A: GENERAL CURRICULUM ISSUES

 

PREMISE 6A

 

The curriculum of a school is the totality of experiences of a student in that school. The development of each individual student should be the basic concern in determining school organisation, learning experiences and evaluation methods. Tertiary selection needs must not dominate secondary schools' curricula, nor secondary selection needs dominate primary curricula. Steps must be taken to ensure that there is progressive development from Kindergarten to Year 12 and a wide variety of courses of study should be available to schools at both primary and secondary levels. Co-education should be encouraged at all levels without discrimination in respect of the curriculum.

 

POLICY

 

6.1  The curriculum should be designed to include those activities which extend the individual's ability and desire to:

 

a)      think clearly, independently and critically;

 

b)      communicate effectively in both oral and written English and in other forms of expression and communication appropriate to the individual and the community;

 

c)      read effectively and with comprehension;

 

d)      use numbers and numerical languages confidently and competently;

 

e)      locate, select and use knowledge and information, being aware of the range available;

 

f)        question, analyse and synthesise;

 

g)      achieve a balanced physical development and acquire some understanding of human biological and physical needs;

 

h)      develop and exercise imagination and creativity in whatever forms the student's interests and talents may indicate;

 

i)        formulate ethical, moral and social values on an informed and reasoned basis having considered fundamental questions of living;

 

j)        develop a sense of identity and of personal and social needs;

 

k)      understand others and relate to others responsibly;

 

l)        understand the environment and the need to relate to that environment;

 

m)    participate in decision-making processes; and

 

n)      develop awareness of national identity and of the rights and responsibilities of citizens.

 

6.2  Each school should be organised in such a way that:

 

(a)    all students learn at a rate and in a manner appropriate to their level of development;

 

(b)   all students have opportunities to experience diverse educational activities;

 

(c)    provision can be made for the individual needs of students, including remediation, the development of special talents, the aspirations of local communities and the requirements of different cultural groups;

 

(d)   mature students wishing to continue their education may easily enroll at the school of their choice;

 

(e)    students have the right to withdraw from sections of learning programs to which they have conscientious or other valid objections; and

 

(f)     the special talents and skills of individual teachers are most effectively used.

 

6.3  Achievement of the range of skills specified in the Policy [Item 6.1] is seen as consistent with the acquisition of skills of literacy, oracy and numeracy. Every student should:

 

(a)    understand the value of speaking and writing grammatically;

 

(b)   understand the meaning of a wide range of words and the value of their correct use and spelling; and

 

(c)    understand the benefits of being able to apply basic mathematical functions (i.e. addition, subtraction, division and multiplication signs).

 

6.4  A wide range of courses should be available so that all schools may choose those which best suit them, taking into account differences in social, cultural and local requirements. The range of courses chosen by any school should include ones to cater for the development of all the skills listed in Policy Item 6.1.

 

6.5  Decisions about the curriculum in the school should be based on professional advice from teachers and other educationalists and should take into account the views and needs of the whole school community, including parents.

 

6.6  When new curriculum policies and/or courses are being developed, whether it is within a school, within the DET, by the Board of Studies or by some other body, parent bodies at national, state, regional and local levels (as appropriate) should be involved in all stages of the process - planning, discussion, development, implementation, dissemination and evaluation. Parents should be officially advised of major curriculum developments and proposed implementations.

 

6.7  Where students become self-tuition students, the region must provide a support program through the key learning area consultants and other schools.

 

6.8  P&C Federation endorses a process in which syllabuses are developed in genuine consultation between the Board of Studies and its representatively selected syllabus committees and consultation by those committees, but rejects procedures in which that consultation is distorted by the intervention of other parties.

 

6.9  P&C Federation reasserts its confidence in the independently developed, democratic, consultative process of syllabus development for New South Wales Government schools; and whilst recognising the positive aspects of National Profiles and Statements, it believes that these should inform debate but not overtake the importance of the K-12 development processes in New South Wales.

 

6.10    Curriculum initiatives, especially in areas of critical importance, should be related to the outcomes sought. The design, testing, implementation and evaluation of a new curriculum should be related to the needs of students, their learning experiences and the skills acquired by them. Educational dogma should be subordinated to experience.

