Framing the framework: discourses of invisibility

The New Zealand Curriculum Framework (1993) purports to be "inclusive" and sufficiently flexible to provide teachers with the tools to meet the learning needs of all their students. This article tests the rhetoric of the documents from policy level to chalkface. It highlights inconsistencies, contradictions and points of congruence between the curriculum framework, the intentions of the policy makers and classroom implementation. It is based on a qualitative ethnographic study that was undertaken in an urban secondary school. Data were collected by way of document analysis, participant observation and semistructured interviews. Representatives at the Ministry of Education involved in curriculum development and special education were also interviewed. The findings suggest that there is inconsistency and ambiguity between the framework document itself as stated and what was actually intended, resulting in a curriculum that fails to live up to it's claims of inclusiveness. The contradictions are being mirrored at the school level and students with disabilities continue to be excluded and consitituted as invisible. [AJ].