The NSW government will delay the rollout of almost 30 syllabuses in an effort to give school teachers more time to concentrate on sweeping changes to the English and maths curriculum.
An overhaul to the English and maths syllabuses for years 3 to 10 will be implemented across all schools from next year, but planned changes to multiple subjects – including commerce, music, Aboriginal studies and technologies – will be shelved to allow teachers to focus on “core learning”.
“Instead of an unworkable release of dozens of syllabuses per term this year, I’ve asked the NSW Education Standards Authority to lead with those that are core to improving learning outcomes for students,” said NSW Education Minister Prue Car.
Car said teachers – and student outcomes – were forgotten when the previous timeline was set, placing a heavy burden on them when schools were dealing with crippling staff shortages.
Plans to release 26 draft syllabuses for review this term have been scrapped, while consultation for the new years 11 and 12 history, English and maths syllabuses will be delayed to term 4.
The revamped schedule means all new syllabuses will be delivered to teachers by the end of 2027, bringing it closer in line with the 10-year timeframe outlined in the NSW Curriculum Review led by Geoff Masters in 2019.
The review – the biggest shake-up to the state curriculum in 30 years – aimed to halt an alarming two-decade slump in Australian students’ results in international tests.
Changes to the timeline will not affect the rollout of the new years 3 to 10 English and maths syllabuses, which are available for teachers to plan and prepare this year and will be mandatory in all schools from 2024.
“If we are to give students the strongest foundations for success in life then we need to give their teachers time to get to know the English and maths curriculum and implement them well,” said Car, who announced the changes at a meeting on Thursday with 200 expert teachers who are working with the government on curriculum reform.
“This will give teachers time to get core learning right, so that student learning outcomes improve.”
The English syllabus changes will see an overhaul to the way high school students are taught grammar, punctuation and sentence structure following a decade-long decline in writing standards that has left students missing critical literacy skills. Grammar will be taught in a more prescriptive way to help students write clear sentences and express complex ideas.
A new maths syllabus will intensify focus on sequencing and reasoning skills and a core subject structure in early high school to better equip students for senior years’ calculus courses.
Four mandatory high school syllabuses – including geography, history, PDHPE and visual arts – will be pushed back and released for consultation in term 3. Meanwhile, four draft primary school syllabuses – including creative arts; human society and its environment; PDHPE; and science and technology – will also be up for review at the same time.
NSW Secondary Principals’ Council president Craig Petersen welcomed the delay to some syllabuses to focus on the core curriculum.
“It’s great to see the new government reinstate a more realistic timeframe as was recommended by the Masters Review,” he said.
“Many teachers teach across subjects such as geography, business studies and commerce, so putting some subjects on hold on will avoid a heavy workload and help focus on better implementation."
The NSW Education Standards Authority will work with the school sectors to also review the time teachers have to implement new syllabuses.