 

6.11    The development of a broad National Curriculum Framework could provide the sharing of knowledge, experiences and understandings that are important to a cohesive yet diverse society.

 

6.12    Any National Curriculum Framework must be sufficiently broad to reflect regional, ethnic and cultural differences in the Australian community and must result from a collaborative process involving parents, teachers and students.

 

6.13    A National Curriculum Framework should not contain prescribed content or rigidly implemented programs and should not be driven by outcome statements but should be a broad framework of common learning that an education system needs to offer all Australian students and that will provide a minimum guarantee of curriculum quality.

 

6.14    A variety of support services, including courses of study, curriculum units, resource materials and subject consultants should be available to each school to allow it to develop the curriculum best suited to its needs.

 

6.15    The DET should be responsible for ensuring the satisfactory implementation and resourcing of all new curriculum programs and syllabi.

 

6.16    Distance Education policies should provide for subject teaching to students wishing to continue a course in Years 11 and 12 which is not otherwise available in their school, irrespective of location or background. Distance Education should also be available to students who, as a result of disability, including learning disabilities and learning difficulties, feel they cannot achieve well by attending the local school.

 

6.17    When new curriculum is being introduced the DET must preserve equity between country and metropolitan students by ensuring that there are no additional costs or barriers to students as a consequence of the location of their school or their home.

 

6.18    So that each student's desire and ability to learn will be extended, secondary schools should offer a wide range of courses appropriate to their students' abilities and needs and to local community expectations.

 

6.19    To enable parents and students to choose the kind of education they want, there should be available to them from each government school a prospectus which includes the aims, objectives, basic philosophy, welfare policy and curriculum outline of the school.

 

6.20    P&C Federation endorses the Director-General's Memo to Principals relating to the teaching of controversial issues.

 

6.21    The school year should be organised so as to provide the best pattern for teaching and learning.

 

B: COMPUTER EDUCATION

 

PREMISE 6B

 

Computer awareness is the right of every student within the government school system.

 

POLICY

 

6.22    Computer Education should be undertaken across the total curriculum offering of a school and all students should have access to computers.

 

6.23    Schools should purchase computers only:

 

(a)    after careful development of the school's programs to support their introduction;

 

(b)   when the school can demonstrate that all students will have equal access to the computers during their years of schooling;

 

(c)    following adequate professional development of staff in sufficient numbers to ensure continuity of the school computer education programs; and

 

(d)   when both short and long-term planning have been demonstrated.

 

6.24    Computer Studies should be recognised as a main area of secondary teaching and teachers should be designated as such.

 

6.25    Whilst acknowledging that the provision of computers benefits schools, P&C Federation believes that such provision should come from the State Government through a co-ordinated implementation plan by the DET, not from school parent organisations.

 

C: CAREERS AND VOCATIONAL EDUCATION POLICY

 

PREMISE 6C

 

Education must include Careers Education so that students leave school with dignity to achieve their own vocational choice and their own level of economic independence. Vocational education should enhance self-esteem, confidence in the ability to achieve, and broad competencies, rather than being training to fit into specific jobs, and have sufficient involvement in a range of actual or simulated career experiences to enable students to confidently choose their first career. Careers and vocational education should contribute to giving students an understanding of such things as the social and political dimensions of the world of work, paid and unpaid, and an appreciation of different views of the relations between work, leisure and life, as well as an understanding of what the different kinds of jobs are like.

 

POLICY

 

6.26    Careers education should be part of all school curriculum commencing at Kindergarten and extending to Year 12. Although it is essential that a careers education program develops smoothly, such a program does have identifiable stages.

 

(a)    An awareness stage (Years K-6) in which students should be made aware of the structure of society, the supply of goods and services, and the interrelationships within the world of work, including a study of broad career structures.

 

(b)   A guidance and exploration stage (Years 7-10) in which students should develop an understanding of living skills necessary to cope with the world of work, regardless of the particular career to be chosen. Students should be encouraged to think about their future careers systematically, in the light of their current interests and strengths, and with the assistance of family, teachers and community guidance and counselling services, begin to consider their options. They should be made aware that in each occupational area there are different levels of opportunity.

