Rudd's "Education Revolution" (2 Viewers)

Do you support the change in curriculum for all Australian Schools?

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ilikebeeef

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Upon watching the 7.30 Report last night on ABC including Kerry O'Brien's interview with Julia Gillard regarding this matter, a question ultimately arises:

What is your opinion on the new school curriculum, set to commence in 2011?

Interview transcript: The 7.30 Report - ABC

News.com.au:

National curriculum 'a back to basics'

ENGLISH and maths classes will return to basics, history will explore Sorry Day alongside Anzac Day and science will be made more interesting.

The changes form the backbone of a radical overhaul of teaching in Australia that will bring all states and territories under a single curriculum.

An eight-page liftout inside The Courier-Mail print edition today provides a comprehensive guide to the drafts of the first four subjects that span Prep to Year 10 and will be taught in classrooms from next year.

Under the changes, Prep students will be taught to count to 20, learn what a scientist is, write in upper and lower case letters and talk about how families share their history.

Within three years children will learn to tell the time on analogue and digital clocks and research a famous astronomer and by the time they finish primary school, students will be using paragraphs to write well structured English texts.

When they reach Year 10, students will be working with trigonometric ratios and discussing the major economic and political debates in Australia during the 20th century, including workplace reforms.

Parents will be able to follow the curriculum online to get an unprecedented look at their child's learning at every stage of schooling.

Prime Minister Kevin Rudd said the new national approach would end the "pretty patchy standards" in many classrooms and give parents confidence that their children will learn the essentials wherever they live.

"When it comes to teaching the basics, let me be very frank – what we need to make sure is our kids know how to sound out letters, that they know grammar, that they know punctuation, that they know adding up, taking away, counting. These essential elements must be part of the basic knowledge in the school education of all Australian kids," he said.

Queensland has consistently trailed the nation in literacy and numeracy and the curriculum is a centrepiece of the Government's election promise to deliver an "education revolution".

Premier Anna Bligh said a national curriculum would ensure Queensland students would not be disadvantaged.

The draft reveals Prep students will be expected to learn more and play less while Queensland's Year 7 students will face greater demands.

Queensland Association of State School Principals president Norm Hart said the Year 7 and Prep curriculums would be a challenge, with "a significant jump" required from both students and teachers.

Queensland is one of three states to currently have Year 7 in primary and not high school.

Mr Hart said the Year 7 science and history curriculum was closer to what was currently being taught in Year 8.

"It's clear in the science curriculum that there is a significant jump in the expected achievement levels," he said.

Early Childhood Teachers Association president Kim Walters said it was a sad day for Queensland's play-based Prep.

"Outdoor play will suffer because of this, I am very disappointed," she said.

The Opposition yesterday slammed the history and science components of the curriculum, saying it was left-wing and contained too much focus on indigenous Australians.

"If we get elected this year, we'll entirely review the national curriculum and if it doesn't measure up to what we expect then, the Coalition will scrap it and start again," education spokesman Christopher Pyne said.

Teachers in 155 schools will trial the subjects for the next three months.

Senior curriculum will be released next month for consultation and draft curriculum for geography, arts, and languages will follow next year.
from National curriculum &squo;a back to basics&squo; | The Courier-Mail
 
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I don't believe it was imperative or even particularly beneficial that it was introduced.
 

scarybunny

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I just worry that all this "back to basics" is just going to make teachers teach their students to get good results in NAPLAN rather than being critically literate, esp since the myschool website.


But I am excited about the new literature strand in english. Get kids reading some good books.
 

ilikebeeef

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I just worry that all this "back to basics" is just going to make teachers teach their students to get good results in NAPLAN rather than being critically literate, esp since the myschool website.
I agree. It seems like the whole system is trying to merely "lift up the struggling students", but seem to forget about promoting the ones that have potential to excel.

But I am excited about the new literature strand in english. Get kids reading some good books.
So they're currently not reading good books?
 

badquinton304

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I just worry that all this "back to basics" is just going to make teachers teach their students to get good results in NAPLAN rather than being critically literate, esp since the myschool website.
Very good point. It should be about learning and not just passing tests. But I don't think english should be forced on people say you need it so you know how to write essays and spell, but that should be done on a separate national level where you get a certificate which deems you literate enough to study at uni or to go to tafe, etc. Mandatory english makes the HSC arts biased.
 

Durga

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Spoke to my maths teacher about this today. He said in maths, they're just dumbing down the curriculum. The curriculum has been the way it has in maths for a long time, and they want to dumb it down...

My personal opinion on the history changes that lift Sorry Day up on par with Anzac Day is just Rudd trying to get himself down in history...
 

Fish Tank

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Sunrise tells me that they're trying to introduce 'Indigenous understanding of science' into Science.

BAHAHAHAHAHAHAAA

There needs to be something so that exceptional students can advance. Sure, the struggling students need to be catered for, but it shouldn't be at the expense of the bright kids. All we'll be doing then is breeding the next generation to be dumbasses.

Soon as (or if) the curriculum comes out, betcha there'll be a ton of Labor propaganda in it. Sorry Day is only the start.
 
