Simon Birmingham backs Victorian Libs’ push for ‘Australian values’ in schools

Simon Birmingham has backed a Victorian Coalition plan to prioritise the teaching of civics and “Australian values’’ in schools.

Federal Education Minister Simon Birmingham. Picture: AAP

Federal Education Minister Simon Birmingham has leapt in to support a Victorian Coalition plan to prioritise civics, citizenship and “Australian values” in schools, and to scrap elements of the national curriculum it says are distracting students.

The state opposition yesterday unveiled an Education Values Statement proposing to “declutter” the state’s curriculum, dismantle the Safe Schools program and to put a renewed focus on Western history if it wins the next state election in November.

At its core, the values statement says concepts of “the inherent dignity of the individual, religious tolerance, the principles of the Western enlightenment” are being lost in the schooling system and should be brought into focus.

It also calls for a rethink and potential removal of elements of the national curriculum, including “cross-curriculum priorities” which say indigenous history and culture, Australia’s engagement with Asia and sustainability should be incorporated in each subject.

Mr Birmingham praised its architects for taking “the lead”.

“Australian schools and families need to do more to ensure this and future generations understand our history, our way of life and our values,” he said. “It is clear that today’s students don’t learn enough about our democratic institutions, civics, citizenship and the legal or economic pillars that underpin our way of life. This plan appears to address the imbalance.”

The document says “major events that occurred in Europe and North America before 1788 are barely spoken of” in Victorian schools, and that students should learn principles of the enlightenment such as freedom of speech, equality before the law and government by consent. It vows to replace the Safe Schools LGBTI anti-bullying program with a broader anti-bullying plan.

The opposition said it would make basic literacy, numeracy and writing skills the priority.

The initiative has polarised academics. University of Melbourne professor John Polesol called it an attempt to engender concern about the current curriculum “that shouldn’t exist. To me, it’s just an attempt to generate votes”.

Dr Kevin Donnelly, a senior research fellow at the Australian Catholic University who co-chaired a 2014 review of the Australian national curriculum, said “it would go a long way to hopefully raise standards” and remove “red tape and bureaucracy that’s currently drowning schools”.