Abstract
In May 2018, the NSW Premier, the Minister for Education, Rob Stokes, announced a review of the NSW curriculum. The Minister hailed it as “the first comprehensive shakeup of the Kindergarten to Year 12 curriculum since 1989”. How did reformers in that era grapple with the issues today confronting the NSW Curriculum Review? Using the issues prominent in the Terms of Reference of the Review as a lens, this paper examines key reforms from that period such as the raising of the NSW school-leaving age in 2010. It is informed by historical and policy analyses and interviews with key actors. It determines that reform has been shaped by NSW’s own distinctive curriculum style. This style has three principal characteristics: an emphasis on the centrality of academic knowledge; an insistence on rigour and competitive assessment; and a preference at the secondary level for conventional subject matter disciplines rather than an integrated or “interdisciplinary” curriculum.
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Notes
The Board of Studies, Teaching and Education Standards (BOSTES), commenced operation in January 2014 and brought together the functions previously provided by the Board of Studies NSW, and the NSW Institute of Teachers. The NSW Education Standards Authority (NESA) replaced BOSTES in January 2017.
See Hughes (2002) for an outline of the Wyndham Scheme.
A view shared by Patrick Lee (Lee, 2018). Patrick Lee is Adviser, NSW Education Standards Authority and former Chief Executive, NSW Institute of Teachers. He was interviewed by the author on 28 August 2018.
Apparent retention rate is defined as the number of full-time students in year 12 in a particular calendar year, divided by the number of students who were in the first year of secondary school when the cohort started.
John Dawkins was the Minister for Employment, Education, and Training from 1987 to 1991 in the Commonwealth Labor Government.
For an extended conceptual discussion of equity and policy in education, see Levin 2003.
For a more extensive history of the HSC, see McGaw (1996), Appendix A: Development of the NSW HSC, pp. 116–178.
The Universities Admissions Index (UAI) replaced the Tertiary Entrance Rank (TER) from 1998. The Australian Tertiary Admission Rank (ATAR) replaced the UAI in 2009.
This is the view of Margaret Vickers, Emeritus Professor, Centre for Educational Research, Western Sydney University. She was interviewed by the author on 27 September 2018.
Fitzgerald (2018) argued that the major change in the HSC since 1989 has been more vocational courses. Denis Fitzgerald is the Vice President, New South Wales Teachers Federation. He was interviewed by the author on 17 September 2018.
Quoted by Sherington and Hughes (2012), p 142.
In 2008, the National Assessment Program Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN) tests were introduced to assess students’ literacy and numeracy skills across all Australian schools. The tests are administered in May for students in years 3, 5, 7, and 9.
There was a range of approaches taken by the jurisdictions to the implementation of the Australian Curriculum. See Louden et al. (2016) p. 37.
Tom Alegounarias was interviewed by the author on 24 July 2018.
Bill Green is Emeritus Professor, School of Teacher Education, Charles Sturt University. He was interviewed by the author on 28 September 2018.
A view shared by Bill Green (2018).
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Acknowledgments
This is a revised version of a background paper commissioned by the NSW Educational Standards Authority for the NSW Curriculum Review titled “A discussion paper on the history of the New South Wales curriculum since 1989: context, cases and commentary on curriculum change”. That paper is available at https://nswcurriculumreview.nesa.nsw.edu.au/home/siteAreaContent/58b95b7d-a7a3-465d-b0af-cf423e74259a
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Interviews
Alegounarias, T. Interview by Author, 24 July 2018.
Chairperson of the NSW Education Standards Authority Board.
Fitzgerald, D. Interview by Author, 17 September 2018.
Vice President, New South Wales Teachers Federation.
Green, B. Interview by Author, 28 September 2018.
Emeritus Professor Bill Green, School of Teacher Education, Charles Sturt University.
Lee, P. Interview by Author, 28 August 2018.
Adviser, NSW Education Standards Authority.
Former Chief Executive, NSW Institute of Teachers.
Vickers, M. Interview by Author, 27 September 2018.
Emeritus Professor Margaret Vickers, Centre for Educational Research, Western Sydney University.
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Hughes, J. The antecedents of the New South Wales Curriculum Review: an introduction to the New South Wales curriculum style. Curric Perspect 39, 147–157 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s41297-019-00083-3
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s41297-019-00083-3