26 February 2007

Education Forum releases submission on the school curriculum

The Education Forum released today a paper prepared by Australian education consultant Kevin Donnelly on the revised school curriculum proposed by the Ministry of Education.

It was submitted in November 2006 in response to the paper The New Zealand Curriculum Draft for Consultation 2006.

Dr Donnelly is Director of Melbourne-based Education Strategies and a former ministerial adviser, lecturer and teacher. A recent book of his, Dumbing Down, was launched by Prime Minister John Howard on 8 February 2007.

The paper is critical of the new draft curriculum. It acknowledges minor improvements on the previous curriculum in that the number of pages, strands and achievement objectives is reduced, which may help with problems of teacher workload and stress.

However, according to Dr Donnelly, the draft is seriously flawed because it continues with an outcomes-based model of curriculum development.

Outcomes-based education (OBE) focuses on the process of learning to the detriment of content; views teachers as 'facilitators' of learning rather than professionals with knowledge to impart; downplays the role of testing and the consequences of failure; and defines outcomes that are generally vague, wordy and difficult to measure.

Dr Donnelly reports that the OBE model has been abandoned by educational authorities and some states in Australia and the United States, including by the American Federation of Teachers.

In its place he recommends the adoption of either a syllabus or a standards approach which emphasise content and give a clear indication of what is to be taught and the expected learning outcomes in each subject area. Such approaches are favoured in a number of successful education systems.

Education Forum chairman Byron Bentley supported these views, saying: "The traditional subject syllabus approach is not old-fashioned; teaching and learning based on subject knowledge and skills should still be the basis on which a curriculum is structured."

He also endorsed Dr Donnelly's view that teachers and the school curriculum could not be expected "to assume in large part the role of parents, the local community and wider cultural and social influences" in instilling values, and that teachers should be supported in "teaching what they are qualified to teach [rather] than acting as social workers".

He added that the draft also lacked an emphasis on the value of enterprise in education and society.

"The submission is based on a great deal of experience and international evidence about what constitutes a good curriculum", Mr Bentley said.

"The Education Forum hopes that Ministry of Education officials engaged in evaluating feedback on the draft will consider it carefully."

For more information contact:

Byron Bentley
Chairman
Education Forum
Email: be@macleans.school.nz
Phone: 09 535 2620 ext 835

Kevin Donnelly
Director
Education Strategies
Email: kevind@netspace.net.au
Phone: 00613 9888 4250