 

(c)    First career choice in which students' initial interests and strengths (at that time) are matched with possible careers to determine, recognising the likelihood of further change, the appropriate level of career (skilled, semi-skilled, unskilled etc) and the students' priorities within the appropriate career levels.

 

(d)   The stage of vocational choice (Years 11 and 12) in which careers education should support students as they plan their possible career paths.

 

6.27    To implement the staged careers education program it is essential that:

 

(a)    a careers program in Years 7-10 be developed and given the same status and time allocation as other core subjects;

 

(b)   a careers education department be established in every secondary school;

 

(c)    the position of careers teachers in secondary schools be maintained and that such teachers have qualifications and experience in industry and commerce before beginning teacher education, preferably through "sandwich courses" similar to those used by TAFE; and

 

(d)   a Directorate or similar body be established within the DET and be provided with adequate resources and support and research staff to allow it to develop curriculum and teaching materials and to continually evaluate the effectiveness of programs.

 

6.28    As TAFE has the capability to provide the simulated career experiences in a wide variety of skilled and technical areas which are an essential part of Years 7-10 Careers Education, TAFE should be required to assist in developing curriculum, teaching methods and evaluation processes as well as in providing direct assistance to secondary schools in mounting careers education programs.

 

6.29    The simulated careers program should be supplemented by work experience programs.

 

6.30    The whole curriculum has an important role in preparation for the world of work, as does teaching that fosters social understanding, participation and empowerment. School organisation, education processes and the curriculum should encourage all students to see themselves as potential employers, as creators of jobs, as employees, or as self-employed, and equip them to perform these roles.

 

6.31    General preparation for work should provide understanding and living skills necessary to cope with the world of work regardless of the particular career to be chosen. It should direct students' attention to a variety of futures and vocations. They should also learn about the value of unpaid work, such as parenting, work in the home and voluntary work.

 

6.32    Vocational courses should not be job specific; they should always include properly thought out broad competencies. Students gain these as a result of the way they are taught the subjects, including supported reflection on the subject material and job experiences. They should be expected to reflect on why the techniques they are taught work, where the industry for which they are learning is going, and what the environmental impact of the industry is, and about the power relations between people in the workplace. The competencies should be assessed as part of the general assessment of the subjects.

 

6.33    Choice of a school must not limit a student's options for employment and further education. Both vocational subjects and subjects providing access to universities must be available to all students, whether in their own schools or through groups of schools working together with TAFE colleges.

 

6.34    Pathways to jobs and tertiary institutions must allow for students to change their minds about their life plans. Mature age students must be able to return to schools, whether as full-time or part-time students, to improve their qualifications.

 

6.35    In view of the proliferation of vocational courses, a major role for the Careers Advisor should be the provision of careers counselling and advice to each student in consultation with the students' parents, and the coordination of students' choices of vocational subjects.

 

D: PHYSICAL EDUCATION, SPORT AND RECREATION

 

PREMISE 6D

 

Physical education should be an integral part of schooling and should be seen as a continuing process of education in, about, and through the physical. Physical education in schools is accomplished by the teaching and learning of physical activity, which includes fitness, skills, movement, dance, recreation, aquatics, athletics, gymnastics, games and sport. Sport and competitive team games are only one means of achieving physical education. Sports education is part of physical education, to do with the pedagogy (teaching and learning) of sports skills and physical competencies. Becoming physically educated is more than that. It is a growing awareness of one's physical self, the body and its capabilities, as well as the cultural significance of organised physical activity in Australia and the world. Physical education should be part of the key learning area Personal Development, Health and Physical Education (PD/H/PE) and sport education and school sport should be important subsets within that part of the curriculum. Health outcomes and elite performance are recognised dimensions of physical education, but they are not its primary concern, which is the educational outcome of participation in organised physical activity.

