New information on Policies and Priorities in education in Australia released
26 June 2024 New information on Policies and Priorities in education has been released by ACARA as part of the National Report on Schooling in Australia 2023.
The Policies and Priorities chapter details the activities undertaken by the Australian, state and territory governments and the Catholic and independent school sectors to improve education outcomes in Australia.
The National Report on Schooling in Australia is being progressively released, providing more timely commentary on progress against nationally agreed policy initiatives by Australia’s school education sector as the information becomes available.
The next release in December 2024 will focus on Vocational Education and Training and Student Attainment. The complete National Report will be released in February 2025.
ACARA statement on the OECD PISA 2022 – Creative Minds, Creative Schools report
19 June 2024 Welcoming the findings of the OECD’s latest PISA 2022 report ‘Creative Minds, Creative Schools’, ACARA Acting CEO Stephen Gniel said:
“Critical and creative thinking is one of the Australian Curriculum’s general capabilities, which are integrated and applied across all the learning areas. So, it’s pleasing to see Australia as amongst those singled out for praise by the OECD as a high-performing system in the world for creative thinking in education.
"Supporting the growth of students’ critical and creative thinking capabilities is one of the ways that the Australian Curriculum develops our young people’s skills for life. Thanks to the dedication of teachers and principals right around the country, the Australian Curriculum comes alive in their hands as they make the expert decisions about the learning experience each student needs in order to succeed.
"As our recently released 2023 NAP Science Literacy assessment also demonstrated, students who reported engaging more frequently in Critical and Creative Thinking (CCT) activities tended to have higher levels of science literacy.
"Overall Australian students’ strong creative thinking results are a positive outcome of our country’s long-term strategic commitment to creative thinking in our curriculum and our assessment and reporting practices.”
Find out more about the Australian Curriculum’s Critical and Creative Thinking general capability.
Find out more about the National Assessment Program (NAP) Science Literacy 2023 report on the ACARA website: report and media release.
You can access the recording of the PISA launch at
https://oecdedutoday.com/oecd-education-webinars/ which unpacks the data in the report.