent offered similar Breadth at Year 12. They were followed by the former High Schools, the former Technical Schools and the Community schools. The Reorganised Colleges are clearly differentiated from all other groups when all 12 curriculum fields are considered. Here over 50 per cent of the group offered all 12 fields at Year 11 as did 32 per cent at Year 12. The above pattern of results is also evident in the average levels of Breadth Across the curriculum achieved by each type of school. The mean Breadth irrespective of school type was 10.7 (median 11.0) at Year 11 and 10.2 (median 10.0) at Year 12. The maximum was 12 curriculum fields at both Year levels and the minimum was 5 at Year 11 and 4 at Year 12. At Year 11 the mean for the Reorganised Colleges was marginally higher than that for the Post-Primary and former High Schools and the equivalent of over one curriculum field greater than the mean for the Technical Schools (Table 6). There was a similar pattern among the group means at Year 12 level. When the size of the Year 11 and 12 cohort was taken into account there were no differences apparent between the Reorganised Colleges, the Post-primary Schools and the former High Schools. The adjusted means for these three types of school were marginally greater than those for the former Technical Schools and considerably greater than those for the Community Schools (Table 6). Thus the expectation that the comprehensive schools would offer a broader curriculum net of their size was only partly confirmed. Table 6 Mean Breadth Across Curriculum Fields Offered by Five Different Types of School, Unadjusted and Adjusted for VCE Enrolment Size School Type Year 11 Year 12 Unadjusted Adjusted Unadjusted Adjusted Reorganised Colleges 11.3 10.7 11.1 10.5 Post-primary Schools 10.9 10.7 10.5 10.3 Former High Schools 10.9 10.9 10.5 10.5 Former Technical Schools 10.0 10.1 9.2 9.3 Community Schools 5.8 7.1 5.0 6.3 Breadth Within was defined as the average number of subjects offered in each of the 12 curriculum fields. As shown in Figure 3 for Year 12 the relationship between Breadth Within and the size of the VCE cohort was very close to linear, that is Breadth Within increased fairly regularly with school size over virtually the complete range of secondary schools. The relationship was slightly steeper at Year 12 compared with Year 11. For example, at both Year 11 and 12 an average school with a VCE cohort of 200 appeared able to offer about 2.0 subjects per major curriculum area. At an enrolment of 600, an average school appeared able to offer about 2.8 subjects at Year 11 and close to 3.1 at Year 12. The average Breadth Within curriculum fields at Year 12 over all types of school was 2.0 VCE subjects per field (both the mean and median), the minimum was 1.1 and the maximum was 3.5. The distribution of Breadth Within at Year 11 was virtually the same. The average for each of the five types of school is shown in Table 7. At both Year 11 and Year 12, the Reorganised Colleges offered considerably more Breadth Within curriculum fields than the other types of schools but differences in favour of the Post-primary Schools were smaller. When the size of the VCE cohort was taken into account the apparent differences between the five types of secondary school narrowed considerably leaving small margins only in favour of the Reorganised Colleges at Year 11 and the Reorganised Colleges and Post-primary Schools at Year 12. The greater Breadth Within the curriculum that is clearly achieved in the Reorganised Colleges particularly is, therefore, largely a function of their greater size. Table 7 Mean Breadth Within Curriculum Fields Offered by Five Different Types of School, Unadjusted and Adjusted for VCE Enrolment Size School Type Year 11 Year 12 Unadjusted Adjusted Unadjusted Adjusted Reorganised Colleges 2.43 2.13 2.53 2.14 Post-primary Schools 2.12 2.06 2.14 2.07 Former High Schools 1.94 1.96 1.96 1.98 Former Technical Schools 1.98 2.06 1.89 1.98 Community Schools 1.50 1.98 1.38 1.92 Breadth Combined With Depth - Reaching District Provision Requirements The data presented above show that the Reorganised Colleges and the Post-primary Schools are able to offer a larger number of subjects and greater Breadth Across and Within the curriculum fields defined by Ainley et al. While the size and breadth of the Year 11 and 12 curriculum offered is largely determined by the number of VCE students in a particular school, the organisation of the school appears to be an additional factor influencing the number of subjects offered and (more marginally) the Breadth Within curriculum fields. Schools that offer more fields of study also offer more subjects within fields, but the correlation between Breadth Across and Within curriculum fields is only modest (0.38 at Unit 1 and 0.39 at Unit 3 levels). To the extent that the District Provision targets combined elements of breadth Across and Within fields they provide one index of the comprehensiveness and balance of the curriculum. A logistic regression analysis demonstrated the nature of the relationship between the likelihood of a school reaching the District Provision targets and the size of the VCE cohort. At both Year 11 and 12 the likelihood increased dramatically in the range of VCE enrolments between about 200 to about 500, from a little over 1 chance in 10 to close to 9 chances in 10. The proportion of schools, by type, that reached the pattern of curriculum offerings required by the District Provision Policy is shown in Table 7. The Reorganised Colleges stand out from all other groups particularly clearly. Close to three quarters of this group met the District Provision criterion at both Year levels. The Post-primary Schools were the next most