 

POLICY

 

6.36    A physical education program in Years K-6 should:

 

(a)    provide the foundations for the school's contribution to encouraging participation in organised physical activity;

 

(b)   complement the physical education that takes place within the family, within sports clubs and other organisations;

6.37          74

(c)    focus on the body for educational work, so that students have knowledge of themselves and their place in the world;

 

(d)   emphasise education in the physical, that is, learning related to the performance of physical activity, so that students learn what it is like to perform movements, like gym, for example;

 

(e)    provide education about the physical, that is, a range of knowledge and understandings so that students can make sense of physical activities, like games, for example;

 

(f)     encourage education through the physical, where physical activity is a medium for social, intellectual and moral development;

 

(g)    provide for all students, girls and boys and different groups of girls and boys, recognising their social backgrounds and circumstances;

 

(h)    be inclusive to accommodate the full spectrum of abilities and attitudes;

 

(i)      recognise the role and importance of non-physical forms of recreation, especially for those students who regard sport, in the traditional sense, as unsuitable.

 

6.37    A physical education program in Years 7-10 should:

 

(a)    build on the foundations developed in K-6 and encourage a broader vision of participation in physical activity across the lifespan;

 

(b)   complement the physical education that takes place within the family, within sports clubs and other organisations;

 

(c)    be relevant to adolescents by acknowledging the place of school physical education in relation to popular physical culture, like surfing, roller-blading, weight lifting and aerobics, for example;

 

(d)   emphasise education in the physical, that is, learning related to the performance of physical activity, so that students can build on their confidence and competencies;

 

(e)    ensure adolescents' enjoyment of physical activity;

 

(f)     provide education about the physical, that is, a range of knowledge and understandings, so that students can make sense of physical education alongside other cultural practices like the fashion and fitness industries, for example;

 

(g)    give meaning to the body in its many shapes and forms, so that girls and boys are not dominated by the tyranny of slenderness and commercial body images;

 

(h)    encourage education through the physical, where physical activity is a medium for social, intellectual and moral development;

 

(i)      provide for all students, adolescents and young men and women recognising their social backgrounds and circumstances;

 

(j)     accommodate the full spectrum of abilities and attitudes;

 

(k)   recognise the role and importance of non-physical forms of recreation, especially for those students who regard sport, in the traditional sense, as unsuitable.

 

6.38    A physical education program in Years 11-12 should:

 

(a)    encourage students to continue their physical education throughout life, and through different life stages;

 

(b)   provide an opportunity to participate in physical activities, so that the school stands alongside the work site, families, sports clubs and recreation centres;

 

(c)    be relevant to young adults, and ensure that young men and women participate in physical education in an equitable way;

 

(d)   help students to develop a critical understanding of physical culture as it is presented in the media;

 

(e)    contribute to the way men and women think of themselves as male or female, Australian, healthy, fit and capable;

 

(f)     provide for all students, recognising their diversity and their needs for competition and recreation.

 

6.39    All school physical activity should be timetabled so that students and teachers are not exposed to the sun at times of greatest risk.

 

6.40    Sport should take place across the K-12 years as one means of teaching and learning in physical education. It should:

 

(a)    include the development and appreciation of sport skills, an appreciation of the codes of  behaviour whether actually participating in or watching sport, and an overall understanding and appreciation for the rules of various sports;

 

(b)   include participation in sport administration and sport refereeing, both aspects of which are essential to the playing of sport and its organisation;

 

(c)    be based on a comprehensive educational policy for Years 11 and 12 which has regard to the total health of the individual student and a range of opportunities for continuing physical education and sport.

 

6.41    Teacher education in the area of physical education should be strengthened to provide the necessary knowledge and ability to effectively implement PD/H/PE in all schools.

 

(a)    pre-service professional development should:

 

                              (i)      use teachers and student-teachers as researchers;

 

                            (ii)      be informed by a critical review of current teacher practice;

 

                           (iii)      be developed from exemplary practice;

 

                          (iv)      be geared towards work samples and materials to help teachers;

 

                            (v)      complement the work of the state system;

 

                          (vi)      draw on collaboration, with Australian Council for Health, Physical Education and Recreation (ACHPER), for example;

 

                         (vii)      be informed by an ongoing review and evaluation of teacher education, curriculum development, and curriculum implementation;

 

                       (viii)      create and sustain a professional community and network.

