Delay for axed times table for kids

KIDS will be taught times tables in year 3 after a controversial move to delay them by a year was scrapped.

A new national curriculum draft will also axe a push for Year 2 students to identify “statues that are racist” and instead reinforce that they live in “the greatest country on earth”.

But Education Minister Alan Tudge has concerns the updated curriculum does not go far enough to lift standards, saying Australia must aim higher.

In a speech at the Centre for Independent Studies on Friday, Mr Tudge will say the curriculum has gone “from an F to perhaps a C, but Australian students deserve an A-plus”.

“There is a stronger, clearer focus on phonics … times tables will continue to be introduced in Year 3, rather than delayed to Year 4,” he will say.

“Year 2 kids will no longer be asked to identify statues that are racist. These are positive changes, but as it stands, there is still a way to go.”

The Minister will instead make a pitch for a curriculum that has students leaving school with a “love of country”, knowing the “future is bright”.

Mr Tudge says if students are constantly fed a negative view of Australia, its history and people, then it will “exacerbate existing problems” and affect their mental health.

He says it is crucial to teach students about the importance of liberal democracy in the face of the communist influence of China and fundamentalist Islam remaining dominant in many countries.

“We should expect our young people leaving school to have an understanding of our liberal democracy and how it is that we are one of the wealthiest, most free, most tolerant and most egalitarian countries in all of human history, which millions have immigrated to,” Mr Tudge will say.

“If they don’t learn this, they won’t defend it as previous generations did. We must do more to impress upon young Australians how extraordinarily lucky we are.”

Mr Tudge says he was “disappointed” by the Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority’s April draft, saying it painted a “negative view” of Australian history, referred to Anzac Day “as a contested idea” and weakened Christianity.

The Minister was briefed this week about some of the updates to the revised draft.

He is yet to see the full curriculum, slashed by more than half to 1400 pages, but is still massive in comparison to New Zealand’s 120-page document, the UK’s at 306 pages and Singapore’s 836 pages.