successful, but, of this group, only 30 per cent met the targets at Year 11 and 43 per cent at Year 12. When the estimates were adjusted by the size of the VCE cohort in each school (leaving out the Community Schools to reduce possible bias) the pattern of these differences largely remained. For example, after adjustment for the VCE cohort size, the Reorganised Colleges were more likely to meet the District Provision requirements than the former High Schools by a difference of 29 percentage points at Year 11 and by approximately 39 percentage points at Year 12. The only clear contrast between the pattern of the results before and after adjustment for size was that the difference between the Post-primary Schools and former High Schools at Year 11 was substantially reduced. Thus while there was a very strong relationship between VCE cohort size and the likelihood of a school being able to reach the District Provision targets, there was none the less a considerable effect of the type of school over and above its size. Table 7 Schools Fulfilling the District Provision Requirements at Years 11 and 12 Separately School Type Year 11 Year 12 Per cent Adjusted Percent Adjusted Per cent Reorganised College 74.2 52.3 74.2 55.2 Post-primary School 30.4 26.6 43.5 40.7 Former High School 21.9 23.3 15.3 16.4 Former Technical School 5.6 11.4 5.6 10.0 CommunityÊSchool 0.0 - 0.0 - All 23.5 - 20.2 - SCHOOL SIZE AND CURRICULUM DIVERSITY WITHIN SUBJECT FIELDS Two data analysis strategies were used to investigate the proposition of Monk and Haller (1993) that an increase in the extensiveness of the curriculum with school size will be uneven across fields. First, to obtain a picture of the gross effect of school size on the breadth of the curriculum within each field, cumulative percentage graphs of the number of subjects offered were constructed for schools grouped by VCE cohort size (0 - 99; 100 - 199; 200 - 299; 300 - 399; 400 and larger). Secondly, the percentage share of the total curriculum gained by each field was calculated for each size category of school. The general form of the cumulative percentage graphs that might be expected for those fields with larger numbers of subjects where there is a positive relationship between school size and subjects offered is shown in Figure 4. The graph portrays the relationship between school size and the number of Creative and Performing Arts subjects offered at Year 12. It can be seen that the curve for the group of schools with the smallest VCE cohorts 'grows' most rapidly across the lower numbers of subjects and reaches a plateau at close to 100 per cent after 4 subjects. In contrast the curve for the '400 plus' group of schools grows least rapidly, in this case not plateauing at all before the maximum of 10 subjects that is offered by any one school is reached. Among the '400 plus' group, no schools offered less than 3 Creative and Performing Arts subjects, approximately 20 percent offered either 3 or 4, a further 20 percent offered 5 subjects in this field, and so on. A positive relationship between size and the number of subjects offered within a field is shown by the successive shifting of the curves towards the right of the figure as size increases. A similar pattern is evident in those fields with smaller numbers of subjects although the "S" shape of the curves displayed in Figure 4 is less apparent. Graphs for each curriculum field at both Year 11 and 12 showed a positive relationship between the size of the VCE cohort and the likelihood of a school offering more subjects, with likelihood generally increasing stepwise with size. Minor exceptions occurred with Home Science and Physical Science where the 300 - 399 group was the most likely to offer the maximum number of subjects available and in the Biology and Other Sciences and Technical Studies fields where the 400 plus schools were clearly differentiated from all others in their ability to offer the larger numbers of subjects. The results of these analyses showed that the tendency for the larger schools to offer more unique Year 11 and 12 subjects occurred over all curriculum fields. But this growth might be uneven in the sense that certain fields might capture a greater share of the curriculum as school size increases. To investigate this possibility the 'percentage share' that subjects within each curriculum field represented of the total number offered by each school was calculated separately at Year 11 and Year 12. The median of these percentages within each size category for each curriculum field at Year 12 is shown in Figure 6 for Year 12. A very similar graph resulted from the analyses for Year 11. To augment the graphical presentation, analyses of variance were conducted for the mean differences across groups for each curriculum field, providing estimates of the effect of size on curriculum breadth within fields net of the type of school. An increase in school size was associated with an increase in the percentage share of the curriculum allocated to the Humanities and Social Sciences, Creative and Performing Arts, Languages Other than English and Computer Studies (at Year 12 only) with the first two fields gaining share most rapidly with increases in school size. Decreases in share occurred for English, Mathematics, Economics and Business, Physical Sciences, Technical Studies and Home Science. While the decreases were spread fairly evenly across these groups they were greatest for the Physical Sciences, Technical Studies and Mathematics. CONCLUSION In summary, this study of curriculum provision in Years 11 and 12 in Victorian Government schools has shown: (i) that the comprehensive schools (Reorganised and Post-primary) were able to accommodate a significantly larger