ACARA releases draft K-10 Australian Curriculum for national consultation
On Monday 1 March 2010, the Deputy Prime Minister and the Federal Education Minister, Hon Julia Gillard, released the draft K – 10 Australian Curriculum for English, mathematics, science and history for public consultation.
The draft Australian Curriculum for these learning areas is now available online at www.australiancurriculum.edu.au. The opportunity for feedback on the K-10 draft curriculum is open until 23 May 2010.
The Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority (ACARA) is encouraging the involvement of all people interested in the future of education in this country during this key stage of curriculum development.
The easiest way to provide feedback is by visiting the consultation website. Once you have registered for this website, you can read, review, download or print any, or all, of the draft K-10 Australian Curriculum.
As you view the curriculum on the website, you can provide feedback by using rating scales and/or writing comments with the click of a feedback button. The consultation website is also the place where individuals and groups can complete an online feedback survey.
In conjunction with this online feedback mechanism, ACARA will also be conducting various activities as part of its consultation processes, as outlined below.
Professor Barry McGaw, Chair of the Board, re-iterated ACARA’s invitation to all to participate during this consultation period. “The release of the draft Australian Curriculum is a significant event in our history. We must create a rigorous and demanding curriculum and want to know what others think before the Australian Curriculum in these subjects is finalised,” said Professor McGaw.
This is the time to have your say and contribute to a world-class Australian Curriculum.
ACARA works with schools and state/territory stakeholders during the consultation of the draft Australian Curriculum
ACARA will also work collaboratively with state and territory education authorities and with selected schools to gather targeted feedback on the draft curriculum.
Targeted school consultation
A number of schools expressed interest in participating in some specific activities with the draft curriculum in order to provide substantial feedback and some possible resources. About 150 schools will be undertaking a range of planning, teaching and assessing activities using the draft K-10 Australian curriculum during the period of consultation. In addition, many of these schools will also be examining the functionality, accessibility and usefulness of the online curriculum. This practical application will provide ACARA with very useful feedback to review and improve the draft materials and the online format. The 150 schools include a cross-section of schools based on jurisdiction, geography, size, sector, and socio-economic status.
Consultation forums
ACARA, in partnership with state and territory education authorities, is also conducting consultation forums in each state and territory throughout March and early April. Each of these forums will provide approximately 200 invited education stakeholders with the opportunity to provide considered feedback on the draft K-10 curriculum.
State and territory education authorities are also planning various forums in a number of locations to capture further feedback from stakeholders in their respective states and territories.
During April 2010, ACARA will convene national consultation forums, bringing together teachers and educators from each state and territory in each of the four learning areas to get further feedback on the K-10 draft curriculum. These national forums will provide an opportunity to validate the feedback and issues identified at the state and territory consultation forums.
The draft senior secondary years curriculum in English, mathematics, science and history will be released for public consultation later in April for three months consultation.
During the course of the consultation, an independent research company will be undertaking the collation, analysis and reporting of the feedback from the website and from the other consultation activities. This analysis will assist ACARA to make further improvements to the draft K-12 curriculum prior to its final publication in September/October 2010.
ACARA invites the community to a public information forum to discuss the future of Australia’s education.
Queensland Curriculum consultation session
Public Information Sessions for the draft Australian Curriculum
ACARA will hold public Information Sessions for the draft Australian Curriculum around Australia.
Details of the venues are available on the ACARA website - http://www.acara.edu.au/public_information_sessions.html
To register your interest, please email your name, organisation if applicable, and the state/ territory forum you wish to attend, and the area or ACARA’s work that you are interested in: consultation@acara.edu.au