Australian Education at the Core
Key Question for Government Policy: What Is Essential Learning?
Sep 30, 2007
Australian government at both State and federal levels aims to establish a national curriculum for schools. At the same time the Australian Primary Principals Association (APPA) has released the final version of its Charter for Primary School Education. Taken on face value the Charter, together with the core curriculum proposed by governments, provoke serious questions about the purposes of education.
The Current Curriculum
Under a 1999 agreement, the basic curriculum framework for all States and Territories comprises eight learning areas: the arts; English; health and physical education; languages other than English; mathematics; science; technology; and society and environment. With this curriculum as a basis, said the governments, education would be comprehensive and balanced, although literacy and numeracy were given a special mention.
The Core School Curriculum
Now, however, the APPA proposes that the primary school curriculum should have only four essential learning areas at its core:
- English literacy
- Mathematics
- Science
- Social Education
The Charter gives the first two priority over the others. (APPA has said publicly that they should get about half the school-day.) It argues that with such a restricted core curriculum the school will have the flexibility to engage with other important areas of learning and experience. Thus, says the Charter, the school can “respond to individual and local needs, interests and circumstances.”
National Curriculum Proposals
The country is clearly moving quickly towards establishing a national school curriculum under a government led by either John Howard or Kevin Rudd. There seems to be broad agreement among political parties on the same four areas proposed by the Charter. The Federal Labor Opposition also aims to boost languages education. Opposition Leader Rudd, in his own public statements, gives special prominence to Languages Other Than English, as well as including Geography in his preferred curriculum.
Education for What?
Before building a curriculum framework governments and authorities must first be clear about the purpose of schooling. The Charter emphasises that primary school teachers attend to the whole of the child rather than to a particular subject or discipline, as tends to be the case in secondary and tertiary institutions. Yet the strongest abilities of many children could not readily be cultivated within the four-fold APPA curriculum. While few would disagree that literacy and numeracy should be among high priorities in the education of children, the curriculum should cover a wider range to ensure that each student can cultivate strengths while also working on weaker abilities. There is significant support, for example, for making music education essential. Physical education is another strongly backed candidate. The core curriculum proposed by APPA and the governments is based on demands of certain sectors of society. The purpose of a good education should be to meet the needs of each child within the wider social context.
Curriculum Integration
The Charter does hint in passing that the arts, physical education and other activities can aid the development of literacy and numeracy. This seems to imply that some integration of curricular areas is justified. True, but adequate attention to all these learning areas demands regular time devoted specifically to each. Moreover, children gifted in a particular area deserve time and attention to develop that gift.
Extension of School Hours
Is it possible to give all the areas the lesson-time they deserve in the current five hours of teaching from Monday to Friday? And should school-children have fewer holidays? The notion of extending school-hours is discussed seriously by some in the education community. Of course it raises questions about the time-limits of children’s attention and teachers’ hours of duty, but it warrants further consideration.
