In what Ofsted has hailed as some of the most radical changes to school inspection in England in its history, the schools regulator has published the results of a consultation into changes due to be introduced…
The shockwaves from the latest round of school league tables are still reverberating across staff rooms up and down the country. The headlines have been about a drop in the proportion of pupils achieving…
Those who have agitated for subject knowledge, rather than skills, to be the focus of the national curriculum, may have been pleased to hear the secretary of state for education, Nicky Morgan, following…
Pyne will ask the states to implement various aspects of the Curriculum Review, probably including the narrowing of content. This is easier said than done.
AAP
This week the ministers of education for the states and territories will consider recommendations from federal Education Minister Christopher Pyne to revise the Australian curriculum. These recommendations…
So the curriculum has been reviewed, but how does that get approved for implementation in classrooms?
AAP
The Review of the Australian Curriculum was released last month and the initial responses by the federal government and others soon followed. So what happens now for this review, an analysis of the national…
The review of the National Curriculum recommends ditching media arts. That’s a terrible idea.
World Bank Photo Collection
The Final Report of the Review of the Australian Curriculum is seriously flawed. Many aspects of the report have attracted comment – but the recommendation that schools do away with a major, world-leading…
Let’s not focus on what the kids aren’t learning, let’s look at what they are learning, and work from there.
AAP
Among the many recommendations of the Review of the Australian Curriculum is the view that the curriculum should place “more emphasis on morals, values and spirituality”. This is a significant outcome…
From Adam Smith to the Australian classroom: a leap too far?
angus mcdiarmid/Flickr
I will never forget the late summer day on which Johnny Smith (not his real name) came to my office at UNSW full of excitement about his incipient undergraduate career. “I want to work as an investment…
The history curriculum review was supposed to be free from bias, but unfortunately that’s not the case.
AAP
Education Minister Christopher Pyne launched his review of the Australian Curriculum last week and, as expected, the recommendations for the teaching of history left a lot to be desired. Stuck in its “Judeo-Christian…
The curriculum review called for more “Western literature”. Given the curriculum is mostly Western literature already, perhaps we can take that to mean “more Bible”.
Flickr/Ruth_W
The National Curriculum Review was released this week, with the reviewers calling for a greater focus on “Western” literature in the English classroom. As former high school and primary English teachers…
The current curriculum includes life skills that are taught across all subjects, but the review wants them only taught when “necessary”.
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Headlines in newspapers on Monday morning said much of the curriculum review has been welcomed across Australia. The removal of the four “general capabilities” from the curriculum is a travesty many are…
The National Curriculum Review prompts more questions than answers and leaves educators unsure of the future.
AAP
A close reading of Dr Kevin Donnelly and Professor Ken Wiltshire’s review of the Australian Curriculum reveals contradictory messages regarding the future curriculum for primary and secondary schools…
The best of our society’s thoughts and ideas should be compulsory learning for all students.
AAP
Should all schools, whether government, Catholic or independent, be forced to follow a centrally designed and monitored curriculum? And should this central curriculum be imposed upon schools regardless…
What if want a chance to get an A*?
David Davies/PA Archive
Children’s access to high grades at GCSE is determined by our examination system, which assigns grade limits in some subjects. Known as tiering, this means that some 16-year-olds sit a foundation GCSE…
Not only is Indigenous history not a big enough focus of the national curriculum, what features isn’t academically rigorous.
AAP
The soon-to-be-released review of the Australian Curriculum was outlined by Education Minister Christopher Pyne as intended to address “fair criticism” that the curriculum was overly focused on “the way…
It’s not just about the uni place.
Ben Birchall/PA Archive
The first lessons teaching the new linear A Level, designed specifically with the preparation of students for degree-level education in mind, will be taught in schools and colleges from September 2015…
Most specialists say there was nothing wrong with the curriculum to begin with.
AAP
The Donnelly-Wiltshire Review of the Australian Curriculum is due at the end of the month. We know a bit about what the reviewers thought before they began, but what have submissions to the review told…
Three works by the late Gabriel Garcia Marquez are suggested for Spanish A Level.
Leonardo Munoz/EPA
As part of its revamp of the A Level curriculum, the government has launched a consultation on the way modern languages are taught at sixth form. If introduced, the changes herald a real boost to the teaching…
Lessons from game developers Kuato Studios, but most kids are not so lucky.
David Parry/PA Wire
Back in January 2012, the now-departed education secretary Michael Gove said, “ICT in schools is a mess”. He went on to argue that what was needed was a rigorous computer science curriculum. Now, from…
Adderley Primary School in Birmingham was told on June 9 that is now “requires improvement”.
Joe Giddens/PA Wire
The process of reform in any complex organisation is difficult, uneven and subject to being blown off course by events. In two recent articles in the Conversation I have drawn attention to the cultural…