cohort of VCE students than the more specialised former High and Technical schools; (ii) that the size of the VCE cohort was strongly related to all indices of curriculum provision, in particular to the Number of Units offered, the Breadth of the offerings within curriculum categories and the likelihood of the school reaching the District Provision targets for comprehensiveness; (iii) that principally because of their bigger VCE cohorts, the comprehensive schools were able to offer more VCE subjects and develop greater Breadth in their curriculum both Across and (particularly) Within subject fields; they also had a much higher probability of meeting the District Provision targets; (iv) that over and above the influence of their size, the comprehensive schools (in particular the Reorganised Colleges) were able to offer a greater number of subjects and more Breadth Within subject fields; they were also much more likely to reach the District Provision targets; and (v) that while larger schools generally offered more subjects within all curriculum fields the manner in which the curriculum was shared across fields changed noticeably with size; generally there was a shift towards the arts, humanities, social sciences and (to a lesser extent) languages in the larger schools with a proportionate shift away from the physical sciences, mathematics, technologies (excluding computing) and business. Space in the secondary school curriculum is strongly contested. It is evident from this study that the increase in size and the shift towards comprehensive schools encouraged by successive governments in Victoria, while leading to greater breadth across and within major curriculum fields, has not had neutral effects on the balance of subjects across fields. The Year 11 and 12 curriculum is developed by schools from a finite number of VCE subjects and the District Provision Policy has encouraged schools to consider the balance of the curriculum across the arts, humanities, business studies, sciences and technologies. It is apparent that the availability of subjects has operated as a powerful supply side factor to influence the pattern of provision. Two of the fields where the greatest proportional growth with increased school size was observed contain large numbers of subjects (Humanities and Social Science, and Creative and Performing Arts). But teachers with appropriate specialities must also be available if this 'curriculum supply' effect is to be manifest. While the larger schools also offer proportionately more LOTE subjects than the smaller schools this increase occurred from a very small base and, on average, LOTE still occupies the smallest share of the curriculum over schools of all sizes at Year 12. It is likely that the lack of appropriately qualified LOTE teachers has constrained growth in this field, particularly in the larger schools. An additional factor likely to influence the pattern of provision is the 'demand' effect of the 1986 - 1992 District Provision Policy. While the targets in this policy were not mandatory, the district audit process very likely encouraged the larger Reorganised Colleges to attempt to meet them. It is not clear whether these changed patterns of provision in the larger comprehensive schools have led to a more equitable balance in the curriculum. It might be noted, for example, that the share of the curriculum available to the Creative and Performing Arts in the two groups of smaller schools was quite high (see Figure 6 for Year 12, the effect is clearer still at Year 11) and was the highest across the entire curriculum in the two groups of large schools. The manner in which subjects are categorised will obviously influence these observations profoundly, but the proportionate shift towards the arts, humanities and social sciences and arts and away from the physical sciences, mathematics and technologies is likely to be apparent whatever scheme of categorisation is used. To the extent that this change in balance meets the interests and needs of students it will be valued. If it is merely a response to the supply of curriculum and the availability of appropriately qualified teachers it might be questioned as an unintended outcome of the present phase of school reform. Evidence is accumulating that larger schools may have negative effects on a wide range of desired student outcomes, including achievement (see Fowler and Walberg (1991) for both a summary of this evidence and a comprehensive study of the school and district factors which influence student outcomes in the state of New Jersey, USA). In balancing the social justice imperative for all students to have access to a comprehensive curriculum in the postcompulsory years against the undesirable effects of large schools it will be important to acknowledge that increases in school size above a threshold necessary to secure student access to an adequately broad range of subjects may lead to unnecessary breadth within certain fields. But as Monk and Haller (1993) pointed out, analyses of factors that influence curriculum provision and share at the aggregate level such as presented in this paper can offer only a very crude assessment of student access to course offerings. The structure of the VCE curriculum permits schools to develop considerable diversity within specific subjects (that possible within the three VCE technology studies is a case in point) and, as is frequently recognised, timetabling arrangements restrict the range of choices that are in practice available to students, particularly in the smaller schools where repeat offerings are less common. More intensive studies of curriculum patterns and decision making in individual schools across a range of school size and organisational structures seem necessary to address adequately the complex questions of access and equity involved. REFERENCES Ainley, J., Jones, W., and Navaratnam, K. (1990). Subject choice in senior secondary school. Canberra: Australian Government Publishing Service. Directorate of School Education. (1992). Evaluation of school reorganisation: Interim report for the Minister of School Education (Vol. 1). Melbourne, Victoria: Directorate of School Education. Directorate of School Education. (1993). A quality provision framework for Victorian schools. Melbourne, Victoria: Directorate of School Education. Fowler, W. J., and Walberg, H. J. (1991). School size, characteristics, and outcomes. Educational evaluation and policy analysis. 