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Primary Curriculum Issues

In the last edition of the Board Bulletin, this new section of ‘Primary Matters' dealt with the notion of a crowded curriculum. In this edition, the impact of learning technologies on curriculum development is considered.

Learning technology is a priority area for both curriculum policy development and professional development activities across Australia. It is a major agenda item that will continue to challenge and redefine our views about teaching and learning.

Over the last decade and a half, a significant amount of money has been spent on the provision of computer hardware and software to schools. As a consequence, computers are now very much a part of classroom ‘furniture'. Indeed, an artist's sketch of the average primary classroom would include a computer (or two) somewhere in the frame – along with the chalkboard.

Despite the ongoing supply and enhancement of computer-based technology in schools, there is still a great deal of information needed on the extent to which such technologies are improving or enhancing student learning. Though there is an expanding body of literature in the area, we simply need to know more.

What we do know now is that computer-based technologies appear to support learning in various ways. Foremost among these are:

students can access information from sources that extend far beyond their local environment;

students can explore and produce various texts

• (written, spoken, visual and combinations of each);
• particular software programs can assist and engage students with aspects of learning, some of which may otherwise be considered repetitive or mundane; and
• task-setting can be monitored and adjusted by students as well as by teachers.

We also know that approaches to the use of computer-based technologies in and across schools can be grouped broadly as:

• those in which computer-based technologies are used as single/one-off activities, eg used as a reward for ‘fast workers';
• those in which students and teachers supplement learning experiences and resources in specific key learning areas, eg used by students for publishing final texts, used by students to practise number skills;
• those in which computer-based technologies are incorporated into the teaching/learning process, eg used as one of several strategies for creating, acquiring and interpreting information in some or all aspects of the curriculum.

It is this final approach that reflects the policy intentions that have supported the supply of computer hardware to schools. In recent years the development of syllabus content has also been based on this approach.

Several issues have been considered when developing syllabuses, incorporating knowledge, skills and understanding related to learning technologies. These include issues concerning:

• equity (the level of supply and access to learning technologies within and across schools);
• the rate of change (as new technologies surface and existing technologies become redundant);
• the specification of content (the knowledge, skills and values teachers will teach within and across key learning areas);
• learning outcomes (when the research base in this area is not extensive at this stage).

Computer-based technologies are now part of the regular infrastructure of society. However, their use in schools, at least for most of the 1990s, was more instrumental than conceptual. Like other technologies in education, such as chalkboards and projectors, they have been used as a support for pedagogy rather than as something that is changing the nature of learning itself. The extent to which we reflect this latter use in syllabus content and outcomes requires considerable thought and discussion – it may well be something that is informed more by the learner than the teacher! Please send your comments on this issue, or suggestions for other issues, by email to: lambert@boardofstudies.nsw.edu.au

Standards-referenced Assessment in Primary Schools

Standards-referenced assessment refers to the process of collecting and interpreting information about students' learning, using outcomes as key reference points for decisions about their progress and achievement. Though the term has been used most recently in association with the New Higher School Certificate, it is an approach that primary teachers have been using for a number of years following the release of K—6 syllabuses with outcomes and related support material (such as indicators, stage statements and student work samples).

A bulletin, ‘Standards-referenced Assessment in Primary Schools', has been developed for use by primary schools. The bulletin, which is available on the Board's website, looks at four key questions:

• What is meant by standards-referenced assessment?
• What is the relationship between K—6 syllabus development and standards-referenced assessment?
• What are the key elements in the use of standardsreferenced assessment?
• What does standards-referenced assessment look like in practice?

‘Standards-referenced Assessment in Primary Schools' can be located in the K—6 Pages section on the Board's website

(http://www.boardofstudies.nsw.edu.au).

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.

Update on Creative Arts K—6

Assessment in Primary Schools

A report on the findings of the consultation on the Creative Arts K—6 Draft Syllabus and support documents was considered by the Board at its December 7 meeting last year.

The report acknowledges that teachers who commented on the draft syllabus package felt it provided a comprehensive description of the art forms. However, a number of issues were identified during the consultation which need to be attended to in the development of the final syllabus package.

These can be described generally as those concerning:

• clarity of language used in the syllabus and support documents;
• consistency in relation to other K—6 syllabus documents (syllabus components, terminology, organisation, layout and design);
• direction and guidance for classroom teachers in what to teach in each stage in each art form (Visual Arts, Music, Drama and Dance);
• implementation issues related to the four art forms;
• the standards described;
• classroom teachers' knowledge of the art forms and confidence in teaching these areas.

These issues are being addressed now through the redevelopment of the draft documents and through feedback obtained from systems' representatives, consultants and groups of primary classroom teachers.

It is expected that the syllabus package will be released to schools in Term 3 this year.

Further information on the Creative Arts K—6 Syllabus can be obtained by contacting Margaret Malone at lambert@boardofstudies.nsw.edu.au or by phone on 9367 8199, or Kerry Thomas at thomas@boardofstudies.nsw.edu.au or by phone on 9367 8161.