NSW schools to adopt new primary school syllabus

ABC NEWS (Australia)

A major shake-up to the New South Wales primary school curriculum has been unveiled. The state government says the changes will lift education standards by de-cluttering syllabuses and introducing some content earlier in a child's development.

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00:00These are the minds the future is counting on.

00:04I want you to think of a really good adjective,

00:07not a boring sentence.

00:09Now the guide to shaping tomorrow's brains has been rewritten.

00:13The syllabuses provide the backbone for teaching.

00:16OK, on Monday I ate...

00:18New maths and English syllabuses

00:20began in the state's primary schools this year.

00:22Today the remaining four were released.

00:25Some of the syllabuses within this curriculum

00:29haven't been updated for 20-plus years.

00:31Currently, civics and citizenship

00:33is not dealt with explicitly until high school.

00:36Under the new curriculum,

00:38students will start learning about democratic values in kindergarten

00:41with the rule of law taught from Year 5.

00:44The subject of the human body will be introduced in primary school

00:47with lessons about muscular and skeletal systems from Year 3.

00:51Students will learn about the solar system in Year 3

00:54instead of Year 5.

00:56There will also be classes on consent.

00:58It's a reflection of our cultural expectations

01:00that students are educated about these things.

01:02The reforms have been in the works since 2018,

01:05when a two-year review began.

01:07They were big books.

01:09They weren't particularly practical or easy.

01:12The former government planned to make

01:14the entire new curriculum mandatory next year,

01:17but now schools have until 2027.

01:19We were very ambitious in our reforms

01:21and we made no apologies for that.

01:23While the latest international education rankings

01:26have put Australia in the top ten countries

01:28for academic performance,

01:30the nation's standards have slipped since the early 2000s.

01:33The Education Minister is hopeful

01:35the revamped curriculum will help reverse the trend.

01:38Hopefully, in the next few years,

01:42we will start seeing a lift.

01:44Good job.

01:46In times when intelligence is needed more than ever.

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