NSW will not abandon an ambitious proposal to introduce new “untimed” syllabuses in schools, where students progress according to their ability rather than their age, but instead trial the concept on a small-scale basis in the coming years.
NSW Education Standards Authority chief executive Paul Martin said he believed the idea had merit but implementing it for the next school year “was too radical for the moment”.
Paul Martin, CEO of NESA, speaks at The Sydney Morning Herald schools summit held at the ICC.Credit: Dominic Lorrimer
Mr Martin and chief executive of the Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority, David de Carvalho, outlined their respective plans for curriculum reform at The Sydney Morning Herald’s school summit on Wednesday.
A key pillar of the NSW curriculum review led by Professor Geoff Masters had been “untimed” syllabuses: a proposal to redesign content so students moved through school at their own pace, based on a concern there were huge differences in ability within each year group. But the government shelved that recommendation on the weekend.
Mr Martin defended NESA’s advice to walk away from the proposal, saying the reform would require too much change too quickly for the state’s 3000-odd schools and needed further development.
He said the other core work of the review - which involves reducing content and revising syllabus sequences - would free up teachers’ time and therefore achieve Professor Masters’ aim of devoting more attention to students falling behind.
However, he said the NESA board was still “extremely interested” in Professor Masters’ proposal for untimed syllabuses.
“What we will do is run some pilots and some trials. Professor Masters is enthusiastic about that, to see what we can do with the reforms on a smaller scale before we introduce it across the state of NSW,” Mr Martin said.
“As part of the curriculum review, NESA will explore options for conducting research on innovative and promising ... models, including untimed syllabuses.”
Mr Martin said NESA was reviewing the kindergarten to year 2 English and maths syllabuses in time for 2022, and those processes would inform its approach to K-12 syllabus reform.
English content is being refined for clarity and some content has been removed to make space for foundational skills such as vocabulary and writing. Syllabus language will also become more precise, with ambiguous qualifier terms such as “some” or “more” to be axed.
Maths content is being streamlined and reduced, with repetitive outcomes and duplicate material removed. “There is a greater emphasis on reasoning, to support a deep understanding of content,” Mr Martin said.
The Australian national curriculum will also be refined and decluttered as part of its six-year review, but ACARA chief Mr de Carvalho said cutting content would not be its main focus.
“We want to give the Australian Curriculum the Marie Kondo treatment, so that regardless of how much content is left in the curriculum at the end of the process, it is properly organised, logical in its presentation ... and easily accessible,” he said.
This will involve clarifying the relationship between the curriculum’s eight learning areas, which should be teachers’ most important priority, its three cross-curriculum priorities and general capabilities.
“Clearer expectations will give back time to teachers – so they don’t have to spend so much time planning and trying to interpret the curriculum to work out exactly what they are expected to teach,” Mr de Carvalho said.
“The review has highlighted that some learning areas need more revision than others. Maths is a classic example of an area in need of more improvement and updating than some other areas of the curriculum.”
A 10-week consultation period on the Australian curriculum will open to the public at the end of April.
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