Australian Curriculum English, Maths, Science & History This session is not designed to criticise the Australian Curriculum but rather to pose questions for consideration. I am in favour of a National Curriculum and definitely see the benefits of a more streamlined approach to Curric across the states. I don’t have any answers to the questions posed – some of you may, some may not. Idea of today is to get conversations happening around Australian Curriculum and then to take this information back to schools and to get teachers talking and giving feedback.

Purpose of SACPPA Session Context & exposure at moment being done by CEO through introductory courses and subject workshops Aim today is to focus on content and feedback to ACARA What is it that we need to think about as educators?

Background COAG (Council of Australian Government) decided that a National Curriculum was necessary Curriculum was to outline skills, knowledge and capabilities for young Australians Melbourne Declaration, December 2008 – National Education Goals for all Australian Students ACARA formed in June 2009 – work had already begun on National Curriculum prior to the ACARA formation

Background Why a National Curriculum? Consistency between the states Consistency for both the mobile student and teacher Our current state by State Curriculums are good. Combining to one National Curriculum will continue the national focus on improving student learning

Overview of Australian Curriculum Phase 1 English, Maths, Science and History Phase 2 Arts, Geography & Languages Phase 3 The Ministerial Council has asked for advice on making the entire curriculum for schools national i.e. there is more to come

Shape Papers In May 2009 the Interim National Curriculum Board (NCB) published The Shape of the Australian Curriculum: English, Maths, Science & History The shape papers are the foundational documents that have guided the development of the Australian Curriculum for each learning area in the first phase.

What does the Australian Curriculum Consist of? Rationale / Aims General Capabilities Cross Curricular Dimensions Content Strand Descriptions - Knowledge, Skills & Understandings Achievement Standards Elaborations

Rationale / Aims Rational / Aims written based on the Melbourne Declaration and the Shape Papers Are the Rationale/Aims a reflection of what was set out in the Melbourne Declaration? Does the rationale give a clear statement about “curriculum”? Is the Curriculum an articulate & coherent view of “curriculum”?

Rationale / Aims Rationale - does it address 21st Century needs? What is a 21st Century Curriculum? Is the Australian Curriculum a “curriculum” or a series of stand alone subjects?

General Capabilities Literacy Numeracy ICT Thinking skills Creativity Self management Teamwork Intercultural understanding Ethical behaviour Social competence

General Capabilities This area of the Australian Curriculum is still being developed ACARA is working to provide a continuum / scope & sequence of the general capabilities How were the capabilities decided? How are they to be used? How are the General Capabilities sequenced across both subject areas and years of schooling?

Cross Curricular Dimensions Indigenous Perspectives A commitment to sustainable patterns of living Asia and Australia’s engagement with Asia. Are the Cross Curricular Dimensions accurate? Do they fit? Are they genuine?

Content Strand Descriptions - Knowledge, Skills & Understandings Content Strand Descriptions outline the work to be carried out on a year by year basis in each subject area It is designed to be flexible, not lock step and prescribed Do the content descriptions give enough information? Are the content descriptions sequential? Are the content descriptions Developmental?

Achievement Standards Achievement standards are to reflect the quality of learning expected of students who are taught the content Specified by each learning area and each year of schooling “Students reaching standards are well able to progress to the next level” What about students who don’t reach the standard? What are the implications for the following year?

Achievement Standards Assessment - what are the Achievement Standards actually saying? Are the Achievement Standards just an overview of content covered? Are teachers assessing and reporting what is taught? Will we develop outcomes based around the Achievement Standards? Will the work samples help us with assessment?

Elaborations & Examples Elaborations are given to further explain Content Descriptions Are they good examples? Too broad? Too specific? What can we do to ensure that Elaborations are not used as “the curriculum”?

Students with Special Needs & ESL Students with Special Needs and ESL are currently being looked at by ACARA At the moment the draft papers do not look specifically at these areas Does the Australian Curriculum address equity for all students? Do the documents, as they stand, assume that content is neutral?

Pedagogy Pedagogy is not included in the Australian Curriculum. HOW we teach the curriculum has not been stated – it is up to states, territories & schools to decided upon which pedagogy is applied

Other key questions Consultation Period – it is only approx 10 weeks? Is this long enough? Is it a world class curriculum? What is a “world class curriculum”?

Consultation Online surveys / feedback Stakeholders Consultation Forums National Forums (April) Intensive School based trials

Consultation ACARA wants people to register and give feedback. Individuals and groups can give feedback. ACARA wants to identify the different groups giving the feedback so they can see what each are saying about the Australian Curriculum, ie teachers, parents, different sectors

Feedback ACARA are very open to feedback and do use it Statement “students will learn” was taken out of the initial drafts in response to the feedback that was given, then “teachers will teach” also taken out due to feedback The more feedback we can give – association level, sector level, school level, individual level – the better

Consultation At the end of Consultation Phase an independent data and analysis will be done (Insync Surveys) Interim & final reports given and ACARA panels & office to review feedback

Initial Implementation Plan proposed for CESA Schools At this stage comment has only be made by ministers in regards to the implementation of the Phase 1, English, Maths, History & Science Implementation by 2013 in first four areas, K - 10 No comment has been made from ministers in regards to Phase 2 implementation Spoke to Kevin Comber yesterday afternoon and he shared the current thinking from CESA regarding implementation

Initial Implementation Plan proposed for CESA Schools CESA suggestion that we begin with English & Maths in 2011 as currently there is most support in these areas through the Literacy & Numeracy Teams However, any combination could be possible This is the information we all have to date, this could change as more detail/directives come from ministers, ACARA

Australian Curriculum ENGLISH