Computing Studies Hours to be Reduced under National Curriculum

The Australian, 31 August 2010

The Australian newspaper has reported that the draft national curriculum for information and communications technology (ICT) would reduce the contact hours for computer studies for many Australian students.

According to the newspaper, the Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority (ACARA) will recommend that students in years 9 and 10 undertake one hour per week for ICT studies if they take the subject as an elective, while students in years 3 to 8 would receive a total of 20 hours per year on the subject.

By comparison, students in New South Wales and Victoria currently receive 100 hours per annum of ICT studies. The New South Wales Computing Studies Teachers Association was critical of the report, arguing that ‘the ACARA timetable does not allow for the proper development of a 21st century student who has been immersed in technology since they were very small’.

ACARA indicated that the ICT document was an early draft that had been used as a guide for curriculum writers and that ‘the hours indicated should be viewed as indications of what students were entitled to, as a starting point, not as prescriptive limitations’.

 

 

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