Posts in category Australian Curriculum

The new Stage 6 Australian Curriculum – response from the Sydney Morning Herald

Jun13
2012 1 Comment Written by Joshua Harnwell

The Sydney Morning Herald published this article commenting on the proposed curriculum.

With four courses proposed – 2 non-calculus courses then mathematical methods and specialist mathematics. These last two are loosely equivalent to harder versions of the 2 unit Mathematics course and the Extension 2 mathematics course. Where does that leave Extension 1? Out in the cold!

I am very concerned by this move! Only a small percentage of students go on to study Extension 2 maths, but a middle subject between these two courses makes perfect sense.

What are your thoughts?

 

Posted in Current Issues - Tagged , ,

The new General Maths Syllabus from 2013 – why they decided to introduce it and where to find the new syllabus.

Apr18
2012 1 Comment Written by Joshua Harnwell

The Board of Studies issued a notice on 12th March which can be accessed here. It seemed like a very hurried announcement with no clear direction. Here is what we know:

  • The Board of Studies wrote the General 1 and General 2 Syllabus (as well as three new calculus mathematics syllabi) back in 2009.
  • At a MANSW Annual Conference in 2008 I asked the question of whether the BOS was planning on making schools write new program’s for NSW and then new ones within “a few years” for the National Curriculum (now Australian Curriculum) as it was in the works by ACARA.
  • The Board of Studies completed these documents but recommended to the minister that they not be implemented (due to ACARA in my opinion).
  • Schools could implement the General 1 course from 2010?? (from memory) as a Board Endorsed Course (not count towards ATAR)
  • Then… The implementation of the F-10 Australian Curriculum got delayed… Until 2014 at this stage, if it ever gets implemented
  • The 11-12 Maths Curriculum seems to be on hold with little information coming out of ACARA on this.
  • 2012 – New HSC Examinations in all Maths courses (including General Maths – for one year???)

So the question has arisen – Why has the Board of Studies decided this year to suddenly implement General 2 as a Board Developed examinable course, which counts towards an ATAR? At the same time General 1 has an elevated status of a Content Endorsed Course, non-examinable and not count towards an ATAR. The 3 Calculus developed courses have been ignored.

 

The new syllabus was due to be published by the “end of Term 1″ but we haven’t seen it yet. If you’re keen to see the new syllabus then visit this link: http://www.boardofstudies.nsw.edu.au/archives/syllabus_hsc/pdf_doc/mathematics-general-2-stg6-draft.pdf

 

Posted in Current Issues - Tagged

Board of Studies claims wide support for discontinuing School Certificate

Aug16
2011 Leave a Comment Written by Joshua Harnwell

The Board of Studies has announced that they will be working over the coming months on a new credential, by consulting with key stakeholders. Watch this space for more info.

Update on School Certificate (Link to BOS Update)

Posted in Current Issues

Teaching Modules for the Australian Curriculum, PDF Downloads

Aug14
2011 Leave a Comment Written by Joshua Harnwell

With the introduction of the Australian Curriculum (although it has been delayed) AMSI have put together 68 teaching modules on Mathematics, to assist teachers (particularly those off course). There are not resources for every topic, but there are lots! It was developed from 2009 – 2011 using government funding.

 

Posted in General Teaching

NSW Minister for Education delays implementation of Australian Curriculum in NSW

Aug10
2011 Leave a Comment Written by Joshua Harnwell

The NSW Minister for Education, Hon. Adrian Piccoli has today announced that the teaching phase of the the Australian Curriculum will not begin until 2014. This has gone against all previous notifications from ACARA of “substantial implementation” by 2013.

This means that in High School if two year groups are implemented concurrently (Year 7 and 9 – although it could be Year 7 and 8, being stage 4) then the earliest that implementation of 7-10 could be acheived would be in 2015 or 2016. This would mean that the earliest HSC to be affected would be 2017 or 2018.

From ACARA, they plan to complete the Year 11 and 12 Curriculum by January 2012. With an anticipated board of studies one year writing and one year in schools, this could be ready by 2014. With at least a three year delay from this point, there seems ample time to make modifications and for NSW to come up with a first class syllabus.

For the media release, see:

http://www.boardofstudies.nsw.edu.au/australian-curriculum/pdf_doc/media-release-110809-australian-curriculum.pdf

Posted in Current Issues

Podcast Episode 2: NSW looks at ACARA’s Australian Curriculum in Mathematics

Jul11
2011 Leave a Comment Written by Joshua Harnwell
 

Download

Show Notes:

AAMT-MERGA 2011 Conference Notes: http://www.netvibes.com/aamtinc
Vimeo Link (Margaret Bigelow): http://vimeo.com/26034708

Website: Engagers: Sneak Peak http://www.maths.net.au/engagers

Posted in Current Issues, podcast

NSW Draft Syllabus – is this really a stage based syllabus

Jun14
2011 Leave a Comment Written by Joshua Harnwell

Whilst the syllabus is presented in stages (Early Stage 1 through to stage 5), there are some peculiarities as a result of the Australian Curriculum be year based.

The Australian Curriculum clearly has Year 7 content and Year 8 Content.

 

The Draft NSW Syllabus includes the following substrands “Probability 1″ and “Probability 2″ and also “Single Variable Data Analysis 1″ and ”Single Variable Data Analysis 2″

 

Seems like it is giving a clear indication of what is “Year 7″ content and what is “Year 8″ content.

 

Also – it is disappointing that dot points are now linked to the Australian Curriculum Content Descriptors, rather than the outcomes – means that outcomes are less important. It is harder to teach one outcome as they are all intertwined.

 

More to come!

NSW Draft Maths Syllabus – Please give me codes like NS4.1

Jun14
2011 Leave a Comment Written by Joshua Harnwell

I didn’t realise how much I liked have NS4.1 outcome codes in the syllabus documents. It made it so easy to communicate with other staff about particular content. Now, the outcomes are clustered at the start of the content and dot points do not hang off individual outcomes, but rather hang off the Australian Curriculum Content Descriptions.

Now I have to say “In Stage 4, Number and Algebra, in the Computation with Integers substrand, under the Australian Curriculum content description to Apply the associative, commutative and distributive laws to aid mental and written computation…”

Solution: Please include the AC Content Codes, i.e. ACMNA151

NSW Maths Syllabus Draft – Now Available

Jun14
2011 Leave a Comment Written by Joshua Harnwell

With 369 pages of reading… it will take a little time to digest the draft syllabus. Initial thoughts are that I’m not too keen on the new format, but stay tuned for some more thoughts on Stage 4 and 5.

http://www.boardofstudies.nsw.edu.au/australian-curriculum/phase-1/k-10.html

ACARA – General Capabilities Consultation begins – talk now or forever hold you peace!

Jun10
2011 Leave a Comment Written by Joshua Harnwell

ACARA has just published an update asking for interested parties to complete a survey on the general capabilities at http://www.australiancurriculum.edu.au/Consultation before Sunday 7 August. You will need to complete the survey by reading and reflecting on the general capability explanations provided here: http://consultation.australiancurriculum.edu.au/GeneralCapabilities

Here is the current list of general capabilities:

  • Literacy
  • Numeracy
  • Information and Communication Technology (ICT) competence
  • Critical and creative thinking
  • Personal and social competence
  • Ethical behaviour
  • Intercultural understanding
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