 

(b)   in-service and professional development should:

 

                              (i)      involve teachers' systematic monitoring and improving practice;

 

                            (ii)      use teachers' involvement in researching their own practices;

 

                           (iii)      invite input from parents and the wider community;

 

                          (iv)      renew teacher competencies and school practices;

 

                            (v)      provide examples of school programs and best practice;

 

                          (vi)      contribute to the professional literature;

 

                         (vii)      draw on collaboration with ACHPER, for example;

 

                       (viii)      be informed by an ongoing review and evaluation of teacher education, curriculum development, and curriculum implementation;

 

                          (ix)      create and sustain a professional community and network.

 

6.42    The total school community - teachers, parents and children - should be involved in all decisions regarding the choice and organisation of sport and sport education in all schools. This includes choice of programs for talented students and for students with disabilities so that their physical education, sport education and school sport needs are met.

 

6.43    The participation of non-government school students in Public Schools Sports association (PSSA) sport must not lead to a reduction in opportunities for participation of government school students.

 

6.44    Funding allocation for PD/H/PE (including sport education and school sport) should be of a level that will allow for:

 

(a)    increased staffing, including the payment of non-teacher qualified personnel;

 

(b)   the purchase and hire of equipment;

 

(c)    equitable funding for all physical education, sport education and school sport programs whether for talented students, competitive or non-competitive programs, or for programs for students with disabilities; and,

 

(d)   adequate transport for physical education and sports programs.

 

6.45    While accepting the importance of physical recreation in the development of every young person, and physical education, sport education or school sport program should take into account and include activities based upon:

 

(a)    the development of non-physical recreational skills;

 

(b)   the acceptance of passive recreation as an acceptable alternative to traditional physical education and school sport; and,

 

(c)    a diminution in the importance of competition in such programs.

 

E: LITERACY

 

PREMISE 6E

 

Literacy is of major importance in each child's education. It is a prerequisite for effective participation in society, full personal development and ongoing access to our cultural heritage.

 

All children are entitled to the learning experiences, intervention programs and support services which will enable them to achieve a standard of literacy which will enable them to function actively and effectively within our society. Parents play an important role in literacy learning and it is essential that they receive appropriate support in providing an environment that will promote literacy learning. Schools and other agencies can assist parents to provide this environment. However, the responsibility for literacy acquisition lies with the school. It is the obligation of governments to ensure that schools can carry out this responsibility.

 

POLICY

 

6.46    All schools must be provided with the resources to enable them to provide effectively for the literacy needs of very child.

 

6.47    All teachers, especially primary teachers, must be trained in a range of strategies to address the literacy needs of all children and to provide or arrange effective remediation where necessary.

 

6.48    Effective parent education programs should be put in place to assist parents to provide an environment that will promote their children's literacy learning. Such programs should have the following features:

 

(a)    they are clearly directed towards assisting parents to support their children's literacy development;

 

(b)   they are designed and provided for parents in both the early years before their children start school and their early years at school;

 

(c)    they are designed so as to reach all parents effectively and be sensitive to differing cultures and lifestyles;

 

(d)   they are accessible to all parents and not just first time parents;

 

(e)    they explain to parents the teacher's role in identifying and addressing reading problems and the importance of discussing with their child's teacher, at an early stage, any concerns about their child's literacy development; and

 

(f)     they are supported by information from appropriate agencies, such as the Health Department and the Department of Community Services, for all parents following the birth of their child, regarding ways in which they can assist their child's literacy development in the early years of childhood. The information should be easily accessible and should make parents aware of the existence of appropriate parent education programs.

 

6.49    Literacy intervention programs and diagnostic services in the early years of schooling must be provided for all children whose lack of progress indicates that they are at risk of failing to learn to read and/or write effectively. Such programs should have the following features:

 

(a)    they are characterised by flexible and diverse approaches to the teaching of reading so as to meet the widest possible range of children's needs and difficulties in literacy development;

 

(b)   in each school they should be co-ordinated and managed by specialist teachers or teachers with expertise in early literacy intervention;

 

(c)    they should involve the specialist teacher/reading tutor working in partnership with both the child's classroom teacher and his/her parent;

 

(d)   they should promote a partnership between teacher and parent in supporting the child's literacy development but should also (i) be sensitive to differing situations of parents with regards to assisting their children and (ii) recognise the value of different forms of parental involvement in their children's learning;

 

