National Curriculum

The Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority (ACARA) have called for Expressions of Interest for Arts curriculum writers and advisory panel members.

Writers and advisory panel members must have extensive knowledge, understanding and expertise in one or more of the Arts disciplines (dance, drama, media arts, music, visual arts), teaching or related experience in the learning area, and experience in writing and developing curriculum and/or achievement standards outside of the classroom. Level of experience and expertise in the Arts, writing skills, experience in working collaboratively and representation across stages of schooling (K-2, 3-6, 7-10, 11-12) and across states and territories will be taken into consideration to ensure that the curriculum written is of the highest quality.

Engaging educators and the wider Arts community in the EOI process is crucial to ensure that we continue to collaboratively develop a world-class Australian Curriculum. During this period, ACARA encourages and welcomes applications for these roles from representatives of your organisation.

Read more: ACARA: Arts Curriculum Writers Needed

Consultation on Draft K – 10 Curriculums: The consultation phase on the drafts of the first four subjects in the development of the Australian Curriculum: English, mathematics, science and history closes on 23rd May 2010.

The final curriculum for English, maths, history and science, for K to 10 and for the senior years, will be published later in 2010 following the national consultation.

Forum Program:
40 mins: Report on Department of Education WA position and outlook: Andrew Thompson
20 mins: Report on AEU and SSTUWA Submission: Anne Gisborne
50 mins: Round Table Submission Feedback and Input

Read more: SSTUWA Forum: Australian Curriculum

The National Curriculum: ACARA must ensure that “all students” clearly includes students with special needs.

During 2009, the Australian Association of Special Education (AASE), representing over 1,000 members nationally, made a submission to the Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority (ACARA) urging them to implement a number of recommendations.

It was pointed out that ACARA needed to amend the proposed National Curriculum during the consultation stage or the National Curriculum would clearly be in breach of the Australian Disability Discrimination Act 1992 (DDA).

In developing the draft Australian National Curriculum, ACARA’s own guidelines and principles stated:
“…the curriculum should be based on the assumptions that all students can learn and that every student matters. It should set high standards and ensure that they apply to all young Australians while acknowledging the different rates at which students develop.” (The Shape of the Australian Curriculum, p8)

Read more: National Curriculum must include special needs students

The rationale underpinning the drive to develop and implement a national curriculum is endorsed in principle by the State School Teachers’ Union.

“We live in the 21st century with state boundaries crossed regularly by families and students. The proposition of common curriculum and portability of student assessment should be a positive”, said Anne Gisborne President of the SSTUWA, “but, we  also cannot lose sight of the need to respond to the local context in developing and implementing curriculum.”

To ensure that implementation is optimal and manageable, the Minister must pay attention to the lessons of past curriculum change”.

The SSTUWA has identified the following key aspects which are fundamental to a successful engagement of the profession and schools in implementation of a new Australian Curriculum:

Read more: AUSTRALIAN CURRICULUM ... the SSTUWA position

The Australian Education Union (AEU) is disappointed with respect to the level of genuine broad consultation with the profession in the development of the National

Curriculum so far. The process has ignored the fact that teachers are professionals trained and experienced in the development, implementation and delivery of curriculum.

AEU Federal President, Angelo Gavrielatos, said “the tight time frame of consultation (closes in May) will not allow for the meaningful collective engagement of teachers in the process.

“With implementation of the National Curriculum due to commence next year, we are most concerned that there is still not any plan with an associated budget to support the implementation of the proposed National Curriculum.

“A curriculum document, old or new, in itself does not improve educational outcomes. Educational outcomes may be improved if a curriculum is properly supported and resourced – that includes money for teaching materials and, most importantly, the professional development for teachers,” said Mr. Gavrielatos.

The nomenclature may have changed to avoid confusion but the Australian Curriculum sets out an ambitious national direction for history education.

From the practitioner's point of view, the most striking element of the draft curriculum is the volume of content that is aimed to be covered from Kindergarten to Year 10. By the end of primary school, mainly in years 3 - 6, students will have essentially covered the entire history of Australia including the history of first peoples, colonisation, federation and the cultural and social importance of national celebrations.

Having lofty expectations of students is not to be frowned upon. Students will have little trouble comprehending the stories associated with these histories but whether they will have the skills, or the time to develop the skills in order to understand these issues and events fully is questionable. And this is where the problem remains - too much content and covered at a superficial level will be the death of the subject.

Read more: The Death of History?

Minister Constable commissioned a review of the Curriculum Framework in 2009. The report was completed in August 2009 and has just been released. The review is intended to assist the Minister in the implementation of the Australian Curriculum.  The report has delivered twenty three (23) recommendations to the Minister for her consideration.

IT IS NOTED THAT THIS IS A REPORT. THE RECOMMENDATIONS ARE FOR THE MINISTER’S CONSIDERATION. THE DIRECTIONS ARE NOT BEING IMPLEMENTED AT THIS STAGE.

The Union and Executive are keen to get comment back from members on the recommendations. To assist in the gathering of such information a survey has been developed.  TO READ THE REPORT IN DETAIL & PROVIDE FEEDBACK Online at  http://sstuwa.org/andrichsurvey

Survey CLOSES – COB Thursday March 18 2010

On Monday 1 March 2010, the Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority (ACARA) will publish the draft K-10 Australian Curriculum in English, mathematics, science and history for a period of national consultation. The consultation period closes on 23 May 2010. 

This is a significant event in Australian education. 

The draft curriculum and all the resources required to provide feedback will be published at: www.australiancurriculum.edu.au. At this address, you will find the draft curriculum which you can comment on, a survey which you can complete and other resources such as videos, information sheets and frequently asked questions. 

On visiting the website, you will need to register your details in a simple process that will provide you with an ongoing login and password and ensures you the opportunity to save and return to your feedback over time and as often as you wish. 

This is a unique opportunity for you to express your views and comment on the draft curriculum materials. Take the opportunity over the next few months to contribute to making this the best possible curriculum for all teachers and students in Australia.

Read more: Release Of National Curriculum Drafts Approaching

The draft K-10 Australian Curriculum in English, mathematics, science and history is now being finalised for uploading to the Australian Curriculum Consultation Portal.

In the week of 22 February 2010 this consultation website will be available for everyone to read, review, download or print the draft K-10 curriculum. It will also be the place where members of the education community can provide feedback and where the on-line feedback survey can be completed.

The K-10 consultation process and the K-10 part of the website will be open until 23 May 2010.

Read more: Public Consultation on K-10 drafts

On 28 March 2009 the National Public Education Forum was held at Old Parliament House, Canberra.

Anhistoric event, organised by the Australian Council for State SchoolOrganisations (ACSSO), Australian Education Union (AEU), AustralianGovernment Primary Principals Association (AGPPA) and AustralianSecondary Principals Association (ASPA), the National Public EducationForum brought together over 200 academics, researchers, public / mediacommentators, parents, teachers and principals.

The Forum was opened by an address by The Hon. Julia Gillard MP at a special Forum reception on 27 March 2009.

Mostof the papers from the National Public Education Forum are nowavailable for download. Vodcasts of key presentations to the forum willbe available in the near future.

Read more: National Public Education Forum