The Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority (ACARA) CEO David de Carvalho has recently written an article that addresses whether change or improvement is required in our country’s education system. The article, which was adapted from a speech the ACARA ...
More »ACARA CEO argues 2021’s NAPLAN was one of ‘the most important’
Students and teachers are enduring some of the most significant disruptions to schooling in our history. So, it is welcome news that the NAPLAN 2021 summary results reveal the global COVID pandemic has had no significant impact on our children’s ...
More »NAPLAN 2021 results show positive trends, despite ‘major disruptions’
The release of the 2021 National Assessment Plan for Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN) summary information has shown that the COVID-19 pandemic has not significantly affected students’ literacy and numeracy achievement on average at the national level. Additionally, the Australian Curriculum, ...
More »Why ACARA’s CEO believes NAPLAN ‘has never been so important’
As another year of the National Assessment Plan for Literacy and Numeracy ends, ACARA’s CEO has highlighted the importance of the controversial test in these times of COVID-19. David de Carvalho wrote an opinion piece recently for the Australian Curriculum ...
More »The proposed mathematics curriculum: mostly pluses but a couple of minuses! Opinion
ACARA has recently released its draft revision of the Australian Curriculum: Mathematics with the view to “refine, realign and declutter” the content. There are many positive changes in the review, which we wrote about in our article entitled, Where have the algorithms gone? ...
More »‘Dangerous territory’: Political figures take aim at proposed changes to national curriculum
Critics have been quick to voice concerns over the Australian Curriculum Assessment and Reporting Authority (ACARA) releasing its proposed changes to the national curriculum last Thursday. Among the hundreds of pages of suggestions and recommendations released, education minister Alan Tudge ...
More »Curriculum review? Teacher education review? Balancing the equation correctly – opinion
The school year has commenced and already there has been a flood of media coverage related to mathematics. The most interesting and important information relates to the pending release of the mathematics curriculum review as announced by ACARA in 2020. ...
More »Who’s afraid of critical thinking? And why you and your students shouldn’t be
To have adopted a rather pessimistic or ‘tick the box’ attitude towards the Australian Curriculum’s general capabilities – and in particular critical thinking – is not surprising when we consider the enormity of a teacher’s tasks on any day. I ...
More »On a knead to know basis: ACARA CEO
What does MasterChef 2020 have to do with school? More than you'd think. The show's Grand Finale took place the other night, with Emilia and Laura vying for this year's trophy. As I was watching the season, I've noticed some ...
More »Mathematics minus numeracy – a first step toward decluttering: Opinion
The process has begun – finally! We hope that the work to review the mathematics (and digital technologies) curriculum over the next 12 months does indeed result in clarity about what is to be taught. The seemingly poor performance by ...
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