(e)    they should be regularly monitored and evaluated to promote their continued effectiveness, particularly with respect to the children's sustained improvement in literacy skills in the later years of schooling;

 

(f)     access to the programs should be based on children's achievement of desired learning outcomes in reading, determined at least once each year during the first three years of schooling;

 

(g)    all children must be given access to a program if they demonstrate difficulty in achieving appropriate reading outcomes, regardless of the percentage of children in a particular school who demonstrate a need;

 

(h)    funding for literacy intervention programs must be provided by government and must be available to schools for as long as they demonstrate a need for these programs;

 

(i)      programs must be sufficiently funded to provide effective, ongoing professional development of classroom teachers in literacy acquisition strategies to support the work being undertaken within the program; and

 

(j)     funding must be available for appropriate parent education to enable the parents of children in the program to provide effective support at home.

 

6.50    Follow-up literacy intervention programs must be made available to all children who demonstrate a need for them in the later years of schooling, both at primary and secondary level. These programs should have the following features:

 

(a)    they are made available to all students who demonstrate difficulties in achieving desired learning outcomes in reading appropriate to their age-related cohort;

 

(b)   they are managed by teachers with expertise in strategies for addressing literacy problems among older students;

 

(c)    they are accompanied by whatever professional development of classroom teachers is needed to enable them to identify students' literacy difficulties; to draw on appropriate sources of assistance and to develop links with appropriate support organizations in the community;

 

(d)   they are accompanied by appropriate parent education to enable the parents of students in the program to provide effective support; and

 

(e)    they are supported by professional development to increase the awareness of secondary classroom teachers across all key learning areas of the literacy needs of all students.

 

6.51    Follow-up literacy intervention programs must include programs with a specific focus on literacy support during the transition from primary to secondary schooling.

 

F: ENVIRONMENT EDUCATION

 

PREMISE 6F

 

Environmental education includes learning to view any situation as a whole. Student, parents and teachers should build a coherent understanding of the world. The interests of different species, whether animal or plant, are integrated. The curriculum for every student must show students how facts, skills and attitudes come together to inform their actions.

 

POLICY

 

6.52    Environmental issues should be a focus for integration in primary schools. In secondary schools environmental issues should be dealt with as appropriate in all subjects. All syllabuses must include environmental material which is explicit and mandatory.

 

6.53    The Board of Studies should ensure that different syllabuses form a coherent curriculum with suitable links but without unhelpful repetition. Environmental studies should be co-ordinated within schools so that what is done in one subject area is complemented by what is done in others. Mathematical examples should use realistic figures to show real problems to students and should present a balance of examples illustrating the various sides of the issues. This should be done in conjunction with more extended study in other subject areas. Co-ordination should also be achieved between primary and secondary schools and between different years and levels of study.

 

6.54    Teaching about the environment should present the major viewpoints fairly and as objectively as possible. Awareness of the need to confirm the accuracy of facts and learning how to do this are vital parts of the curriculum. The aim should be to encourage students to consider the issues and to make up their own minds in an informed and rational manner.

 

6.55    Training and support, including examples of good teaching about the environment should be made available widely by the DET.

 

G: OTHER SPECIFIC SUBJECT AREAS

 

PREMISE 6G (a)

 

Well prepared programs on personal relationships acceptable to the school community should be instituted in each school and should be carried out by specially trained teachers.

 

PREMISE 6G (b)

 

All children should be encouraged to speak another language other than English. In Europe many people speak 3 or 4 languages. If Australia wants to compete academically and economically with the rest of the world we need to develop more cultural understanding of people from other countries. Language learning is the most effective way to learn about another culture and be accepted by its people.

 

POLICY

 

6.56    Personal Development and Health Education programs, including Sex Education and conflict resolution should be made available to every student in Years 7 to 10 in NSW secondary schools.

 

6.57    The teaching of Languages Other Than English (LOTE) should be developed and effectively supported by government and should explicitly include an understanding of people from cultures other than their own.

 

6.58    The teaching of Languages Other Than English (LOTE) is the most effective in the early years of primary school. LOTE experiences should occur throughout the K-6 years of schooling.

