The leaders of Queensland’s state primary schools have welcomed an announcement by Education Minister Grace Grace to delay the rollout of Version 9.0 of the Australian Curriculum.
Implementation of the curriculum in schools will be delayed for a further 12 months to give teachers and curriculum leaders adequate time to deepen their understanding of Version 9.0, develop new lessons and assessments, and make the necessary pedagogical shifts required to engage students with the significant changes.
Pat Murphy, President of the Queensland Association of State School Principals (QASSP) representing 1,300 state school leaders and 345,000 students, commended the decision, made in consultation with education stakeholders including school leader associations and the Queensland Teachers’ Union.
“Delaying the rollout of the latest version of our curriculum will allow school leaders and teachers to manage the additional workload of the substantial changes in a way that best suits their contexts, amidst the everyday busyness of their schools,” Murphy said.
“School leaders acknowledge the support shown by the Minister and senior departmental officers in recognising the impact of the updated curriculum on schools, particularly as we continue to grapple with ongoing teacher shortages. The changes to the curriculum are significant. It’s important we take the time to get it right.”
An analysis of Version 9.0 of the Australian Curriculum has revealed of the 189 content descriptors in the Prep to Year 6 English curriculum, only three are the same word for word as Version 8.4. Of the 139 content descriptors within the Math curriculum, none are the same word for word.
Content descriptors specify the essential knowledge, understanding and skills that students are expected to learn, and teachers are expected to teach, in each year level.
This article originally appeared as a media release from the Queensland Association of State School Principals.