NOVEMBER 10 2008
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National curriculum 'must be flexible'
Julian Drape
The new national schools curriculum must be flexible to benefit students and not just contain a "rigid list of topics", Education Minister Julia Gillard says.
Ms Gillard told a Curriculum Corporation conference in Melbourne on Monday, that the new curriculum to be introduced in 2011 could not skate across the surface of subjects.
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"They (students) would lose if the curriculum became a rigid list of topics to be covered in standard ways," Ms Gillard said.
"And they would lose if the emphasis on curriculum content were to displace the focus we also need on the quality and impact of teaching itself."
The National Curriculum Board released initial advice papers on new English, maths, science and history curriculums last month.
They proposed a focus on basic grammar, physics, chemistry, biology and world history.
Ms Gillard says it is crucial to avoid "overcrowding" the curriculum.
Korea and Singapore had both recently reduced the amount of compulsory content in order to strengthen "the focus on depth of understanding and developing students learning and problem-solving skills", she said.
"We need a rigorous curriculum with the right level of flexibility."
Ms Gillard said that while the national curriculum would be compulsory, schools would not be required to teach the same subjects "line by line".
"I recognise that some schools use a specialised curriculum such as the International Baccalaureate and that some, such as Steiner and Montessori schools, have educational philosophies which involve a particular approach to curriculum," she said.
"I will ask the National Curriculum Board to advise in due course on the most effective method for confirming this recognition of well-established alternative curriculum frameworks."
The coalition said Ms Gillard was still refusing to confirm the future of schools offering unique courses.
The education minister instead was deferring the decision to the National Curriculum Board, opposition education spokesman Christopher Pyne said.
"Who is driving education policy in the Rudd government, Ms Gillard or the National Curriculum Board?" he said in a statement.
"All Ms Gillard needs to utter is three words 'or its equivalent' after national curriculum to give the non-government sector the assurances it needs."
Schools that offered curriculums based on different educational philosophies should be allowed to continue offering those choices "without being strangled out of existence by Canberra", Mr Pyne said.
Non-government schools must sign up to the new national curriculum in order to secure commonwealth funding.