K-6 Educational Resources — Board of Studies, New South Wales, Australia
Primary Matters
Primary Matters February 2005
extracted from Board Bulletin, volume 14, number 1
Contents
- 1500 Primary teachers attend consultation meetings across state
- Implementation of new Years 7–10 Syllabuses
1500 Primary teachers attend consultation meetings across state
Over 1500 Primary school teachers attended 28 consultation meetings during Term 4 last year to discuss and give feedback on the Board’s Consultation Paper: Defining Mandatory Outcomes in the K–6 Curriculum. The statewide meetings – which were held after school in major centres throughout NSW – are part of the consultation process around the Board’s response to Primary school teachers’ requests for greater clarification and support in relation to the K–6 curriculum.
Meetings were held as far north as Tweed Heads and as far south as Batemans Bay. Other country locations for the teacher meetings included Broken Hill, Albury and Moree. Consultation meetings were also held in ten Sydney metropolitan locations.
All meetings had excellent attendance at a time of year when teachers had many demands on their time with school concerts, presentation assemblies and annual reporting to parents.
Over 400 paper and online surveys have also been received so far. The time for surveys and submissions has been extended to 28 February 2005.
Board officers have also met with 22 key groups to allow for more indepth discussion of the consultation paper prior to their submission of written responses as part of the consultation process.
The information received so far from teachers and groups indicates an overall:
- appreciation of the recognition of the Primary school teacher’s workload in teaching, assessing and reporting
- concern with the term ‘mandatory’ and the implication of what would happen to the ‘additional’ outcomes
- recognition that curriculum integration will assist teachers in managing all six key learning areas, and of the need for support in assisting teachers
- concern about the workload in assessment, recording and reporting appreciation for the guidelines on the notional proportion of time
- concern about the outcomes that are ‘additional’ in HSIE, PDHPE, Science and Technology and Creative Arts.
Primary school teachers across the state are encouraged to complete the survey and submit it by 28 February. The survey can be downloaded.
For more information about the consultation process please contact Margaret Malone, Inspector, Primary Education on (02) 9367 8199 or Vilma Fyfe on (02) 9367 8341
Implementation of new Years 7–10 Syllabuses
Following the distribution of all new Years 7–10 syllabuses, schools are reminded of the following implementation timeline:
- The English Years 7–10 Syllabus and the Mathematics Years 7–10 Syllabus were implemented with Year 7 and Year 8 students in 2004. These syllabuses are being implemented with Year 9 in 2005 and Year 10 in 2006.
- All other Years 7–10 syllabuses, with the exception of K–10 Languages, are being implemented with Year 7 and Year 9 students in 2005, and with Years 8 and 10 in 2006.
- K–10 Languages syllabuses are being implemented with Year 7 and Year 9 students in 2005 and with Year 8 and Year 10 students in 2006. Schools that are offering the 100-hour mandatory language requirement for the School Certificate with students in Year 8 in 2005 are to implement the revised syllabuses with these students in 2005.
The Board’s website contains a number of resources relevant to the revised Years 7–10 curriculum. These include:
- all new Years 7–10 syllabuses
- summary course descriptions for each syllabus
- information for parents and community members about the Mandatory Curriculum
- presentation material from the Introduction to the Syllabus briefing sessions
- Board of Studies Assessment and Programming support material for the new syllabuses.
- mapping of information and communication technologies in revised mandatory stages 4 and 5 syllabuses.