In 2004, a study of international curriculum and assessment frameworks26 revealed that some of the few countries lacking a national curriculum were Australia, USA and Canada. In countries with a core curriculum, discretionary responsibility is generally placed at the local level for schools/teachers to interpret the curriculum to match the local context and needs. These are mainly countries that lead OECD ratings in terms of scientific, mathematical and literacy ability. In Finland, the Netherlands and Sweden, educational objectives and core subjects are centrally defined but schools are given comparatively greater freedom to set the actual learning content.27 The New Zealand curriculum28 sets the national direction for students, although each school designs and implements its own curriculum to meet needs of its students.
At the national level, Queensland has agreed to incorporate the national Statements of Learning29 developed through the Commonwealth Ministerial Council on Education, Employment, Training and Youth Affairs which is endeavouring to introduce more consistency in curriculum and years of schooling across the states and territories in Australia so that the education of the increasing number of mobile students is less compromised.
There is increasing criticism locally and nationally of current school syllabuses, from which Queensland has not been immune. There is a case that current Queensland Studies Authority (QSA) syllabuses are vague and content poor. The current practice of school-based curriculum development, whilst in principle empowering schools and teachers, also has several weaknesses and disadvantages. These anomalies can be addressed through:
Transformation, by definition, suggests deep organisational change that is for the long-term, sustainable and significant. The transformation suggested for the curriculum in Queensland is for a future that will ultimately see learning places that are quite unlike what they are at present.
Queensland is currently at a crucial stage in the development of the curriculum across all levels of schooling. In the development of the Queensland Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting (QCAR) Framework and the review of the Senior Phase of Learning Syllabuses, it is important that the QSA respond to evidence from high achieving OECD countries and be futures-oriented if Queensland school graduates are to effectively participate in, and contribute to, the knowledge economy.
A transformed curriculum in Queensland needs to:
Ongoing collaboration between educators, employers and other stakeholders will shape and reshape the qualities required of Year 12 students to enable them to graduate as lifelong learners in a creative, knowledge-based and innovative Queensland environment.
Students graduating from Queensland schooling need to be:
Mobility is an increasing feature of modern economies. For students and professionals to be mobile, they must have an education and training environment that provides a strong generic platform of knowledge and skills, and is reasonably consistent with national and international standards. Queensland’s syllabus landscape needs to be transformed to permit both better structure and a more robust and flexible platform for career development.
All countries grapple with the issues of content in syllabuses be it core, extension, specialised or combinations. The European Union and the United States7,30 acknowledge that there is a need to follow the lead of high achieving OECD countries if they are to ‘pick up‘ the long tail of their low achieving students as evidenced in the 2003 PISA results. In New Zealand, a high-achiever in PISA results, a new core curriculum has been drafted to reflect the changing needs and priorities within society.
The Smarter Learning initiative within the Smart State Strategy 2005-20158 suggests that there needs to be a sharp focus on the fundamentals in core subjects to give students deeper knowledge. A review of Year 11 and 12 syllabuses has highlighted the need for breadth and depth, learning for the 21st century, flexibility, valuing of different kinds of learning and knowledge and sustainable systems for quality and consistency. The planning and reviewing of these syllabuses need to be linked to the pace of change within these disciplines. Queensland students need to be provided with maximum flexibility for future choice of professional and educational pathways - which paradoxically means limiting, but not eliminating, choice at school level.
The approved Queensland senior syllabuses have grown in an ad hoc way and comprise many overly specialised and narrow subjects. There are over 70 separate QSA-approved subjects in Years 11 and 12 in Queensland, which is far too many. The end result is that it is currently difficult, if not impossible, for our senior students to obtain a broad education and a flexible but reliable platform of knowledge and skills for their future lives as citizens and for the development of their careers. Specialisation at a time when students may not have a clear sense of their ultimate choices or preferences constrains their opportunities and those choices, the very opposite of what they and society need to prosper in a rapidly developing world.
In general it is suggested that a system of structured flexibility around coherent themes be developed by reorganising the senior syllabus landscape in two interrelated ways:
This structure would provide a stable yet flexible platform for students, schools, employers and tertiary educational institutions to work with and from. A number of the issues outlined above are currently being considered by the QSA, but could benefit from government leadership and clear direction.
The inclusion of science and technology across year levels will support the growing demand and concern in SET and other employment streams for these necessary skills. The 2004 DEST report on science teaching and learning25 maintains relevance today.
"The ideal science education will provide an appropriate school experience for all students to achieve a level of scientific literacy, and also provide a suitable background for those (perhaps 20%) who wish to become scientists or pursue other science-related careers. Clearly, no one curriculum can prepare students for science study beyond school, meet the specialised vocational purposes of others and provide a general level of scientific literacy for all."25
Last reviewed 31 January 2007