 

6.59    LOTE programs should be fully funded as part of school staffing. The DET is responsible to supply qualified teachers with language skills and teaching skills.

 

6.60    P&C Federation requests the DET to support and fully fund the teaching of languages other than English (LOTE) for all students from Years K-6.

 

6.61    There should be a close link between language programs in secondary schools and their feeder primary schools.

 

6.62    The availability of LOTE subjects in secondary schools should be increased and an adequate supply of trained language teachers provided.

 

6.63    The school community should have input into which languages will be taught at their school.

 

6.64    The DET should be responsible for providing appropriate retraining for people with teaching qualifications outside of Australia and a LOTE background to enable them to undertake the teaching of LOTE in our schools.

 

6.65    Bilingual programs should be available in K-2 for students of non-English speaking backgrounds beginning school.

 

6.66    Touch typing should be included in the junior high school curriculum.

 

H: HIGHER SCHOOL CERTIFICATE

 

PREMISE 6H:

 

The final years of high school are years in which students should be encouraged to develop in maturity, to make their own choices of future life and work and of what matters to them, and, with advice, select the courses of study that are appropriate. The inevitable tensions between different purposes of education are most pronounced in those years. It is important that administrative and course structures at school, in tertiary education and in the work-force are flexible enough to enable young people to revise their choices as subsequent experience and learning lead them to revise their life plans.

 

POLICY

 

6.67    The curriculum in the senior years should take account of the various paths young people may take when they leave school. Concern with their immediate future however, should not be allowed to dominate over education for the whole of life. Thus, there is an important place in the senior school for studies such as those of literature and the arts, of languages, of mathematics, of the sciences, of law, of history, of society, of technology, of religion and of philosophy. Such studies are fundamental to the education of a person, are important in the development of rational autonomy, and provide a basis for continuing education throughout life and empowered participation in society. Empowerment is also furthered by physical education, and by understanding of health and personal matters. It is those concerns which should dominate decisions about the curriculum and assessment in these years and the study of English should be compulsory, so that these objectives can be realised in this society.

 

6.68    Within the final years of high school it is also desirable that all students continue to receive education which prepares them in a general way for the world of work and for the kind of work that they may intend to do. The aim should be to:

 

(a)    enable students to understand their career choices and what will be involved in achieving them;

 

(b)   increase their understanding of such things as the social and political dimensions of the world of work, paid and unpaid;

 

(c)    give them an awareness of the relations between the community and that world;

 

(d)   give them an appreciation of different views of the relations between work, leisure and life; and

 

(e)    give them an understanding of what the different kinds of jobs are like.

 

6.69    These two major curricular considerations partially overlap and are partly in tension. The desire to have students who will be well prepared for their first year in tertiary study and the desire to have students prepared for a particular job while they are at school must be subordinated to the broader educational aims in each case. Accordingly assessment procedures should not be allowed to be dominated by the selection requirements for universities or technical and further education institutions, nor should they be allowed to be dominated by a national training agenda that takes no account of fundamentally important general concerns, or of the need to prepare students for an uncertain future. In a rapidly changing society specific job preparation in school is likely to be out of date by the time a student seeks employment, and the costs in constantly updating equipment and in staff and student time would prevent the achievement of more fundamental educational aims.

 

6.70    When they leave school, all students of post compulsory age should receive a single Certificate from the Board of Studies, in a standard form, which should report their successes and achievements in the schooling context in Year 10 and subsequent years in their academic studies and in sporting, cultural and community service achievements. This certificate should replace the present Higher School Certificate and the Higher School Certificate should include strong use of school assessment and individual research projects, both in academic and vocational subjects, so that each student develops skills and is scored also in non-examinable competencies.

 

6.71    Each student should also receive a portfolio outlining whatever activities have contributed to the student's development both in and out of school, together with appropriate teacher comments.

 

6.72    Each student should be given a descriptive account of achievements in the student's studies and there should be an opportunity for students to challenge any descriptive account of their performance before it is finally incorporated.

 

6.73    That marks should not be used in reporting student's achievement. Where marks are used in reporting students' achievements in their studies they should be based on more than one assessment in each of the final years of study and scaling of subjects should be carried out so as to give the same marks the same meaning in different subjects.

 

6.74 &nb