This inquiry is based on the authors involvement, between 1987 and 1989, in the process of devising a new course for senior school physics in the State of Victoria, Australia. Various problems have been associated with traditional courses in school physics. These include the quality of student learning, static rates of participation in general, and low participation rates for girls in particular, and a poor match between aims, content and assessment. Many of those involved hoped that the new Victorian course would be able to take a fundamentally different approach and, by the end of 1987, progress seemed to be made towards a conservative but nonetheless significant reconstruction of school physics. During 1988 questions relating to assessment took over and, although a practicable alternative to centrally set and marked tests was unable to be devised, it was considered that a different style of test would be possible. But, in 1989 invisible and apparently inevitable forces began to shape the course, so that what finally emerged was far closer to the traditional version of school physics than had been originally envisaged. The present inquiry represents the authors attempt to understand what had happened. The thesis shows that not only academic physicists but also bureaucratic personnel were able to substantially influence the outcome. The final form of the curriculum document, and the process by which it was achieved, are analysed from various perspectives within the literature. It emerges that the influential roles were mediated through powerful discursive mechanisms which embodied implicit assumptions about the nature of physics and constrained consideration of the issues of participation and the quality of learning within unacknowledged boundaries. The authors experience of VCE Physics suggests that the prescribed curriculum is a significant arena of educational action, and that inquiries such as the present study are needed to guide the actions of those involved in reform. Furthermore, understanding the forces which shape the curriculum is essential if the understanding of problems such as participation and the quality of learning in school physics is to be enlarged.