TOWARDS A NATIONAL CURRICULUM

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TOWARDS A NATIONAL CURRICULUM?
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WHAT IS CURRICULUM?

• Some considerations
• The total curriculum v syllabus content
• The hidden curriculum
• The null curriculum
• The planned curriculum and the received
  curriculum
• The formal and the informal curriculum
• Working definition
• The curriculum is the totality of experiences the
  student has as a result of the provision made
  (Kelly, 1999, p. 7).

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CURRICULUM
4
1968

• The improvement of the quality of Australian
  education depends to a considerable extent on
  devising curricula and associated materials which
  reflect the changing needs of Australian life.
  This is the responsibility of the education
  authorities in the States, but the Commonwealth
  has a special interest in reducing the
  unnecessary differences in what is taught in the
  various States and hence the very real
  difficulties faced by children who move from one
  State to another (Malcolm Fraser 1968).

5
1988

• Australia can no longer afford fragmentation of
  effort and approaches must be developed and
  implemented in ways which promote real
  improvements in schooling across the nation
  (John Dawkins, Strengthening Australias Schools,
  Canberra, AGPS. 1988)

6
2003

• We have eight different educational
  jurisdictions, eight different commencement ages,
  eight different curricula. We would not be giving
  service to young Australians if we just accept
  that there are eight jurisdictions. I see it as
  our responsibility to prepare the next generation
  to be well equipped as global citizens, to be
  proud and well-developed Australians as much as
  they are New South Welshmen or Queenslanders or
  West Australians (Dr Brendan Nelson in The
  Australian, 26/6/2003, p. 1)

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The National Curriculum Story

• 1969 the Australian Science Education Project
  (ASEP)
• 1975 Curriculum Development Centre (CDC)
  established (SEMP other projects)
• 1980 CDC core curriculum paper
• 1981 CDC absorbed into Commonwealth Department
  of Education
• 1983 CDC one of four Divisions in the
  Commonwealth Schools Commission
• 1987 Schools Commission abolished

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National curriculum Story (continued)

• 1988 Strengthening Australias Schools calls
  for a national effort/national perspective in
  education
• 1989 Australian Education Council (AEC) meeting
  in Hobart National Goals of Schooling national
  curriculum agency national curriculum activity
  annual report on Australian schooling
• 1989-1993 Curriculum mapping 8 Learning Areas
  (1991) Statements and Profiles development
• 1993 AEC refers Statements and Profiles back to
  the States

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National Curriculum Story (continued)

• 1993-2003 Commonwealth initiates/funds specific
  curriculum projects (e.g., Discovering Democracy,
  values education) and national benchmarks
• 1999 Adelaide Declaration National Goals for
  Schooling in the 21st century
• 2002 MCEETYA calls for nationally consistent
  curriculum outcomes
• 2003 Dr Nelson calls for uniform national
  standards.

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Models of national curriculum collaboration

• Influencing the curriculum of the States
• Establishing broad national goals
• Emphasising curriculum commonalities
• Implementing a single national curriculum

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1989-1993 Why did it fail?

• Lacked an adequate rationale
• Failed to take account of political realities
• Failed to enunciate a view of curriculum
• Lacked a research base and was conceptually
  flawed
• Failed to take account of what is known about
  curriculum change
• Failed to build a constituency of support
• Development phase too hurried

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Why a National Curriculum?

• Geographic Facilitate student and teacher
  mobility
• Economic Economies of scale changing work
  practices
• Educational Broaden the professional
  conversation
• Democratic Making curriculum a site for a
  national conversation about what it means to be
  an Australian
• Organisational Beyond the railway gauge
  metaphor towards an Australian curriculum

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Principles to Inform National Curriculum
Collaboration

• Clarify language
• Establish a clear rationale and ensure that
  development is consistent with it
• Build a constituency of support
• Base planning on what should be, not only on what
  is
• Develop a process that engages teachers in the
  conceptualisation phase
• Recognise the political realities dont
  establish a Commonwealth-States binary
• Build the approach on a strong research and
  conceptual base, within a clearly articulated
  view of curriculum