New Research Finds Curriculum Still Privileges Christianity
By Abbie Gargett
New research from Deakin University has found the education system still shows a bias towards white Christian perspectives. In a paper published January 5, 2026, two sociologists of religion - Dr Anna Halafoff and Dr Ruth Fitzpatrick - published a paper published called, "The myth of a white, Christian nation versus Australia’s diverse worldview reality: rectifying post-truth Christian privilege in the Australian curriculum."
They analysed the curriculum and found that it fails to reflect the country’s current and historical diversity.
Dr Halafoff said, “when we examine our national curriculum, it really is not up to scratch at all in terms of representing either the historical facts of religious and worldview diversity in this continent or the contemporary lived diversity, and particularly of young Australians.”
The study found that throughout the history of Australia, there has always been religious and cultural diversity that is rarely mentioned in the curriculum. “About 17% came out as strongly religious [and] about 38% of people who identify as spiritual - whether they're spiritual but not religious or spiritual and religious,” said Halafoff. “The curriculum just doesn't have hardly anything on spirituality and also nothing on non-religious worldviews either. Whereas, when you look at the demographics, these are the sort of things that are where things are at for young Australians.”
According to the research, the number of references in the curriculum of Christian teachings increased in the most recent update, despite contrary recommendations from academics including Halafoff and groups such as the First People’s Assembly of Victoria. Several changes were made after Christian lobbyists claimed content about First Nations people came at the expense of the Christian content. Halafoff said, “People who are conservative Christian are not that large a group in Australia, but they're a very powerful and vocal minority, and they have a lot of power and influence over government.
“This idea that these Christian groups are a persecuted minority does not really seem to be in the data,” she said. According to the 2021 Census, Christianity remains the largest religion in Australia with 43.9% of the population. “I and my research team in doing this work are certainly not anti-Christian,” Halafoff said, insisting they do not want all content about religion or Christianity removed from the curriculum.
When asked what she would like to see changed, Halafoff said, “I would [add] really explicit content around the early history of religious diversity in Australia. I would put in more content about social movements that have had a strong religious focus in terms of justice... so that people also don't think religion is just something that's problematic. At the same time, I'd have more in there about the potential for religion and spirituality to cause harm, so people could look out for that in order to prevent harm and prevent coercive control.”
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