Former teacher keen to shape new curriculum

THE agency charged with delivering the Federal Government's national curriculum and schools transparency agenda is to be led by a former geography teacher who has helped transform school systems on five continents.

Students Lend A Helping Hand

Programs involving pupils in community service are now considered key aspects of many schools' curriculums.

Curriculums In Line By 2011, Pm Promises

SCHOOLCHILDREN would be studying the same curriculum in maths, English, science and history by 2011, regardless of which state or territory they lived in, the Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd, vowed yesterday.

More Oz Lit In Schools

THE State Government will introduce more "home-grown" Australian literature into primary and high school curriculums.

Principals Agree: Cut Out Social Subjects

PRIMARY school curriculums have too many subjects and schools are too underfunded to meet standard requirements for English, maths and science, a national study of principals has found.

Bishop Wrong-footed By A Class Act

SOMETIMES it takes a bunch of nerdy kids to ask the hard questions. Like what was Julie Bishop actually on about when she said some themes in school curriculums were straight from Chairman Mao?

Union Report Says Government 'lies' About School Performance

THE Howard Government has lied about school results, unfairly attacked the quality of teaching and disparaged curriculums to impose federal control over education, a report says.

A Nation Finds Ways To Tie Itself In Knots

YESTERDAY was not an auspicious day for Australian federalism. The ideas of the federal Minister for Education, Julie Bishop, on merit pay for teachers have gone completely by the board at the meeting of state and federal education ministers in Darwin. And the national curriculum is out, too, though the ministers involved did not put it that way. Instead they announced they would be working towards a nationally consistent set of curriculums, and a national benchmarking authority. That sounds ...

Teachers Feel The Pressure

ILLAWARRA primary school teachers, already struggling with expanding curriculums, are now being asked to perform the role of parents, principals claim.

Pm To Have His Way On Education

THE states will be forced to introduce more nationally consistent curriculums as a condition of federal funding, Prime Minister John Howard has revealed.

Howard Attacks 'fad' Schooling

THE stoush over education is set to escalate with the Federal Government announcing a national inquiry into academic standards just hours after Prime Minister John Howard launched a savage attack on school curriculums, claiming some contained "incomprehensible sludge".

Fads, Sludge Eroding Education, Pm Says

John Howard has stepped up his assault on "politically-correct" school curriculums, saying new-age teaching fads were undermining educational standards.

Climate Change Is A Hot Topic In Education

Business schools need to integrate sustainability into their curriculums, writes Wayne Gumley.

A Broad View Is The Key To The Best Education

THE latest comments from the federal Education Minister, Julie Bishop, signal that the public debate over school curriculums has descended to a farcical level with McCarthyist overtones. For the record: I was not a guest speaker at a "Marxist centenary conference".

Standard School Curriculums

Standard school curriculums

Minister To Seek Federal Curriculum Takeover

THE Federal Government is investigating a takeover of school curriculums, arguing millions of dollars is being wasted by the states and territories writing separate curriculums.

Liberals' Curriculum Claims Hazardous

I WRITE to respond to the comments made by the Liberal Party's education spokesperson, Brad Hazzard, in your article of June 10 (Crowded curriculums a hazard).

Reading Between The Political Lines

JOHN Howard has a gift for voicing public concerns in a way that anyone can understand. The Prime Minister's commentary ranges freely across portfolios (even contradicting embarrassed ministers) and is not confined to federal responsibilities. Not for the first time, Mr Howard has ventured into the state arena of school curriculums to condemn the "dumbing down" of English studies. He complains that "traditional texts are treated no differently from pop cultural commentary". While the states and ...

John Howard On History

IT IS easy to dismiss the Prime Minister's criticism of history teaching as a populist rant. John Howard's attack was ludicrously short on detail. What history curriculums did Mr Howard mean, and for what years, in what states? He did not say. Yet that does not mean the speech can be simply dismissed. There will be more than a little sympathy with Mr Howard's view that Australians know too little of their past - and that inevitably compromises their future.

Year 12 English Move To Come Under Scrutiny

THE move away from classical literature in year 12 English to films and television will be scrutinised as part of a nationwide ranking of school curriculums.