Analysis Of The Australian Curriculum

Critical issues facing educators today include; educational inequity, socio-economic status of students, cultural diversity, stereotyping, dominate cultural paradigms, and social disadvantage. Because of these issues, educators will be best prepared for classroom life if they find ways to adapt and modify the learning environment in order, to provide for inclusive regardless of the learners needs. All children in Australia are presented with the opportunity to attend schools which are designed to be inclusive for any and all abilities. Due to the diverse nature of the school age population in Australia classrooms are made up of an assortment of needs in relation to social, cognitive, and physical areas of learning.

Curriculum is designed to develop successful learners. Confident and creative individuals and active and informed citizens (MCEECDYA, 2008, p.13). In 2008, the Australian Government promised to deliver a fair and equitable curriculum for the national’s educational system, taking the task away from the State and Local Governments. The purpose of this was to create an even level of education throughout the country whether in Hobart of Cape York, and to ensure our nations position into the 21st century. This essay will demonstrate the Nation’s curriculum, its structure and development ready for its initial implementation in 2011.

The Australian Curriculum incorporates observations as one of the fundamental skills that students are required to learn (Assessment and Reporting Authority [ACARA], n.d., ACAVAM106). Observations, such as the observational drawing of leaves completed in topic two provide students with an opportunity to develop their visual literacy skills and inquire about the world around them (Dinham, 2014, p. 39). During the different stages of drawing development, students draw upon prior learning, which they have gained through observations, to express their thoughts and make meaning. In the same way, the artist Henri Rousseau, who’s jungle paintings have been described as “…primitive and naïve” drew upon his developing catalogue of prior learning to

The Australian Curriculum basically makes sure that it is setting out the essential knowledge, understanding, skills and universal competences that are very essential for all Australian students. The Australian Curriculum makes sure that it defines the learning power of students as groundwork for their future learning, development and vigorous contribution in the Australian society. It makes obvious what every young Australians need to learn as they advance through their schooling. It is the basis for high worth teaching to come across the requirements of everyone of Australian students. Curriculum is intended to progress fruitful learners. Secure and resourceful persons and functioning and informed people (MCEECDYA, 2008, p.13). In 2008, the Australian Government swore to distribute a reasonable and just curriculum for the national's educational system, pulling the job away from the Local and State Governments. The drive of this was to generate a smooth phase of education all the way through the nation, and to also safeguard their countries locus into the 21st century. This essay will reveal the Nation's curriculum, its organization and development that had already been implemented for its initial opening in 2011.

This chapter is all about redefining curriculum themes. The themes teachers do is just topical themes that actually may not benefit the students at all when it comes to development. We need to observe the children and find out what is their interests and use that to expand their learning. If we are going to have a curriculum it should be focus on were the kids are at and not from just a textbook. We need to go from traditional theme planning to developmental theme planning which is focused on the students and helping to develop them. This developmental theme planning will help when students are asking questions, their curiosity, their strengths and interests and their play. Children love to play whether it is pretend, exploration (they want to see how things work, feel, taste and etc.), construction or playing games with rules. Also, using things like birthday parties, fears of children like floods, earthquakes, cleanup, and setup to help provide developmental themes for the systems. It is important we have props beside toys that children can use when it comes to playing so they can explore different things. We should make themes off of observations that we see from our students.

As a future educator, it will be my job to continue acknowledging, valuing and teaching Indigenous origins, histories and cultures using the Australian Institute for Teaching and School (AITSL) standard 2.4 and the Australian Curriculum. This will give my future students a better understanding that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people were the first custodians of our Australian land and of their origins. They lived in Australia 60,000 years before the British settled in 1788. I will teach an Australian historical time line prior to 1788.

A study conducted in 2003 by Ofsted that involved England, Denmark and Finland, showed England’s national curriculum compared to the other two countries was:

In exploring the Australian Curriculum, it becomes apparent that this curriculum was developed to encompass a wide range of skills and abilities that will be needed to enable young Australians to become productive and successful members of society of the future. The influence of a range of different curriculum models and education theories has bought together a comprehensive overview of what the Australian education system will deliver and how this can be accomplished.

In 1866 New South Wales enacted the Public Schools Act that aimed to address government spending on education, resulting in government schools receiving priority over denominational schools, and providing access to education for the growing number of communities across the colony . The Catholics opposed this move as it was hostile to the their belief in their own system of education and Catholic puritans helped fuel the fire of sectarianism, which continued to make state aid for church-run schools a highly controversial issue . However, times were changing as by the 1870s, in New South Wales, up to sixty per cent of Catholic school children attended state schools . Conflict escalated again in 1879 when the new Catholic Archbishop, Vaughan, denounced the state schools of New South Wales describing them as “seed-plots of future immorality, infidelity and lawlessness” and accused them of “squeezing very gradually and almost imperceptibly the Catholic faith out of Catholic people.” In response the Parkes government enacted the Public Instruction Act of 1880, which resulted in primary education becoming nominally compulsory, cheap, widespread, and removed all state aid to denominational schools . Again the Catholics responded negatively to the decision, which aided in preserving the Catholic identity, although this came at the cost of making themselves a distinctive sub-culture in the Australian community . Despite this, Henry Parkes, premier of New South Wales, gave a speech in 1885, and instead of condemning the Catholics for being different,

When meeting to discuss the educational goals that would apply to the curriculum for Australia, The Ministerial Council for Education, Early Childhood Development and Youth Affairs [MCEECDYA] committed to promoting equity and excellence and providing the support that young Australians need “to become successful learners, confident and creative individuals and active informed citizens” (MCEECDYA, 2008). The Australian Curriculum is designed to be world-class, providing challenges for students that prepare them for life long learning (ACARA, 2011b; Brady & Kennedy, 2010). The aims of the Australian

It is very important to meet the needs of 21st century learners in both academic settings and corporation learning centres. The main factor that influences the curriculum development is the Australian Government followed by factors including awareness of the diversity in terms of the target community socially, financially and psychologically.

Australia is very a multicultural and diverse country. Consequently schools are faced with many diverse students of different abilities and backgrounds. To ensure equity and fairness among students, policies and legislations have been put into place to ensure diversity is being catered for and that no student is being excluded from the education system. Some of these policies and legislation include: The Disability Discrimination Act 1992, The Salamanca Statement, Disability Standards 2005, Inclusive Education Statement, Disabilities Services Act QLD 2006 and the Melbourne Declaration.

NAPLAN gives measure through which governments, training powers and schools can figure out if or not youthful Australians are meeting imperative instructive outcomes. It seems that teachers are pressured into taking time out of regular curriculum in order to satisfy the demands of the National Assessment Program for Literacy and Numeracy testing, on this basis NAPLAN has proven to be a controversial issue for Australian education as testing can cause stress and a range of adverse consequences to the education experience.

Guidelines for the National Curriculum are laid down in the Education Reform Act of 1988.

An initial concept of the curriculum formed by Tenorio is that curriculum is not just the books and lessons but everything, the relationships, interactions and inspirations teachers have with students, students have with parents, schools have with the wider community (Churchill, 2011). This definition explains in broad terms how curriculum influences everyone’s lives in certain ways, however it does not explain what the curriculum does, how it is constructed or how it works in a school setting. The Australian Curriculum (AC) defines curriculum as used to develop successful learners. Who are confident, active and informed citizens and “is presented as a progression of learning from Foundation to year 10 that makes clear to teachers, parents,