Pragmatism is failing Australia’s democracy

In this post, masters of Public Policy Student from the Australian National University, writes under the pseudonym Syeeda Hannan to discuss the decline of civics education amongst Australian high school students.

Australia often identifies itself as a pragmatic and measured nation. Unfortunately, this pragmatism can sometimes foster apathy in favor of short-term achievements. The apathy towards humanities has contributed to an alarming decline of civics education amongst Australian high school students.

To understand why we are at the lowest civics literacy level since measurements began in 2004, it is important to reflect on the past two decades.

The issue of apathy is embodied in the framing of humanities subjects, including civics and social science, at high school and tertiary levels. Over the past decade, political and university narratives have obsessively focused on the idea of being “job ready,” often portraying humanities research, such as philosophy (where the very concept of democracy and civics originate from) as wasteful. In 2017, the then-Minister of Education overturned several Australian Research Council funding decisions for humanities research. Then in 2020, the government policy doubled the cost of some humanities degrees in order to reduce fees for courses in STEM.

The 2014 Review of the Australian Curriculum noted the poor quality of civics education, noting that it was taught in a fragmented way across subjects and often undermined by teachers’ limited understanding of civic systems. Despite recognising these issues, the review stopped short of recommending civics as a standalone subject from Years 3 to 10, citing resource constraints and the complexity of developing a separate curriculum. Instead, it placed the responsibility on teachers to improve their own understanding and deliver civics content across existing subjects. While it acknowledged inconsistencies in how civics is taught across states, it offered no national solution. Rather than addressing the structural problems, it effectively shifted the burden onto teachers and called for more content to be added, with a stronger emphasis on Australia's Judeo-Christian heritage.

The 2021 Review of the Australian Curriculum by the University of Queensland offered only a limited picture of the current state of civics education, with just 60 survey responses collected nationwide and only two states providing state-specific feedback. Thankfully, history had 293 responses which acknowledged the importance of the subject with criticisms and relevance of the content on Australia's Judeo-Christian heritage. It must be noted that the majority of these responses were from Queensland, so it did not capture the true state of civics education.

Parliament and policymakers were not oblivious to the issue of declining civic engagement. As early as 2009, the Australian Electoral Commission (AEC) raised concerns about the waning participation of young voters. A decade later, in 2019, the AEC again sounded the alarm, recommending improvements to public education and awareness to support a healthy democracy, noting that voter confidence had significantly diminished.

This brings us to 2024. National data shows a steady, long-term decline in Year 10 students' Civics and Citizenship proficiency, averaging a 0.6 percentage point drop annually from 2004 to 2024. While performance peaked in 2010, it has consistently declined. By state performance, as of 2024, South Australia is at 19% in 2024 (29% in 2004), New South Wales is at 27.9% (48% in 2004), Victoria is at 33.9% (40% in 2004), Queensland is at 21.2% (30% in 2004), Western Australia is at 33% (36% in 2004), Norhtern Territory  is 18% (36% in 2004), the Australian Capital Territory is 37.2% (48% in 2004), Tasmania is at 20% (37% in 2004).

In the current climate, misinformation has become a dangerous invisible enemy that preys on bias and uncritical thinking. The decline in civics proficiency reflects a broader weakening of critical reasoning and reflective capacities that is essential for informed citizens. The decline should come as no surprise. The perception of the humanities overall as impractical is deeply embedded in the Australian education system and is reflected in how STEM subjects are scaled more favourably in senior secondary assessments. The message is clear: pursue the humanities, and your future prospects suffer. A quick Google search reveals countless strategies for maximising Australian Tertiary Admission Rank (ATAR) scores by selecting maths and science that reinforces a hierarchy of knowledge that sidelines the humanities. The ripple effects are significant and dangerous. Teaching is a civics and humanities based profession, yet if fewer students pursue these disciplines in secondary school and beyond, who will go on to teach them?

After a decade of decline that was arguably preventable, policy makers have finally turned their attention to a problem that now has defence and security implications. In 2024 Joint Standing Committee delivered twenty-three recommendations on civics education, engagement, and participation in Australia. The From Classroom to Community report recommends strengthening civics education in Australian schools through a nationally consistent, mandatory curriculum. It calls for improved specialist teacher training, resources to support effective civics instruction and the possibility of making civics a mandatory subject for Year 11 and 12 due to voting age. It also emphasises embedding media and digital literacy in the curriculum to help students critically assess information and combat misinformation.

Notably, this report is the first report on civics in several decades, if not the very first of its kind. This is a shame because the Australian electoral system and democracy is one of the best in the world.

Whether this report achieves any significant change in numbers depends on multiple stakeholders working together in synergy. For context, the Department of Education at federal level and the Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority (ACARA) set standards and expectations for national school curriculum until Year 10, while the content, delivery and Year 11/12 assessment is largely the purview of the states and territories. These stakeholders must seriously question whether the last decade of changes were useful at all, or whether a more radical approach is necessary.

Australia’s civics crisis has been driven by a culture that prizes short-term pragmatism over long-term democratic resilience. We are now reckoning the consequences: a generation of students ill-equipped to engage with the civic institutions that shape their lives. The 2024 From Classroom to Community report offers a long-overdue roadmap, but real change demands more than policy, it requires a cultural shift in how we value the humanities. If we want future voters who think critically, participate meaningfully, and safeguard democracy, we must treat civics not as an afterthought, but as a national priority.