As you know St. Joseph's if starting a trial for the new curriculum which will be introduced into all Australian schools next year.
Below is some additional information.
The consultation on the draft K-10 Australian Curriculum will enable anyone to view and respond to the draft materials.
The Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority (ACARA) and states and territories will also be conducting consultation forums and workshops to gather targeted feedback from stakeholder groups.
ACARA sought advice from the states and territories on schools that might be able to provide more focused feedback on the draft curriculum. Our school is among approximately 150 schools selected to participate.
We have accepted the challenge of using some of the draft materials to do one or more of the following:
• write teaching outlines to make sure the draft curriculum is manageable and can be taught at their school
• teach a part of the draft curriculum where appropriate in the context of their already planned teaching programs.
In the trial activities, some teachers will apply parts of the draft curriculum, over a relatively short period (approximately 12 weeks) in classrooms, using it as a guide to their teaching. These teachers will supply any teaching resources they generate to ACARA at the end of the in-school trial activities, and they will also supply to ACARA any in-class work generated by students (subject to approvals from students and parents).
This material, and other feedback from the teachers (including completing an online survey, and other written reports from the teachers) will become part of the material that ACARA uses to refine the draft curriculum before publication of the final Australian Curriculum (K – 10, English, history, mathematics, science) later in 2010.
These so called “trial activities” do not constitute a full-scale trial or pilot of the curriculum in which the results, for students, teachers, and others, is subject to systematic review by ACARA and other authorities. A larger scale pilot like that could be considered by states and territories for 2011.
This is an excellent opportunity for our school to contribute to a major initiative, namely the development and finalisation of an Australian Curriculum that will be taught in all schools in Australia.
If you would like further information on the draft Australian Curriculum, including the opportunity to express your view, please visit www.australiancurriculum.edu.au.
