National Curriculum, anyone had a look yet?

[zenifa]

Just wondering if anyone has bothered to look up the draft National Curriculum as yet and if so what are your thoughts?

Will this have an impact on registration and requirements for home educators, ie if we have a national curriculum will home educators be pressured to also follow it?

Personally I haven't had a look yet, and we aren't registered, but am curious to know what others think and when I have time, will look into it more.

[Ceres]

I don't think it will apply to us and will have many serious objections if it does!

[Sarasvati]

I haven't had a look but am worried it will be forced on us.

[GreenGully]

ditto sarasvati

[cgull]

I had a little sqiz ages ago (so there's more of it now, I imagine) but what I saw was awfully cumbersome and wordy and I gave up on trying to figure it out pretty quickly :blush

[Janet]

I can just imagine "collaboration" jumping from homebirth to homeschooling. *sigh* Not looking just yet. :uhh

[Sarasvati]

http://www.news.com.au/couriermail/story/0,1,26792999-952,00.html


ENGLISH and maths classes will return to basics, history will explore Sorry Day alongside Anzac Day and science will be made more interesting.
The changes form the backbone of a radical overhaul of teaching in Australia that will bring all states and territories under a single curriculum.
An eight-page liftout inside The Courier-Mail print edition today provides a comprehensive guide to the drafts of the first four subjects that span Prep to Year 10 and will be taught in classrooms from next year.
Under the changes, Prep students will be taught to count to 20, learn what a scientist is, write in upper and lower case letters and talk about how families share their history.
Within three years children will learn to tell the time on analogue and digital clocks and research a famous astronomer and by the time they finish primary school, students will be using paragraphs to write well structured English texts.

When they reach Year 10, students will be working with trigonometric ratios and discussing the major economic and political debates in Australia during the 20th century, including workplace reforms.
Parents will be able to follow the curriculum online to get an unprecedented look at their child's learning at every stage of schooling.
Prime Minister Kevin Rudd said the new national approach would end the "pretty patchy standards" in many classrooms and give parents confidence that their children will learn the essentials wherever they live.
"When it comes to teaching the basics, let me be very frank – what we need to make sure is our kids know how to sound out letters, that they know grammar, that they know punctuation, that they know adding up, taking away, counting. These essential elements must be part of the basic knowledge in the school education of all Australian kids," he said.
Queensland has consistently trailed the nation in literacy and numeracy and the curriculum is a centrepiece of the Government's election promise to deliver an "education revolution".
Premier Anna Bligh said a national curriculum would ensure Queensland students would not be disadvantaged.
The draft reveals Prep students will be expected to learn more and play less while Queensland's Year 7 students will face greater demands.
Queensland Association of State School Principals president Norm Hart said the Year 7 and Prep curriculums would be a challenge, with "a significant jump" required from both students and teachers.
Queensland is one of three states to currently have Year 7 in primary and not high school.
Mr Hart said the Year 7 science and history curriculum was closer to what was currently being taught in Year 8.
"It's clear in the science curriculum that there is a significant jump in the expected achievement levels," he said.
Early Childhood Teachers Association president Kim Walters said it was a sad day for Queensland's play-based Prep.
"Outdoor play will suffer because of this, I am very disappointed," she said.
The Opposition yesterday slammed the history and science components of the curriculum, saying it was left-wing and contained too much focus on indigenous Australians.
"If we get elected this year, we'll entirely review the national curriculum and if it doesn't measure up to what we expect then, the Coalition will scrap it and start again," education spokesman Christopher Pyne said.
Teachers in 155 schools will trial the subjects for the next three months.
Senior curriculum will be released next month for consultation and draft curriculum for geography, arts, and languages will follow next year.

[Sarasvati]

And http://www.australiancurriculum.edu.au/Home if you want to have a look and comment.

[zenifa]

I am also concerned that if I register with Home Ed Qld, then we would be forced to incorporate the curriculum, which wouldn't really be natural learning then would it?
I've seen the news reports and little excerpts but will have a closer look, just out of curiosity.

Do you think that homeschoolers (for want of a better word), either individually or collectively will be responding formally to the draft with their comments etc or will they just keep quiet and let the teachers, principles, Ed depts and other 'officials' fight it out?

[Belinda]

:doh Yep, it is what I was afraid of. Home ed just keeps looking better and better!

[Sarasvati]

Had to groan at the opposition comments too.

[zenifa]

Yes, well the opposition, what can I say? Nothing, just cringe and groan.

Further wasting resources, I hear they plan to change everything again if they get elected (please NO!)

[cgull]

Every student in Australia is expected to research an astronomer? Why?
I mean, I have nothing against astronomers, used to be friends with one when I lived in Hobart, but, well...