The Turnbull Government has blindsided the teaching
profession by planning the biggest Australian school curriculum reforms in
decades without consulting the very teachers, principals and support staff who
will be forced to implement the changes, according to the Australian Education
Union (AEU).
The planned reforms are contained in a leaked draft report,
the National School Reform Agreement (NSRA), which was discussed by Federal
Minister for Education and Training Simon Birmingham and state and territory
education ministers at the June Education Council meeting in Adelaide.
The report outlines massive reforms proposed across the
Australian curriculum, including introducing learning progressions and online
formative assessment across 15 areas of the curriculum, all in the next two to
three years and without any additional funding or resourcing for schools to
implement the changes. The report also includes a phonics test as part of a
formative assessment tool.
AEU Federal President Correna Haythorpe said that the NSW
experience with the Assessing Literacy and Numeracy (ALAN) program had shown
these curriculum reforms would leave teachers overwhelmed.
She said the changes had no chance of successful
implementation without extra school funding and the Turnbull Government failed
to include the teaching profession in consultations.
“Ignoring the teaching profession when it comes to school
reform is simply a recipe for disaster,” Ms Haythorpe said. “This report is a
blueprint for the biggest school reform in decades, all in the next two to
three years, without any additional funding or resourcing and without any
consultation whatsoever with the teaching profession.
“Simon Birmingham’s educational reforms simply will not work
to lift student outcomes if the government implements them without consulting
the teaching profession.
“If teachers and principals are not involved in education
reform, then history will show that the Turnbull Government’s efforts in the
education sector will be a dismal failure.”
The draft report calls for introducing learning progressions
and online formative assessment across 15 areas of the curriculum1.
Ms Haythorpe said real-world experience had already shown
these reforms just wouldn’t work.
“We’ve seen in New South Wales the rollout of learning
progressions in just two curriculum areas has been catastrophic,” Ms Haythorpe
said.
“Teachers were overwhelmed and their stress levels skyrocketed.
Data about student outcomes is useful, but it should be kept in the classroom.
It should not be about clicking thousands of boxes.
Data needs to help us inform teaching decisions, not
determine them.
“Now Minister Birmingham wants to rush out learning progressions
across 15
curriculum areas in only three years, with no extra funding.
“The New South Wales example highlights why curriculum
changes like this must not be developed without the deep engagement of teachers
and principals.”
Ms Haythorpe said Minister Birmingham hadn’t established any
evidence on which to justify his reform agenda.
“He is asking teachers to implement a program which has not
been successfully tested. We are basically entering into uncharted waters
here,” she said.
“The Turnbull Government is determined to roll out this
one-size-fits-all reform in a deeply inequitable funding environment, where 87
per cent of public schools will be below the Schooling Resource Standard in
2023 while 65 per cent of private schools will be above it.
“The Turnbull Government has already betrayed public schools
by ripping $1.9 billion from public education funding over the next two years.
Expecting these curriculum reforms to be successfully implemented in this
funding climate is just a pipe dream.”
The AEU Federal Executive has called on the federal
government to put on hold any decisions on the NSRA and to commit to
consultation with the teaching profession about what the agreement should
contain, and how any introduced changes should be funded.
The AEU is also seeking urgent meetings with state and
territory education ministers to discuss the teaching profession’s concerns
about the lack of consultation around the NSRA and to raise awareness of the
issues in the proposal.
“Simon Birmingham’s reforms are an attack on the
professionalism of the teaching profession,” Ms Haythorpe said.
“There has been absolutely no consultation with the teaching
profession, meaning that these reforms have absolutely no chance of success.
Our children deserve better.”
1. The Australian curriculum has eight learning (or content) areas: English, Mathematics, Science, Health and Physical Education, Humanities and Social Sciences, The Arts, Technologies and Languages. There are also seven general capabilities which refer to the knowledge, skills and behaviours that can be developed and applied across the curriculum. They cover literacy, numeracy, ICT capability, critical and creative thinking, personal and social capability, ethical understanding and intercultural understanding.
