Fixing the Hole in Australian education
By Ben Jensen, Mailie Ross, Michael Collett, Nicole Murnane and Emily Pearson
Published November 2023
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About this reportThis report sets out the results of detailed analysis and benchmarking of the Australian science curriculum with curriculums in comparable and high-performing systems around the world. The results show the lack of breadth and depth of the Australian science curriculum, the flaws in its sequencing of content, and the lack of clarity about what to teach and assess.
The benchmarking took over a year to complete, but in truth the report is the culmination of years of work. Many years ago, Learning First focused on school improvement, teacher and leader development and professional learning. As we worked with numerous Australian systems and published reports, we saw time and again that good policies and programs, and tireless work from educators, were not having the impact they should have.
The more we investigated the causes of these problems, the more we realised that a defining problem was curriculum: both the Australian Curriculum itself, and how it could be interpreted and effectively enacted in schools and classrooms. Many teachers, school and system leaders also expressed to us their deep concerns about the Australian Curriculum, yet significant curriculum reform is not part of Australia’s policy debate. We are on a mission to change that.
OverviewEvery year brings new evidence of decline in Australian school education: sliding performance and increasing inequality on international and national assessments.1 More than a decade of school improvement and teacher development programs, literacy and numeracy strategies and other initiatives has failed to reverse the fall in results.
These deeply disturbing trends have many causes, but this report argues that a fundamental cause of Australia’s education decline is the Australian Curriculum.
Learning First has conducted the first detailed benchmarking of the content of the Australian science curriculum against seven high-performing and comparable systems around the world. This benchmarking shows that compared with the curriculums of these systems, the Australian science curriculum sets a low standard for what students should learn. It lacks the content, depth and breadth to enable them to succeed.
Our benchmarking shows that the Australian science curriculum in the first nine years of schooling:
Contains about half the science content of the average of other curriculums
Lacks breadth of learning: it covers 44 science topics compared to an average of 74 topics in other systems
Lacks depth of learning: just five science topics are covered in depth compared to an average of 22 topics covered in depth in other systems
The Australian science curriculum also contains poor sequencing and lack of specificity of content, which the research shows is vital for effective teaching and learning.
Curriculum experts often describe breadth and depth of content in a curriculum as trade-offs; should more time be spent going deeper into certain topics or should more topics be covered but in less depth?2 Sadly, the Australian science curriculum lacks both breadth and depth. It covers fewer topics and goes into depth in these topics far less often than other benchmarked curriculums. A narrow and shallow curriculum has damaging consequences for both learning and equity.
Since the Australian Curriculum was released in 2010, the performance of students in international OECD PISA science assessments has fallen by almost a whole year of schooling.3 Assigning blame directly to the curriculum is not possible, but the question must be asked: what would people expect to be the impact on student learning and equity if one school system was provided with a curriculum that contained half the content of others?
Instead of recognising these problems, whenever poor results are published, teachers are often explicitly or implicitly blamed. But in the light of our curriculum problem, Australian teachers have done an extraordinary job to not let the standards of students fall further than they have.
The benchmarking took over a year to complete, but in truth the report is the culmination of years of work. Many years ago, Learning First focused on school improvement, teacher and leader development and professional learning. As we worked with numerous Australian systems and published reports, we saw time and again that good policies and programs, and tireless work from educators, were not having the impact they should have.
The more we investigated the causes of these problems, the more we realised that a defining problem was curriculum: both the Australian Curriculum itself, and how it could be interpreted and effectively enacted in schools and classrooms. Many teachers, school and system leaders also expressed to us their deep concerns about the Australian Curriculum, yet significant curriculum reform is not part of Australia’s policy debate. We are on a mission to change that.
There is no reason Australia cannot have a world-class curriculum, as other systems do. The key is a new system of curriculum development, built on the latest research on quality curriculum. The curriculum’s content, sequencing and breadth and depth of topics all need to be comprehensively benchmarked. We need to respond to data on how the curriculum is taught across schools and classrooms (what is working and not working), and we need a new, explicit focus on inequality that ensures every Australian student has the right to learn a world-class curriculum.
This report focuses on the Australian science curriculum. We have not yet benchmarked other subjects in the Australian Curriculum. If all other parts of the Australian Curriculum have been developed with comprehensive benchmarking, quality research, and analysis of what is taught and assessed in schools then we call on the Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority (ACARA) to release this information. If it does not exist, we recommend an overhaul of the entire Australian Curriculum.
A way forward: recommendations for change
With the right processes in place, a quality world-class curriculum can be achieved for Australian students. The following steps set out a tangible pathway. Curriculum leaders should:
Commit to an overhaul of the Australian Curriculum. A few minor amendments will not fix the problems with the lack of content and breadth and depth of topics covered, and with poor sequencing. A complete rewriting is essential.
Lead curriculum reform and public debate with a focus on the detail of what is taught and assessed in classrooms. The high-level slogans and sound bites of Australian Curriculum debate pull the curriculum further from the realities of what happens in classrooms, and make it harder to teach effectively
Adopt a new development process that ensures a world-class Australian Curriculum. All future versions should be built on: A comprehensive research program on quality curriculum and what is required to improve learning of all students
Comprehensive benchmarking of detailed curriculum content, including breadth and depth of topics, to ensure the curriculum is world-class
Detailed curriculum mapping to ensure effective sequencing of curriculum content
Detailed comparative analysis of curriculum structure, presentation and writing of the curriculum to ensure it is clearer and easier to teach
Data and analysis of how the curriculum is being implemented in schools and classrooms and how much work school leaders and teachers have to do to implement it.
Establish a clear and public curriculum entitlement that guarantees all Australian students the right to learn curriculum content that is as strong as the curriculum entitlement provided to students in other systems.
Curriculum reform always causes disruption and additional work in schools. This is a difficult time in Australian schools with teacher shortages and heavy workload pressures. Our call to overhaul the curriculum is therefore not taken lightly. Disruption to schools must be minimised. The roll-out of the latest version of the Australian Curriculum, already underway in some states and territories, may have to be halted until the work is done to create a truly world-class curriculum. On balance, it is better to bite the bullet and spend the next few years developing a truly world-class curriculum before imposing the cost and time of its implementation on schools.
The proposal set out in this report is neither far-fetched nor unachievable. But because the development of the Australian Curriculum has fallen so far behind best practice, significant reforms are required. Only with these changes can we establish what educators call the curriculum entitlement provided to all students, a commitment to young people that is a foundation of high performance and equity in leading education systems around the world.
ChaptersWhat is a curriculum and why is it so important?
The lack of content in the Australian science curriculum
Failing on breadth and depth
Poor sequencing and lack of specificity in the Australian
Curriculum
Problems with optional content
How to solve the problems with the Australian Curriculum
CreditsJacqueline Magee, James Button and Hai-Chau Le and the team of science leaders and teachers that undertook and verified the benchmarking all made significant contributions to this report.