13, 189 - 202. Haller, E. J., Monk, D. H., Spotted-Bear, A., Griffith, J., and Moss, P. (1990). School size and program comprehensiveness: Evidence from High School and Beyond. Educational evaluation and policy analysis. 12, 109 - 120. McKenzie, P. (1992). School size and curriculum provision in years 11 and 12. Paper presented at the Second National Conference on Post Compulsory Education, Launceston, Tasmania, May 14 -17. Ministerial Review of Postcompulsory Schooling (J. Blackburn, Chairperson). (1985). Report. (Volume 1). Melbourne, Victoria: Ministerial Review of Postcompulsory Schooling. Ministry of Education and Training, Victoria. (1989). District provision. Comprehensive curriculum provision within a district: school reorganisation. Melbourne, Victoria: Education Shop, Ministry of Education and Training. Ministry of Education and Training, Victoria. (1991). District provision. District Reviews of Curriculum Provision. (Booklets 1 - 6). Melbourne, Victoria: Education Shop, Ministry of Education and Training. Monk, D. (1987). Secondary school size and curriculum comprehensiveness. Economics of Education Review, 6, 137 - 150. Taylor, J. (1987). Participation in mathematics, science and technology in Victoria and Australia. In Report of the working group on education for science and technology (A Baklien, Chairperson). Melbourne, Victoria: Ministry of Education. Appendix 1 Figure 1 Relationship Between the Size of the VCE Cohort and the Number of Year 12 Subjects Figure 2 Relationship Between the Size of the VCE Cohort and "Breadth Across" at Year 12 Figure 3 Relationship Between the Size of the VCE Cohort and Average "Breadth Within" at Year 12 Figure 4 Cumulative Graph of the Percentage of Schools that Offered Creative and Performing Arts Subjects, by School Size - Year 12 Figure 5 Average Percentage Share of the Curriculum Allocated to Twelve Curriculum Fields by Schools of Various Sizes 1 All Victorian secondary schools are now officially known as 'Secondary Colleges', however the term 'secondary school' will frequently be used generically in this paper and will also be used to refer specifically to the types of school that existed before the 1986- 1992 phase of reorganisation. Similarly, while VCE subjects are known as 'Studies' the term 'subject' will usually be used. 2 The original analyses of curriculum provision were conducted as part of evaluation of school reorganisation chaired by Mr M. K. Collins for which the author was engaged as a consultant. The assistance of John McCarthy and Brian Sharpley of the Directorate of School Education in the location and preparation of these data is very gratefully acknowledged. 3 A school was regarded as providing a particular VCE unit if it was an 'examining school' for that unit, rather than simply having among its student body one or more who were enrolled. Hence a school was not coded as offering a unit if it only had students who were studying it through the Distance Education Centre, the Victorian School of Languages, or, through a local co-operative arrangement, at a nearby secondary school. In effect these restrictions were designed to ensure that a school was coded as providing a unit of study only if it committed teaching staff to the full instruction of the unit. 4 Bendigo Senior Secondary College, unique in that it is an administratively autonomous Year 11 and 12 school, was notionally included here because it was structurally similar to a senior campus in a multi-campus school. However as it was clearly an outlier on most variables of interest, data from this school were normally excluded from the analyses (see note 6). 5 Breadth Within is more usually known as Depth in the economics of education literature (see, for example, McKenzie, 1992). The term Depth is avoided here as greater Depth frequently carries the connotation of a greater number of subjects at an advanced level within a subject cluster (see also Monk and Haller, 1993, p5, who also refer to "breadth of curricular offerings among and within subject areas"). With the exception of the "Extensions" units in Mathematics this connotation does not apply to the range of subjects that are found within particular subject clusters in the VCE. 6 As the data presented describe a population of schools, descriptive statistics are emphasised in this paper and tests of significance are not presented. Given the presence of small numbers of very large and very small schools, distributions are sometimes skewed. But as adjustment of estimates of curriculum provision for enrolment size is anÊimportant data analysis strategy, means rather than medians are required. To reduce the possibility of bias, the data from two schools (the very large reorganised college and one high school which did not have any Year 11 students enrolled) were removed from most subsequent analyses. 7 As independent data were not available on the number of class groups that were formed for single VCE units in each school the dimension of Access is not investigated.