Submission to the Review on the Australian Curriculum February 2014 Australian Literacy Educators Association Ltd PO Box 3203, Norwood SA 5067 English House, 416 Magill Road, Kensington Gardens SA 5068 Telephone +61 8 8332 2845 Facsimile +61 8 8333 0394 Email office@alea.edu.au
A. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY The second goal of Australia s most recent proclamation about the aims of education, The Melbourne Declaration on Educational Goals for Young Australians (Ministerial Council on Education, Employment. Training and Youth Affairs, MCEETYA, 2008), states that young people should engage in curriculum and educational experiences that promote creativity, innovation, cultural appreciation and personal values to ensure they become confident and creative learners equipped for a rapidly changing world as well as active and informed citizens. This document, the most recent statement of the intentions of Australian and state governments for Australia s children and youth, includes frequent references to attributes such as creativity, innovation and resourcefulness. Such forward thinking policy signals the need to examine traditional notions of curriculum and assessment and makes it imperative to provide the stimulus for children and young people at all levels of their school education to make significant shifts in their understandings of themselves and their worlds (Ewing, 2010; Wyn, 2009). Heckman (2000), for example, argues that narrowing the curriculum focus ignores the critical importance of developing social skills, adaptability and motivation. These important statements signal the need to examine traditional notions of learning and teaching to move beyond outdated conceptualizations of curriculum, pedagogy and assessment. While the shaping papers for the national curriculum were written by leading curriculum experts, the translation to the formal curriculum documents did not always reflect this and the sometimes rushed development process coupled with an unrelated and mandated high stakes testing regime have seemed at odds with such a vision. The focus on innovative and creative learning to cope with 21 st century lifelong learning is in danger of being lost if political ideologies are allowed to interfere with what is best for Australian children. The Australian Literacy Educators Association (ALEA) believes a review of the first phase of the at this time is premature: several states are only just beginning implementation of the first phase. In addition, because education is the responsibility of the states and territories the Australian Curriculum is being implemented in different ways in different states making an overall picture problematic. For example, the NSW Board of Studies has embedded the mandatory elements in its own syllabus documents rather than implement the Australian Curriculum as intended by the Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority (ACARA). It is also difficult to understand why such a review has been entrusted to two people without appropriate curriculum expertise in the first phase areas of English, Mathematics, History and Science. ALEA believes that subject area expertise and consultation with educators and other key stakeholders would be more appropriate after an initial implementation phase. Any review needs to be fair and equitable and take the time to consider a range of political, social and cultural perspectives both in what has gone before and what is needed for the future of Australia. The constant call for a back to basics curriculum or a return to past models is not a constructive way to nurture a profession striving to prepare students for the demands of the 21 st century. Recommendations: Consultation with recognised curriculum experts and practitioners needs to be undertaken in any review of the Australian Curriculum Adequate timeframes need to be established for any review to facilitate participation by all stakeholders and allow time for quality reflection and feedback Australian Literacy Educators Association Page 2 of 6
Any changes made need to be seen as an improvement of what we already have rather than another overhaul as teachers will lose energy, confidence and trust There is some inconsistency in the scoping of learning across the English curriculum. The curriculum could be enhanced by making time for ACARA to check the consistency of wording in areas such as comprehension instruction and grammar The achievement standard work samples need more funding so examples of more innovative work can be exemplified The interrelatedness of, and connections between, each curriculum area need more emphasis More focus on the arts and creativity within the learning areas without students having to be assessed in the A E framework The resourcing and lack of professional learning for teachers at a national level must be addressed. B. THE AUSTRALIAN LITERACY EDUCATORS ASSOCIATION The Australian Literacy Educators Association (ALEA) is an independent professional association dedicated to literacy and English language learning from early childhood through all stages of schooling and tertiary education contexts. ALEA recognises the critical role literacy plays in learning and communicating in all curriculum areas, and for effective participation in society. The Australian Literacy Educators Association aims to: develop a rich professional literacy and language learning community connected through the activities of the association provide a voice on national issues that affect literacy and English language teaching and learning provide opportunities for our members to engage in professional dialogue and sharing of expertise and best practice through national, state and local forums ensure members continue to grow professionally by accessing knowledge about literacy theory and leading practices through professional development and journals (Australian Journal of Language and Literacy, Practically Primary and Literacy Learning: the Middle Years) provide affirmation for our members of the importance of their role as literacy educators support our members to engage in ongoing learning to consolidate and extend their knowledge and understanding in the field of literacy stimulate, promote and support research in the field of literacy education provide access through print and electronic media to the latest information and literacy research Each state and territory has one or more local councils that provide regular teacher professional development workshops and seminars and there are state and national conferences each year, often held in conjunction with the Australian Association for the Teaching of English (AATE). ALEA publishes three journals three times a year. Other publications are provided when needed. For example in 2013 ALEA published Exley and Kervin s Playing with Grammar in the early years: learning about language in the Australian Curriculum to support teachers in their teaching of Language in the first three years of formal schooling. Our membership (totaling 2,200 direct members and almost 1,000 literacy educators reached through our Institutional members) is comprised of both individual Australian Literacy Educators Association Page 3 of 6
