In a report released on Monday 27 November, 2023, educational reform consultancy Learning First claims to have conducted the first detailed benchmarking of the content of the Australian science curriculum against seven high-performing and comparable systems around the world.
The claim that this is the first benchmarking activity is just one of many errors in the report, which is rife with unsubstantiated claims, incomplete evidence, and gross assumptions, the most disturbing of which is that more “content” is a key indicator of quality curriculum (with the implication that good teaching is all about transmission of content).
Learning First is a company that claims to “build relationships… based on honesty, integrity and deep experience and expertise” and whose clients “include federal governments in various parts of the world.” Given their activities and clients, this report is worth scrutiny.
Read MoreIn my work with teachers in curriculum and pedagogy over the years, I have noticed that several misconceptions about our Australian Curriculum: Science continue to be raised.
These misconceptions include:
The Science understanding strand is the only strand that should be planned for, taught, and assessed
Content elaborations must be taught and assessed
Each content description should be taught as a unit across a whole term
The curriculum is the only thing that should be taught
The goal of the curriculum is to prepare students for senior secondary science classes
Each of these statements is not correct! So what is? Let’s see what’s true.
Read MoreSomeone recently asked me what I had hoped to achieve with my PhD. Whether naivete or idealism, I never aimed to achieve anything with my PhD. I just loved learning. I hoped it would allow me to perform work that was meaningful to me, that I could be passionate about. That work was, and remains, the enabling of teachers, especially primary teachers, to think and teach well.
Read MoreA science degree is not necessary for the effective teaching of science to young people. The scientific ideas suggested by the Australian Curriculum: Science can be understood by any interested member of the general population. And every primary teacher is not just any member of the general population!
Read MoreA common rationale for science education is that learning science improves decision-making. It is argued that students will develop a strong understanding of the ideas and nature of science, which will inform their decisions. Toward this goal, science classroom activities aim to develop students’ scientific literacy, including their capacity to engage meaningfully with scientific ideas. Ideas about the nature of science are advanced through scientific inquiry, with emphasis on developing students’ capacity to articulate scientific explanations for phenomena. The success of this approach for developing students’ scientific literacy is demonstrated. However, evidence to support the success of this approach for students’ decision-making is scant.
Read MoreWhen policy discourse and leadership conversations are framed around those who “can’t,” “won’t,” or “don’t” make decisions to the satisfaction of others, the predictable response is to take away that decision-making agency by prescribing pedagogical practices to them (or to implement a program that impacts on pedagogical practices in a predictable way). Ultimately, these attempts to control the decisions of mediocre teachers reduce the agency of other teachers to make decisions, too.
Read MoreHave fun, participate in discussions, share your ideas, and challenge (respectfully) the ideas of others. But most importantly, ask the critical questions of who is speaking (and ask about who is not), question speakers about what they’re claiming and the basis for those claims, look at how the narrative of the conference portrays and constructs education in Australia. Try to uncover who’s paying and what they’re paying for.
Read MoreIn this post, I worry that an emphasis on evidence-based practice would lead to prescribed practice, which would narrow teachers’ opportunities and options for making their own decisions about practice. I will discuss the role of a teacher, and the purpose of education. Next, I will discuss the role of cultural and instrumental research, and suggest that education research holds a unique role for informing education practice. I will take a closer look at what ‘evidence’ is, what forms of data are collected, and some of the limitations of evidence. Finally, I will look at the other sources of information teachers can use to make decisions, caution against taking evidence at face value, and plead for the time, space, and access to research that teachers require to make decisions.
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