Century Conference

1 The New Basics reform of the Queensland Education sector has identified its central goal as enhanced student outcomes for ‘New Times’. Research on this reform (Adkins et al, forthcoming) has identified the role of communities as an important factor in schools ’ capacity to deliver this outcome. This paper provides a foundation for research into issues regarding the role of community for school reform oriented to the needs of students in the New Economy. Its central purpose is to critique extant theory in order to generate questions about how themes in education reform discourse may be re-contextualised in the context of school practice. First, it reviews the role of ‘community ’ in discourses on the Knowledge Economy and ‘New Times’. Second, it examines the way ‘community ’ is conceptualised in the context of Education Queensland’s New Basics reform. Third, the paper will consider some “paradoxes” that may arise when this new conceptualisation of ‘community ’ is applied in the practical implementation of education reform