Primary Matters

Primary Matters August 1997

From Board Bulletin, August 1997

National Benchmarks

Curriculum Branch officers have provided continuing advice to the Curriculum Corporation on the development of material for the National Benchmarking Project.

The National Benchmarking Project is an initiative of the Federal Government agreed to by the states and territories. The current objective of this project is to develop descriptions of student performance in literacy and numeracy in Years 3 and 5. This material will be used by states to collect data to compare student achievement across Australia.

The clear principle that is being reinforced by Board officers is that the material developed for the benchmarks must be compatible with syllabus content and outcomes in New South Wales. The Board will continue to provide advice to the Curriculum Corporation on the quality and relevance to New South Wales of draft material.

Creative Arts – trialling of units of work

Trialling teams have been providing responses to the syllabus writers on draft units of work developed to support the draft Creative Arts K-6 syllabus. The writing of units as well as the collection of work samples in Visual Arts, Music, Drama and Dance are proceeding well.

Teachers who have had very little experience in teaching Visual Arts said they found the units of work, which present sequences of learning experiences, rewarding and informative. They were particularly surprised with the quality of work their students produced and believe this is because the students have been exposed to the work of other artists. The units have provided the teachers with a structured series of lessons and students have been able to develop both their works and understanding over several weeks to arrive at a final piece of work.

Consultation on the draft Creative Arts K-6 syllabus is scheduled to take place in the latter half of 1998.

Mathematics

Careful analysis of the survey returns from schools on the Mathematics K-6 outcomes is now taking place. A working party of the Board's Mathematics K-6 Syllabus Advisory Committee has been formed to consider quantitative and qualitative data obtained from the surveys so that changes to the draft outcomes can be made. The collection of student work samples, which is currently taking place in 25 New South Wales primary schools, will also assist in making amendments to the draft outcomes. The teachers and members of the working party will be able to use these examples of mathematics learning -- the real work of students -- as well as findings from the consultation to arrive at a final set of outcomes. The student work samples for Mathematics K-6 will be used to illustrate the achievement of the outcomes. They will accompany the outcomes in an addendum to the syllabus expected to be completed by the end of this year.

If you would like further information regarding these items or K-6 curriculum matters in general, contact Margaret Malone, Inspector, Primary Education, ph (02) 9367 8199 or fax (02) 9367 8484.