Make schooling an election issue

NSW Catholic Schools chief executive Dallas McInerney makes a strong case when he says every Australian school should be able to use the newly released NSW syllabus instead of the problematic national curriculum. Schools outside NSW with the necessary autonomy should consider the suggestion seriously. The national curriculum, devised under the Rudd-Gillard so-called education revolution, was well-intentioned to lift standards across all states and territories, which were patchy and poor. But it has failed in major areas, with boys’ reading problems worsening significantly, as NAPLAN results show.

Mr McInerney’s view, that the national curriculum is “very vague and not teacher-friendly, and is not written for practical application”, mirrors widespread criticisms among principals and teachers. Its cross-curriculum priorities – Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Histories and Cultures; Asia and Australia’s Engagement with Asia; and Sustainability – are out of place and a distraction in subjects such as maths. They should be scrapped, and the issues covered, factually rather than in an ideological fashion, in relevant subjects.

The NSW syllabus has much to recommend it, education editor Natasha Bita reported last year. The biggest overhaul of classroom teaching since the 1970s has been designed to ensure students master the basics: maths, reading, writing and grammar. They also will receive a sound foundation in history and geography, preparing them for further learning and imparting the knowledge students will need to think for themselves. Woke jargon is out.

Before the release of NAPLAN results for years 3, 5, 7 and 9 students in December last year, a cluster of Catholic schools in the ACT asserted their autonomy, achieving dramatic improvements in literacy and numeracy. The schools adopted an old-school teaching style, known as direct instruction/explicit teaching. The outcome prompted Indigenous leader Noel Pearson, a strong proponent of explicit teaching in his Good to Great Schools Australia program, castigated state teachers’ unions for telling members to ignore phonics-based reading instruction and explicit teaching.

The December NAPLAN results were an epic fail, highlighting the crisis in schooling. One in three children failed to meet baseline standards, with 400,000 children falling so far behind they require remedial tutoring. The situation, which will undermine their job prospects and chances in life, as well as the wider economy and society, is intolerable. The matter deserves serious debate from both sides during the election campaign. Education Minister Jason Clare says he is focused on “making sure our kids learn to read and write and count, that kids who fall behind catch up and keep up and finish high school”. Opposition education spokeswoman Sarah Henderson has promised a “knowledge-rich, commonsense curriculum” taught through explicit instruction. More detail is needed. The NSW syllabus, which Mr McInerney says is “a winning formula”, content- and knowledge-rich with direct instruction guidelines, would be a good place to start.