Spring 2007

Curriculum for the 21st century

Give them ALL a chance

Peter Cole contends that the role of the national curriculum should be to promote learning that prepares students for a world undergoing rapid change.

Of all the factors that could be changed in order to improve the attainment levels of students, the choice to devote time and resources to convert State and Territory curriculum statements into a national curriculum statement would seem to be a pretty insignificant reform strategy that is unlikely to significantly enhance or worsen a student’s experience of schooling. This is because most States have fairly similar descriptions of what students should learn at the different stages of schooling, although the ‘subject’ names may not always convey this, and a ‘tidying up’ of relatively superficial differences in the structure and vocabulary of curriculum statements seems a fairly innocuous activity.

Of course, the drive for a national curriculum becomes less benign if as a result of the redrafting process there are requirements to teach and assess content that redefines or goes beyond what the States and Territories have hitherto considered to be essential learning. It is also less benign if the national statement is framed in such a way that its adoption will bring about substantial changes in the teaching and learning that students experience in the classroom, in the way that school timetables are structured and the way that learning is assessed and certified. The national curriculum proposal briefly outlined below would contribute to bringing about such changes.

What should be the goal of a national curriculum?

Generally curriculum developers start out by considering the key forces that are most likely to exert an influence on the life chances of young Australians over the next 20–30 years and then considering the sort of learning that schools can provide to enable school graduates to shape and respond to these forces. Most ‘futures’ lists make reference to globalisation, and to concerns about environmental sustainability and ideological conflict and indicate that the knowledge economy will be the generator of most wealth and jobs.

So it seems reasonable to state that in broad terms, by the time they leave school all students will need to be able to receive, retrieve and express increasingly complex ideas and information in visual and spoken form; the skills and knowledge to sustain a healthy lifestyle and build positive relations with others; and a broad understanding of human society and the key theories and beliefs that shape our world. They will also need an understanding of science and technology and its impact on society, to be equipped to participate in, appreciate and benefit from cultural activities, and to be ecologically responsible and global in outlook and actions. That is, they will need a good broad general education and ‘big picture’ understanding of human society.

To be consistent with this list of attributes, the national curriculum’s goal should be to ensure that all students have acquired a broad general knowledge that enables them to understand their own society (e.g. its history, institutions, economy and values), engage with society’s issues, be enriched by society’s cultural life and be open to the wider world.

What are the implications of adopting this goal for a national curriculum?

Learning is currently largely structured around disciplines and much of what a curriculum statement for the 21st century could describe as essential learning could be captured in the traditional disciplines of mathematics, science, English, languages, history, geography and economics. However, to achieve the knowledge and skills alluded to above, the content that has been traditionally taught within the disciplines in schools would need to be significantly changed.

In theory, disciplines provide learners with distinct ways of knowing that contribute to their understanding of the world. Unfortunately school subjects derived from the disciplines are experienced by students as disconnected bits of knowledge to be learnt for their own sake. The current content of school subjects is out of step with the kind of learning that is needed for all students to start to understand and make sense of ‘the world’ and feel capable of contributing to how the future will evolve. Future decisions about the selection of subject content for a national curriculum should be concerned about promoting the ‘big picture learning’ broadly described above.

Furthermore, a timetable structured on the disciplines would most likely inhibit rather than assist students to gain an understanding of the inter-relatedness of factors that have and are shaping our world. This learning requires blocks of time for ‘in depth’ research tasks, syndicate work, extended projects and the preparation and delivery of student presentations requiring students to draw on knowledge from several discipline areas. New ways of structuring learning time will need to be adopted.

To promote the widespread acquisition of a second language within the national curriculum, conversation should be the lead skill developed by second language teachers and second language learning should be to confined to two Asian and two European languages so that same second language communities of students can be established in a locality and resources can be better targeted to the training of language teachers and the production of high quality instructional materials.

The development of ‘soft skills’, such as the ability to synthesise ideas and information to arrive at new conclusions, to generate fresh and original ideas, to identify problems and problem solve, to work in teams, to manage complex projects, and to be empathetic and tolerant, will also be important. Young people will be expected to get along and work productively with others, to interpret situations and information and draw inferences, to reconcile conflicting advice and opinions, to engage in thoughtful discussion, to develop proposals and make presentations, to provide feedback on performance and ideas, and so on. They will be expected to have a strong work ethic, to be well organised, independent and flexible learners/workers, to be able to back up their beliefs with evidence and to be reliable, loyal and ethical. These expectations should not come as a shock to school graduates, and their schooling should prepare them to meet these expectations.

Assessment regimes will also need to be revised. More emphasis will need to be given to open-book exams, timed problem-solving tasks, work tasks based on project briefs and reports, and assessment by exhibition. Student reports will also need to include statements of achievement, standards in ‘soft skills’ areas and/or ‘compliance’ statements related to satisfactory participation in such things as service work, work placement and community or team-based work.

Conclusion

The definition used here for a national curriculum is the common learning that is undertaken by all students and that results in them acquiring a broad general knowledge and requisite social skills and values. The national curriculum as it is currently being conceived is really concerned with the development of National Subjects or Key Learning Areas and this activity should not be equated with the development of a national curriculum. National curriculum statements that emerge from a rationalisation of States’ and Territories’ key learning area statements will achieve some curriculum efficiencies, however, this exercise will contribute little to achieving the kind of curriculum needed to equip young people for 21st century society.

In order for a national curriculum statement to improve students’ learning experience, it should be largely confined to the compulsory years, not consume all of a school’s learning time and be concerned with the common learning undertaken by all students. It should enable all students to develop a broad general knowledge of their world, support inter-disciplinary study and promote ‘big picture’ general knowledge and be taught in ways that enable students to appreciate the distinct contribution that each of the disciplines/subjects makes to enriching their understanding of society. Finally, it should promote global perspectives that are reinforced by second language learning, the development of ‘soft skills’ and an assessment regime that is intra-and cross-disciplinary and is more concerned with reasoning than with recall and with what students can do as well as with what they know.

Peter Cole is an educational consultant. He is a former teacher and senior executive within the Victorian Department of Education.

The author owns the copyright in this article. For information related to the reuse of this work in any form please contact the publisher denise.quinn@curriculum.edu.au