Schooling shake-up

Australian education curriculum ‘failed a generation of kids’

AUSTRALIA’S school curriculum has failed a generation of children and must focus on stretching individual students to improve every year, according to a new report.

More money is being pumped into Australian schools than ever but the country is going backwards in international academic rankings.

“Our goal should be to be heading in the precisely the opposite direction,” Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull said yesterday. “There’s a lot riding on this.”

The report, commissioned by the Federal Government and prepared by a panel headed by businessman David Gonski, said student outcomes must go beyond meeting ageor year-based expectations, focusing instead on progressive hurdles in each subject.

It calls for a greater focus on literacy and numeracy in early education and an urgent inquiry into the teaching and assessment of Year 11 and 12 students. There’s also a raft of recommendations to support teachers, including the development of an online tool to track student progress and suggest individualised supports.

“If we get it wrong, presumably we stay where we are, which is not good enough,” Mr Gonski told reporters.

“If we can get these tools to the teachers – our teachers who are talented and by the way equipped, and we want to equip them better both with time and obviously backing – we’ll be able to shoot for the stars.”

Federal Education Minister Simon Birmingham said not only were more students performing at a lower level, but fewer were performing at a very advanced level.

Teachers needed the tools and time to ensure students reached their maximum abilities, rather than “bowling down the middle” in managing their classrooms, he said.

Labor education spokeswoman Tanya Plibersek said there was nothing particularly objectionable or new in the panel’s recommendations.