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…
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…
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 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…
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…
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…
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 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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…