Media Release: Australian Curriculum Is A Concern – March 2014

agppadevMedia Releases

Unfocused, over-crowded Australian Curriculum is a concern for Government Schools

The Australian Government Primary Principals Association (AGPPA) is calling for re-examination of the Australian Curriculum following identification of weaknesses that could detrimentally affect student learning outcomes.

Click here to read the complete media release.

AGPPA, representing over 5400 Australian government primary schools principals across all States and Territories, met in Canberra to discuss the Curriculum, and have concluded that it is over-crowded and implementation timelines are unreasonable.

“The Curriculum requires schools to complete an excessive amount of content – within an unrealistic timeline,” said AGPPA President, Gabrielle Leigh.

“Rather than skimming the broad range of syllabuses, the curriculum needs to have a stronger focus on the depth of student learning,” said Ms Leigh.

In spite of these failings, AGPPA broadly supports the notion of a Australian Curriculum.

“We endorse ACARA’s ongoing work on cross curricular approaches to develop units of work that will scaffold schools in meeting the curriculum requirements,” said Ms Leigh.

“The overall design of the curriculum is strong – using learning areas, general capabilities and cross curriculum priorities – however, further work needs doing to ensure student learning is not negatively impacted,” said Ms Leigh.