Students from Werrington PS, St Peter Chanel Regents Park, Cranbrook and Ashbury PS gave their approval to the new Move Ahead with Street Sense resource at its recent launch. The students sang songs, read books, played board games, critiqued the video and demonstrated learning experiences from the new resource package.

The new primary resource has been developed to support learning in the context of the recently released PDHPE K—6 Syllabus. It is packaged in three kits, each kit presenting key road safety messages for Stages 1 to 3. Teachers will appreciate the range of materials and the many suggested learning experiences.

The kit emphasises the importance of parents and carers in reinforcing road safety messages and assisting their child's understanding of appropriate behaviour in the real traffic environment. It includes learning experiences that encourage the input of parents and a range of take-home notes that communicate the key points that children need to know to keep safe in traffic.

The development of Move Ahead with Street Sense has been a cooperative venture between the Roads and Traffic Authority, Association of Independent Schools, Catholic Education Commission, Department of Education and Training, Institute of Early Childhood (Macquarie University) and Board of Studies. Each educational system will be in communication with their schools to explain the process for distributing this resource to schools.

The Primary Curriculum Committee provides the Board of Studies with strategic advice on the development of the primary curriculum. In fulfilling this responsibility, the Committee has focused on some key themes throughout this year, including:

• the primary syllabus package: monitoring the development of a consistent and comprehensive curriculum for primary teachers
• standards-referenced assessment: determining the extent of information and direction that the Board should provide to primary schools
• syllabus evaluation criteria: determining the scope and depth of data required to evaluate K—6 syllabus documents
• time allocations in the primary curriculum: identifying issues related to the specification of times for the key learning areas
• Linkages: providing updates and presentations on the development of this website project
• KLA overviews K—10: examining continuity issues in the compulsory years of schooling.

The Primary Curriculum Committee membership includes Board members with a particular interest in primary education; the chairs from each of the six primary KLA Board Curriculum Committees; members with specific expertise in early childhood education and special education; and members representing:

• Primary Principals' Association
• Department of Education and Training
• Catholic Education Commission
• NSW Teachers Federation
• Independent Education Union
• NSW Parents and Citizens Association
• NSW Parents' Council
• Federation of School Community Organisations (FOSCO)
• Early Childhood Education Council.

Primary Curriculum Issues

This new section of ‘Primary Matters' will briefly explore a key primary curriculum issue in each edition of Board Bulletin over the next twelve months. In this edition, the issue of the notion of the crowded curriculum is outlined.

The ‘Crowded Curriculum'

The view that the curriculum is ‘crowded' has been around for some time – a feature of societal/ educational change and the articulation of curriculum standards throughout the 1990s. The issue is neither new to primary schools nor unique to Australia. Sir Ron Dearing's review of Key Stages 1 and 2 of the National Curriculum in England and the ‘Prisoners of Time' inquiry in the United States are examples of major reviews that examined the intensification of the primary curriculum. The subsequent pruning and refining of curriculum demands in these countries is something that has also been occurring within Australia. It is currently happening in Victoria and in South Australia, and it happened in NSW in 1995 as part of the Eltis Review, resulting in the reduction of outcomes and revision of the 1994 English K—6 syllabus.

There are two aspects to the notion of the ‘crowded curriculum':

• the ‘curriculum' itself, and
• the impact of curriculum development and implementation agendas on teachers.
• There are essentially three levels of curriculum:
• the requirements of the State
• the policies/priorities of school systems, and
• school-determined programs and practice. All Australian States have a curriculum standard of some kind. These standards are articulated in various ways through formal instruments such as minimum curriculum guidelines, syllabuses or curriculum frameworks. These are the public descriptions that indicate what is valued in each State.

In addition to meeting these requirements, schools that are part of systems are also required to implement policies, practices and educational programs that are determined by their respective systems. Though some of these programs may be seen as being cross-curriculum in nature, school traditions, policies, staffing arrangements and organisational/economic circumstances can result in these being viewed as additional to the requirements of the State. Such policy positions indicate what is valued by the system.

Schools also have specific policies and/or practices that form part of their culture. These programs, which often distinguish one school from another (even within the same community), tend to capture an amount of time in the timetable that can lead to reduced emphasis and time being given to other curriculum areas. Such programs indicate what is valued by the school community.

