National curriculum 'a back to basics'
ENGLISH and maths classes will return to basics, history will explore Sorry Day alongside Anzac Day and science will be made more interesting.
The changes form the backbone of a radical overhaul of teaching in Australia that will bring all states and territories under a single curriculum.
An eight-page liftout inside The Courier-Mail print edition today provides a comprehensive guide to the drafts of the first four subjects that span Prep to Year 10 and will be taught in classrooms from next year.
Under the changes, Prep students will be taught to count to 20, learn what a scientist is, write in upper and lower case letters and talk about how families share their history.
Within three years children will learn to tell the time on analogue and digital clocks and research a famous astronomer and by the time they finish primary school, students will be using paragraphs to write well structured English texts.
When they reach Year 10, students will be working with trigonometric ratios and discussing the major economic and political debates in Australia during the 20th century, including workplace reforms.
Parents will be able to follow the curriculum online to get an unprecedented look at their child's learning at every stage of schooling.
Prime Minister Kevin Rudd said the new national approach would end the "pretty patchy standards" in many classrooms and give parents confidence that their children will learn the essentials wherever they live.
"When it comes to teaching the basics, let me be very frank – what we need to make sure is our kids know how to sound out letters, that they know grammar, that they know punctuation, that they know adding up, taking away, counting. These essential elements must be part of the basic knowledge in the school education of all Australian kids," he said.
Queensland has consistently trailed the nation in literacy and numeracy and the curriculum is a centrepiece of the Government's election promise to deliver an "education revolution".
Premier Anna Bligh said a national curriculum would ensure Queensland students would not be disadvantaged.
The draft reveals Prep students will be expected to learn more and play less while Queensland's Year 7 students will face greater demands.
Queensland Association of State School Principals president Norm Hart said the Year 7 and Prep curriculums would be a challenge, with "a significant jump" required from both students and teachers.
Queensland is one of three states to currently have Year 7 in primary and not high school.
Mr Hart said the Year 7 science and history curriculum was closer to what was currently being taught in Year 8.
"It's clear in the science curriculum that there is a significant jump in the expected achievement levels," he said.
Early Childhood Teachers Association president Kim Walters said it was a sad day for Queensland's play-based Prep.
"Outdoor play will suffer because of this, I am very disappointed," she said.
The Opposition yesterday slammed the history and science components of the curriculum, saying it was left-wing and contained too much focus on indigenous Australians.
"If we get elected this year, we'll entirely review the national curriculum and if it doesn't measure up to what we expect then, the Coalition will scrap it and start again," education spokesman Christopher Pyne said.
Teachers in 155 schools will trial the subjects for the next three months.
Senior curriculum will be released next month for consultation and draft curriculum for geography, arts, and languages will follow next year.
