The New Basics Project

Qld State Education An integrated framework for curriculum, pedagogy and assessment that defines essential areas of learning, appropriate and effective approaches to teaching, affiliated modes of assessment and standards and assurances about student development at key points at schooling.

Aims of the Project  To provide Education Queensland schools with a futures-oriented, relevant approach to curriculum, pedagogy and assessment  To provide teachers with a simplified, useful framework for focusing pedagogy on improved intellectual and social outcomes  To provide parents and communities with a systematic, credible means for tracking students’ development and outcomes.

Conceptual Pivots NEW BASICS RICH TASKS PRODUCTIVEPEDAGOGIES

The New Basics Organisers  Life Pathways and social futures Who am I and where am I going?  Multiliteracies and communications media How do I make sense of, and communicate with, the world?  Active citizenship What are my rights and responsibilities in communities, cultures and economies?  Environments and technologies How do I describe, analyse and shape the world around me?

The New Basics  Life Pathways and social futures Who am I and where am I going?  Living in and preparing for diverse family relationships  Collaborating with peers and others  Maintaining health and care of the self  Learning about and preparing for new worlds of work  Developing initiative and enterprise

The New Basics  Multiliteracies and communications media How do I make sense of, and communicate with the world?  Blending traditional and new communications media  Making creative judgements and engaging in performance  Communicating using language and intercultural understandings  Mastering literacy and numeracy

The New Basics  Active citizenship What are my rights and responsibilities in communities, cultures and economies?  Interacting within local and global communities  Operating within shifting cultural identities  Understanding local and global economic forces  Understanding the historical foundation of social movements and civic institutions

The New Basics  Environments and technologies How do I describe, analyse and shape the world around me?  Developing a scientific understanding of the world  Working with design and engineering technologies  Building and sustaining environments

Productive Pedagogies  Four dimensions of practice –intellectual quality –connectedness –supportive classroom environment –recognition of difference The Queensland School Reform Longitudinal Study found that the presence of all four dimensions within a lesson will contribute to productive pedagogy.

Major Strategies  Higher-order thinking  Deep knowledge  Deep understanding  Substantive conversation  Knowledge as problematic  Metalanguage  Knowledge integration  Background knowledge  Connectedness to the world  Problem-based curriculum  Student direction  Social support  Academic Engagement  Explicit criteria  Self-regulation  Cultural knowledges  Inclusivity  Narrative  Group identity  Active Citizenship Intellectual Quality Connectedness Sup. Class Env. Rec of Dif

Rich Tasks  Have real-world value and use They are problem-based and have relevance and power in everyday life and new worlds of work.  Draw on a repertoire of practices There is a broad range of cognitive and cultural, linguistic and social skills to be acquired developmentally.

Rich Tasks  Range across operational fields and knowledge Are transdisciplinary.  Are challenging Have significant intellectual, cognitive and developmental depth and breadth.

Rich Tasks  There are three 3-year spans, Years 1 to 3, Years 4 to 6, and Years 7 to 9.  For 2001–2003, there are five Rich Tasks for Years 1–3, seven for Years 4–6, and eight for Years 7–9.  It is estimated that time allocated to Rich Tasks will be 40–60 per cent of the school timetable

An Example of Rich Tasks Years 1-3, Rich Task #4 Read and Talk about Stories Students will view, read and listen to fiction stories presented in different media forms. They will analyse characters and settings and compare different stories and different media, incorporating their own experiences. They will present their ideas in a performance using a selected combination of words, visual images, music and drama.

An Example of Rich Tasks Years 4-6, Rich Task #6 Design, Make and Display a Product Students will design, or improve the design of, a purposeful product. They will make the product or a working model or prototype. As part of a public display promoting their product, they will flesh out a (restricted) marketing plan and explore the suitability of materials for mass manufacture.

An Example of Rich Tasks Years 7-9, Rich Task #2 Improving Wellbeing in the Community Students will work with a local community to develop a plan for improving an aspect of the wellbeing of this community and then enact the plan, modifying it as necessary. They will evaluate the level of success they experience in enacting their plan and, where necessary, recommend future actions.

TEACHERS WORK BACKWARDS FROM WHOLE, EDUCATIONALLY MEANINGFUL, VALUABLE TASKS BY USING THEIR PROFESSIONAL JUDGMENT TO BREAK THESE DOWN INTO SEQUENCES OF INSTRUCTION AROUND TARGETED REPERTOIRES OF PRACTICE AND VARIOUS OPERATIONAL FIELDS OF KNOWLEDGE

Schools will need to:  develop a curriculum profile of the school;  determine the timing for the tasks;  decide on the repertoires of practice to be taught;  audit curriculum coverage.

Further Information Assessment & New Basics Branch Education House PO Box 33 Brisbane Albert Street Qld Web: