Teachers Federation Decision October Council 23/10/2010

Organiser; David Ferguson

NSW TEACHERS FEDERATION

NATIONAL CURRICULUM

The Teachers Federation has a longstanding in-principle support of a national curriculum for
Australia. However the current process surrounding the development of such a curriculum by
the Federal government and ACARA has lost the confidence of the teaching profession in
NSW. Federation notes the stand to date by the Minister in rejecting the National Curriculum.

Accordingly, the union must now withdraw its support for an Australia wide curriculum until
the state and federal governments abandon the obscene haste with which it is currently being
developed and engage in a sustained and educationally focused dialogue with the profession
and the educational community.

The proposition that any national curriculum could be endorsed by December of this year is
absurd. Current curriculum proposals are ill-conceived, exceedingly ideological, regressive in
philosophy and approach and completely unfit to be used for the development of school-
based or system wide programs. Any national curriculum must be based on students’ needs
not the timetables of politicians or distant bureaucrats.

The existing national curriculum proposals are shoddy, incomplete, and a threat to NSW’s
high educational standards, therefore potentially threatening vital curriculum areas and
subjects. As a result of the flawed process, implementation in its current form is bound to
cause massive turmoil in schooling. The National Curriculum, as it currently stands, is hastily
developed and lacking intellectual integrity, equity and inclusiveness. There is no educational
group of any consequence in NSW who believes that a national curriculum is ready to be
supported or implemented on the current formulations.

The Federation welcomes the statement by the Shadow Education Minister, Adrian Piccoli,
expressing grave fears around the present curriculum proposals.

1. The Federation insists that the NSW Education Minister does not sign any endorsement
of a national curriculum this year as it has not been recommended by the Board of
Studies. It also calls upon the Minister to insist that no implementation take place in
2011 in any part of Australia as any such implementation would make the existing
national curriculum framework a fait accompli for the rest of the nation. The Federation
will work with the AEU and will be contacting the responsible ministers at all levels to
ensure that the current national curriculum documents are not introduced into schools
next year.

2. The Federation will campaign to ensure that 2011 be a year of consultation between
governments, ACARA, the teaching profession and the educational community. During
these twelve months agreement will be sought around the content of a national
curriculum with the possibility of initial implementation from 2012.

3. The Federation will hold discussions with all sectors of the educational community to
ensure that there is no ministerial sign-off of any national curriculum in 2010 and to
guarantee that 2011 is a year of professional dialogue and consideration of a national
curriculum. Further, that a National Curriculum Symposium be held prior to November
Council which brings together representatives from all the Professional Associations K-
12.

4. If the NSW government is so willful that it would disregard the interests of the state’s
school students and the clearly expressed views of the teaching profession by signing
off on a national curriculum in 2010 then the Teachers Federation will have a
professional responsibility to guarantee that such a low standard curriculum is not
taught in the public schools of the state.
5. That Federation initiate an open letter to NSW Minister for Education Verity Firth and
the leader of the NSW Opposition to be endorsed by key education stakeholders. This
open letter will be published in the mainstream media. It will outline the community’s
opposition to the National Curriculum in its current form and call for additional time for
consultation.

6. The Federation calls on the DET to reject any Australian Curriculum that is inferior to
that currently in place in NSW. We call on the DET to ensure that the needs of all
students, including those with special needs and those studying extension courses are
met in Stage 6.

7. The NSW Teachers Federation will develop an aggressive media campaign that
highlights the deficiencies of the proposed National Curriculum, and the responses of
politicians to this issue.

8. As a matter of urgency the Federation pursue genuine teacher consultation in a

reasonable time frame with ACARA concerning the national curriculum, particularly in
regard to the decimation of creative and performing arts and other syllabuses as they
currently stand in NSW.