NSW curriculum ‘stuck in the 1950s’, says educator of the year

National literacy and numeracy tests are the ‘most misused instrument in education’ and the HSC is dead, says top NSW educator.

Greg Whitby, the executive director of Catholic Education in the Parramatta diocese.

The national literacy and numeracy tests are the “most severely misused instrument in education’’ and have spawned a teach-to-the-test cottage industry, NSW’s ­higher school certificate is “dead but won’t fall over’’ and the curriculum is “not fit for purpose’’.

These are some of the stinging assessments from NSW’s educator of the year, Greg Whitby, who is leading the push for Australia’s education system to modernise and be responsive to the constantly changing lifestyles and needs of students and parents.

The executive director of Catholic Education in the Parramatta diocese points to the customer evolution in business where ­industries such as banking are now less about bricks and mortar and more about harnessing technology to fit around people’s lives, becoming nimble and agile in the process.

Schools, however, still “largely operate like the world hasn’t changed’’, based on a factory model.

“The lifestyle hasn’t hit,’’ Mr Whitby said. “You still have to sit down and do as you’re told when you’re told. We’ve got generations of kids being brought up not even experiencing that sort of thing at home. The challenge is to make the schooling experience contemporary and that’s the single message I have. We need to make it match the world ... and how that world operates.’’

He said the injection of $23.5 billion extra from the Gonski 2.0 school funding changes presented the opportunity to transform the system, moving from back-to-basics to producing “future-ready’’ students.

Mr Whitby argued the NSW curriculum did not fit any more in a contemporary world. Rather, it was designed in the late 1950s when school-leavers went to work in the coalmines, the banks, or a few went off to university.

The curriculum is a rigid framework and instead of ideological battles over subjects whenever the government changed hands, schooling must be relevant, engaging and give students the chance to solve really complex problems and work in teams.

Learning, he said, was about being “able to express your point and it doesn’t matter whether that point is about indigenous culture or European invasion — that’s not the point’’. “We’re still providing this rigid framework that assumes that learning happens sequentially.’’ He said the priority had to be on the “engine” driving the education system.

“This engine needs to be what I call an inquiry model driven by ­actual inquiry, deep thought, deep research, collaboration, co-operation — all the things we know work for learning,’’ he said.

Mr Whitby was awarded the Australian College of Educators NSW branch Sir Harold Wyndham Medal earlier this year for his outstanding contribution to the education of young people.

He also took issue with the way the National Assessment Program — Literacy and Numeracy had morphed from its original ­intention of being a diagnostic test. “While ever it remains high-stakes it will always be misused,’’ he said. “NAPLAN is the most ­severely misused instrument in education.’’ NAPLAN had been hijacked from being an instrument for schools to look and reflect on the progress of students to an entire industry with NAPLAN coaching and books on “how to pass your NAPLAN’’. “It distorts and ­diverts, that’s my issue with ­NAPLAN. It shifts the whole focus so that you do get some schools that will teach to the test,’’ he said. Mr Whitby also questioned the longevity of final-year external exams.

“The HSC is dead. It’s dead and it won’t fall over,’’ he said. Just over 20 per cent of students relied on their Australian Tertiary Admission Rank to gain entry into university, he said, with many tertiary institutions now widening their enrolment net to look at other attributes, including life ­experience and aptitude.