national curriculum board on its way

Media Release, The Hon Kevin Rudd MP and The Hon Julia Gillard MP, 30 January 2008; The Age,
Michelle Grattan and Farrah Tomazin, 31 January 2008; The Australian, Patricia Karvelas, 31
January 2008; The Canberra Times, Natasha Rudra, 31 January 2008; The Courier-Mail, Clinton
Porteous, 31 January 2008; The Herald Sun, Jane Metlikovec, 31 January 2008; Sydney Morning
Herald, Phillip Coorey and Anna Patty, 31 January 2008

Prime Minister Kevin Rudd and the Minister for Education, Employment and Workplace Relations, Ms Julia Gillard,
have announced that Professor Barry McGaw will be appointed as the Chair of the new National Curriculum Board (NCB).

According to Prime Minister Rudd, the NCB will ‘draw together the best programmes from each state and territory
into a single curriculum to ensure every child has access to the highest quality learning programs to lift achievement
and drive up school retention rates.’

The NCB, which will be established by 1 January 2009, will oversee the development of a national curriculum covering years Prep-12. Prime Minister Rudd stated that the national curriculum would be developed for English, maths, history
and science by the beginning of 2011, with a curriculum for geography and languages to follow.

Prime Minister Rudd believes that a national curriculum is required because ‘some 80,000 kids who are starting school
in a different state or territory’ faced difficulties because ‘the curriculums [sic] don’t speak to each other’. A national curriculum will also help to improve Year 12 retention rates to 90 per cent.

The Board will consist of 12 members and include representatives of all states and territories and the Catholic and independent school sectors. The NCB’s Chair, Professor McGaw, is the Director of the Melbourne Educational Research Institute at The University of Melbourne and the former Director of Education at the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).

He believes that ‘this time around there is a real chance, I think, to do things nationally and effectively, but the purpose has to be not achieving consistency for consistency's sake, but raising the performance levels.’

 

 

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