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Spoke to my maths teacher about this today. He said in maths, they're just dumbing down the curriculum. The curriculum has been the way it has in maths for a long time, and they want to dumb it down...

My personal opinion on the history changes that lift Sorry Day up on par with Anzac Day is just Rudd trying to get himself down in history...
Along the lines of my first impression when I read it also.
 

scarybunny

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So they're currently not reading good books?
The new syllabus has more of a focus on reading a range of significant books from different cultures, which the current syllabus doesn't have.


I do think english should be mandatory, because the syllabus is trying to teach critical literacy which is essential in everyday life so we know how text makers are trying to influence us. We can't have a nation of people who believe everything on Today Tonight and can't see bias or twisted fact. And if you plan on going to uni you'd better damn well be good at writing essay.

Edit- RE exceptional students- The syllabus is what EVERYONE is supposed to learn (in theory). It's generally up to the teacher to come up with extension tasks, usually driven by student interest.
 

Durga

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Sunrise tells me that they're trying to introduce 'Indigenous understanding of science' into Science.

BAHAHAHAHAHAHAAA

There needs to be something so that exceptional students can advance. Sure, the struggling students need to be catered for, but it shouldn't be at the expense of the bright kids. All we'll be doing then is breeding the next generation to be dumbasses.

Soon as (or if) the curriculum comes out, betcha there'll be a ton of Labor propaganda in it. Sorry Day is only the start.
Oh fuck...that's like teaching voodoo in science... Richard Dawkins is coming to Australia just in time to see this!?
 

ilikebeeef

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Very good point. It should be about learning and not just passing tests. But I don't think english should be forced on people say you need it so you know how to write essays and spell, but that should be done on a separate national level where you get a certificate which deems you literate enough to study at uni or to go to tafe, etc. Mandatory english makes the HSC arts biased.
The thing is, learning can only be measured quantitatively via tests.

And although I hate the fact that English is compulsory for the HSC, how can you say that the HSC is arts biased when you have maths extension 1 and 2 that scale uber high? The 99+ ATARs are dominated by people who do 4 unit maths, Physics and/or Chem.
 

scarybunny

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I'd argue that ranking is only important in year 12, when you're competing against everyone else for limited uni places.

BUT in other years, there should just be outcomes-based reporting.
So you have the syllabus indicator, then whether the student is working towards it, working at it, or working beyond it. The govt quietly changed it so we have to do A-E reporting, which I don't like.
 
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I'd argue that ranking is only important in year 12, when you're competing against everyone else for limited uni places.

BUT in other years, there should just be outcomes-based reporting.
So you have the syllabus indicator, then whether the student is working towards it, working at it, or working beyond it. The govt quietly changed it so we have to do A-E reporting, which I don't like.
+infinity and one
 

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Edit- RE exceptional students- The syllabus is what EVERYONE is supposed to learn (in theory). It's generally up to the teacher to come up with extension tasks, usually driven by student interest.
The only problem is that remedial has become a dirty word and as such there is increased emphasis on everyone meeting the curriculum, no more no less. The standard of year 12 maths (with the exception of 4 unit) and physics is already below that of many other developed countries and this will do nothing but to continue that trend.

Cultural understanding is all well and good but with our country's tall poppy syndrome and complacency stemming from being in a safe and free country, isolated from the rest of the world, it is no wonder the extent of our innovation in industry is to dig bigger holes.

The fact of the matter is Australia is a cultural and technological backwater where the only reason the standard of living is so high (though there is an extreme level of wealth inequality) is because of a beneficial climate and abundant natural resources.

There should be no state in which the standards taught slip due to a national curriculum. If NSW maths is harder than the rest of the country they should all be brought up to that level. The disconnect between the bureaucracy and the teachers is already massive; does Julia Gillard actually think that kids haven't been taught how to spell, read and write? Perhaps children's grammar isn't as reinforced as it was a generation ago but comprehension and creativity are a far more crucial indicator of literary ability than whether one can learn declensions by rote. And that is ignoring the social factors that are at play. Isn't it an inevitable side effect that with a much wider variety of subjects being taught to children (computing skills, sex education, anti-bullying programs) in a finite amount of time, that something else will have to give? Are we not better off for it?

I don't know, I didn't mean to go off on a rant but the Rudd government's approach seems like archaic ideas mixed with poorly implemented modern technology.

TL;DR

Edit: Fixed grammatical errors ;-)
 
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0bs3n3

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Sunrise tells me that they're trying to introduce 'Indigenous understanding of science' into Science.

BAHAHAHAHAHAHAAA
Cause, you know, Aboriginals were totally into airfoils and that when they invented the Boomerang....


But seriously, I had no idea we even HAD a Sorry Day. I don't see why we have to perpetually say Sorry, I mean, don't those sorta people who say sorry every 2 seconds piss you off? Oh and the Kindergarten kids who have to shoulder the blame were all born in the 21st Century :/ I really doubt they can quite fathom it all anyway, and aren't childhood depression rates already rising?

Jesus this country is so backwards sometimes.

EDIT: Speaking of pushing students to excel, I once read a newspaper article from the UK, apparently they don't encourage students to excel because it might cause 'elitism' lol
 
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