In addition to the varying levels and demands of the curriculum (state/system/school), a number of factors appear to contribute to the notion of the ‘crowded curriculum' at school level. These factors include:

• the number of documents with which primary teachers have to deal;
• uncertainty regarding the relative importance of new documents and the currency of previously released documents/policies;
• the growth in student welfare initiatives over the last decade;
• uncertainty regarding the status of cross-curriculum perspectives and initiatives, eg Multicultural Education, Environmental Education, Enterprise Education, Asia Education, Civics Education;
• the ‘load of newness' – overall demands in relation to teachers' subject-knowledge;
• mandated time requirements in some, but not all, areas of the curriculum; and
• materials and initiatives that are released by different authorities, both state and national. The 1990s have been marked by an extensive K—6 curriculum reform agenda. How are teachers making sense of what has been created?
• Please send your comments on this question, or suggestions for other issues, by email to: lambert@boardofstudies.nsw.edu.au

Science and Technology K—6 Student Work Samples

In March 1997, the Board of Studies approved the development of Science and Technology K—6 work samples. This followed a limited evaluation that identified aspects of the syllabus needing further support. The areas that have been the focus of the Board's student work sample project include the content strands of ‘Products and Services' and ‘Information and Communication', and the learning processes of ‘Designing and Making' and ‘Using Technology'. Teachers from 18 primary schools in NSW took part in this project over 1998 and 1999. As a result of the recent development of the draft Science and Technology K—6 Revised Outcomes and Indicators — planned for release to schools in 2000 — the revised outcomes have been used to link the work samples with the Science and Technology Syllabus. The units of work feature teaching/learning sequences, a range of paper-based, photographic, audio and video work samples with related indicators, links to other KLAs, a ‘Where to From Here?' section, assessment strategies and resources. Another section contains some ‘Snapshots' with summaries of units and related work samples.

An example of a unit of work is ‘Bend It, Stretch It'. As part of this unit, Stage 1 students investigated the uses, origins and properties of a range of materials. Students also explored ways of designing and making new products for specific purposes with recycled materials. This unit includes a focus on students examining and writing a series of procedural texts. The teaching/learning experiences of this unit were built around the following tasks: Task 1: Investigate the origins of materials.

Task 2: Identify characteristics and properties of materials and ways in which materials might be used.

Task 3: Design and make a Mother's Day gift with pre-used materials.

Task 4: Investigate what containers are used for, then design and make a container that meets a personal need.

Examples of student work samples are:

• a photograph of students examining a range of materials and a completed table of information;
• a brainstorm completed by a student on ‘How do people use containers?';
• a student's record of container design, production
• (as a procedural text) and an evaluation;
• a photograph of a student making a ‘container'.

The Science and Technology K—6 work samples CDROM will be available for use in 2000. Inquiries about the work samples can be directed to Suzanne Ziems at ziems@boardofstudies.nsw.edu.au ph (02)9367 8274 or fax (02)9367 8476.

Creative Arts K—6

A consultation report on the Creative Arts K—6 Draft Syllabus and support documents will be considered by the Board at its December 7 meeting. The report on the draft documents will outline the consultation findings and issues to be addressed in the development of the final syllabus package. A second report, which will be considered by the Board at its first meeting next year, will include a set of proposals for amending the draft syllabus package and the revised anticipated release date for the final package. A summary of the findings, the process to be used to amend the documents and the anticipated release date will be included in the Board Bulletin at the beginning of the new year.

If you would like further information regarding these items or K—6 curriculum matters in general, contact Margaret Malone, Inspector, Primary Education, on lambert@boardofstudies.nsw.edu.au, ph (02) 9367 8199 or fax (02) 9367 8476.

An update on the Linkages project was presented to the Board of Studies at its most recent meeting in November. This involved background to the project and an overview of achievements to date. This was followed by a ‘surf through' the website, highlighting the various menu items including the research and reference material, the ‘generic outcomes' section and the syllabus mapping information. Considerable discussion was generated while viewing the case study work samples and classroom displays.

The eleven units provided by the Broken Bay project are now available to be downloaded in Word 97/98 (Doc) format from the Linkages website. Instructions are displayed to assist teachers to access these files. These units will soon be able to be viewed in electronic format when the Board's new K—6 website is completed.

Future developments for the Linkages site will include case studies from St Catherine's School, Waverley and a Linkages project, ‘Planning Information Literacy through an Integrated Curriculum', developed by a team of teacherlibrarians using the information skills process. These two case studies will include units of work and student work samples to illustrate the work being undertaken by teachers and students in these schools. Additional case studies from schools contributing to Linkages will also include overviews of their integrated units, student work samples, and interviews with the teachers about how they develop their units using Board syllabuses.

Further information on Linkages projects can be obtained from Suzanne Ziems at ziems@boardofstudies.nsw.edu.au, ph (02) 9367 8274 or fax (02) 9367 8476. The Linkages webpage can be found at www.bosnsw-k6.nsw.edu.au