NSW Education: School syllabus shake-up promotes the classics, Shakespeare and Austen back for the HSC

Writing skills, grammar, punctuation, vocabulary and proper sentence structure will also be given much greater priority under the biggest syllabus shake-up in two decades.

• ACADEMICS AT LOGGERHEADS OVER HSC CHANGES
• PUTTING THE ‘CLASS’ BACK INTO CLASSROOM
• DOZENS OF NEW SCHOOLS PLANNED FOR NSW
• HSC NOT THE ONLY MEASURE OF KIDS’ ABILITY

INEFFECTIVE school courses riddled with lightweight texts have been dumped and Shakespeare is back under the biggest overhaul of the HSC syllabus in two decades.

The classical works of the Bard, Jane Austen, Charles Dickens and Joseph Conrad will become mandatory for Year 11 and Year 12 students to study in new back-to-basics syllabuses to be unveiled to schools today.

Writing skills, grammar, punctuation, vocabulary and proper sentence structure will also be given much greater priority under the shake-up as a ­compulsory part of the new English syllabus.

William Shakespeare ... The Bard is back in the HSC Syllabus.

Whole study areas criticised by students, parents and teachers as “woolly concepts” have been dumped, including the requirement to interpret English texts through a theme such as “Journeys”, “Discovery” or “Belonging”.

In maths, a knowledge of ­financial literacy, statistics and the application of technology such as knowing how a Google algorithm works will be mandatory.

The science syllabus will include study of desalination, stem cell research, gravitational waves and the prediction of seismic events.

Australia’s longest-serving prime minister Sir Robert Menzies receives three references in the revised History Extension syllabus, while Labor hero Gough Whitlam gets just one.

Both world wars along with the role of the Anzacs in Australian politics and culture are included in the new history syllabuses.

“We are emphasising depth above breadth,” the president of NSW Education Standards Authority Tom Alegounarias said yesterday.

Charles Dickens is returning to the HSC syllabus

Jane Austen will be mandatory for years 11 and 12

“Previously, there was too much choice (of subject ­material) that lent itself to rote learning.

“In science there will be more science and less social theory, so that the course ‘Search for Better Health’ will become ‘Non-infectious Diseases and Disorders’, and ‘Moving About’ will become ‘Kinematics and Dynamics’.

“This has come at a time when we want more experts in science … so if you are studying physics then you will have to study the more difficult maths.”

Education chiefs said they had listened to sustained criticism from employers and businesses that many school leavers applying for jobs lacked basic skills in literacy and numeracy.

All subjects will now have a “work and enterprise” component, making them more relevant to the workplace for students.

Civics and citizenship will be embedded across the curriculum to a much greater extent to teach students basic life skills in the community.

The changes are aimed at shoring up the international reputation of the HSC and making it more rigorous and accessible to students.

Mr Alegounarias said the state’s teachers would need to do more professional development to get up to speed on the changes to the course content.

“The key is that these syllabuses haven’t changed for a couple of decades,” he said.

“There will still be choices available, but what we want is mastery (by students over the subjects they study).

“They will provide HSC students with a richer learning experience and enable them to develop a greater mastery of knowledge and skills.

“In English, for example, Shakespeare or the equivalent other aspects of great literature will be mandatory.”

The CEO of the Education Standards Authority David de Carvalho stressed the changes were designed to better prepare school leavers for the real world: “The syllabuses are designed to equip NSW students with the skills they will require after they leave school, for further study, for work and life.”

Catholic Education Commission NSW executive director Brian Croke said the new syllabuses would encourage students to study traditional core courses rather than avoid them in favour of what were seen as “easier” subjects.

Dr Croke said new mathematics pathways in Years 9 and 10 would prepare more students for success in the study of calculus and statistics in Year 11 and 12 courses.

“These new syllabuses will allow students to study courses that are most appropriate to their ability,” Dr Croke said. “This will help ensure continued high participation rates particularly in physics, chemistry and maths at a time when more students are completing Year 12 than ever before.”

More than 7000 teachers, students, professional associations, industry representatives and academics have contributed to the new syllabuses, which will be taught to Year 11 students from 2018 and to Year 12 students from 2019.

KIDS GIVE CHANGES THE THUMBS-UP

Carleen Frost

“TEACH us the skills we need for the “real world”.

That’s the message from students who have told The Daily Telegraph they want to know how to manage their money, navigate the internet and apply the English language to succeed in their adult lives.

Narrabeen Sports High School students Chloe Arathoon, 14, and Jordan Noble, 15, both agreed that an emphasis on financial literacy in the HSC would be crucial to how they managed their budgets once they had graduated.

Narrabeen Sports High School students Chloe Arathoon, 14, and Jordan Noble, 15 said they want the syllabus to help them prepare for the real world. Picture: Dylan Robinson

The Year 10 students said they felt the new “work and enterprise” component of the syllabus would help them secure a job.

They were not overly excited about the greater emphasis on classic Shakespearean texts — but they did admit it would probably be good for them to study.

“I think in some ways it’s not one of the most exciting things but I do think that it is important to study things like that,” Chloe said.

Both agreed that being able to learn how a Google algorithm works would be “really cool”.

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