and institutional teachers, teacher educators, parents, policymakers and interested community members. ALEA also provides a major advocacy role in relation to significant literacy issues and a range of literacy resources for educators. ALEA's National Council has overall responsibility for the organisation and includes eight elected state directors, a National President, up to two Vice Presidents, a Publications Director and Business Manager/Secretary. The head office is located in Adelaide. ALEA thus has a keen interest in educational public policy and welcomes the opportunity to make a submission to the review of the Australian Curriculum. In preparing this response we have consulted the National Council and a number of ALEA members and a local council meeting of South Coast NSW was held specifically to discuss our response. The submission time frame, however, made it difficult to seek wider comment. After a few brief preliminary comments about the Australian Curriculum our submission concentrates on the English and literacy components of the curriculum. C. CURRICULUM SHAPING, DEVELOPMENT, MONITORING, EVALUATION AND REVIEW Consultation during the drafting of the Australian Curriculum has been open and transparent and attempted to be representative despite the short time frame for the consultation phase. The full range of school types and locations within Australia were selected to be involved in the trialling of aspects of the Australian Curriculum in the development phase. Nevertheless, early consultation suggested the timeframe for more extensive feedback was insufficient and that the first phase documents were content heavy. This over emphasis on content has only been partially addressed. The Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority (ACARA) continues to seek ongoing feedback from all educators and any member of the community via the website and through formal consultation with each state. The online digital delivery of the Australian Curriculum provides the opportunity for the Australian Curriculum to be constantly updated, responding to this feedback, meaning that it remains responsive and dynamic. To date there have been a number of different iterations of each document on the website and other forms of digital delivery substantiating this observation. The implementation of the Australian Curriculum has been very different across Australian states and territories. Key personnel in most states already engaged in the implementation phase have already announced that they will not change their implementation plans based on this review. Any review of implementation of the first phase is therefore premature. D. ENGLISH CURRICULUM CONTENT FROM FOUNDATION TO YEAR 12 The organisation of the curriculum into Language, Literature and Literacy strands positions all three as equally important and interdependent and takes the traditional English curriculum organisers of Reading, Writing, Viewing, Speaking and Listening to deeper levels that reflect a more futures focussed education. The central place of literature in the English curriculum ensures learners are immersed in rich language and that excellent models of written language are used to inspire student writing. Australian Literacy Educators Association Page 4 of 6
Some feedback in those states that are well into the implementation of the Australian Curriculum: English have reflected positively on an increased focus on grammar and literature. Many of those schools implementing the curriculum are working with rich literature prompted by the content descriptors, developing creative and imaginative learning experiences for students. This is not clearly represented in other state versions of the document. Some teachers in NSW, for example, feel that the emphasis on the three strands has been lost in the NSW English K 10 syllabus document. The Achievement Standards provide a national quality assured standard of what is expected which in turn provides the community with greater trust in the curriculum their children are accessing. The organisation into year levels when some states have worked at the stage level has, however, been problematic for some educators. From ALEA s perspective it is pleasing that exemplary teachers across all states and jurisdictions have provided (and are being asked to continue to provide) annotated work samples to illustrate to teachers what a range of demonstrations of content descriptors look like this involvement of the profession may lead over time to a greater sense of agency amongst teachers implementing the Australian Currriculum. The resourcing and lack of professional learning for teachers at a national level is of concern. A range of quality professional learning resources have been developed at the school, cluster, system, university and professional association level to provide ongoing support for teachers implementing the Australian Curriculum but more needs to be done to enable teacher professional learning to be continually developed. E. THE GENERAL CAPABILITY OF LITERACY The General Capabilities outline 21 st century skills, behaviours and dispositions that students are expected to be taught within the context of each learning area. This acknowledges that learning happens across broader contexts and is a powerful way to embed these important capabilities. In our view there is a need to emphasise the confident and creative aspects of these General Capabilities by foregrounding the importance of the creative arts in meaningful learning. It is most important that literacy remains in the Australian Curriculum as a General Capability as it demonstrates the literacy expectations required of the content areas and ensures the curriculum as a whole is cohesive and connected. It is critical that secondary teachers who may be single curriculum area focussed understand they are also teachers of literacy and that the learning of literacies in each learning area is important. Ongoing professional learning around the different literacies in different disciplines/key Learning Areas is essential. F. WHAT COULD BE IMPROVED? Any changes made need to be seen as an improvement of what we already have rather than another overhaul as teachers will lose energy, confidence and trust. Teachers seem to be incessantly expected to accommodate change when slight adjustments would provide more consistency and continuity There is some inconsistency in the scoping of learning across the English curriculum. The curriculum could be enhanced by making time for ACARA to check the consistency of wording in areas such as comprehension instruction and grammar Australian Literacy Educators Association Page 5 of 6
The achievement standard work samples need more funding so examples of more innovative work can be exemplified The interrelatedness of, and connections between, each curriculum area need more emphasis. More authentic integration of curriculum areas is essential: currently primary teachers are being driven by the need to assess students in 4 and soon to be 5 areas. This is stifling creative practice with the feeling of a crowded curriculum in primary education More focus on the arts and creativity within the learning areas without students having to be assessed in the A E framework is important. Many teachers believe that the A E assessment framework is undermining the time needed for accurate assessment for learning. A continuum of learning rather than such labels would be highly desirable. References: Ewing, R. (2010). The Arts and Australian Education: Realising potential. Melbourne: Australian Council for Educational Research. Heckman, J. J. (2000, March). Policies to foster human capital. Research in Economics 54(1), 3 56. Wyn, J. (2009). Touching the Future: Building futures for life and work. Melbourne: Australian Council for Educational Research. Australian Literacy Educators Association Page 6 of 6