National Curriculum

ACHPER is waiting on the Australian Curriculum and Assessment Reporting Authority (ACARA) and the Council of Ministers of Education (MCEECDYA) position on remaining curriculum areas in the national curriculum process.

ACHPER has offered it’s support to ACARA once the remaining curriculum areas are added.

ACHPER has always been concerned about the ‘flawed’ process’ adopted by the federal government in regards to developing a national curriculum whereby subjects and curriculum areas have been added almost randomly.

While the national curriculum debate continues, criticism of the process has emerged from the 2009 Garth Boomer Lecture presented by Emeritus Professor Alan Reid of the University of South Australia. In this incisive critique of all aspects of the Federal Government’s Education Revolution, Professor Reid rates the development of national curriculum to this stage as quite concerning and urges a reconsideration of some of the basic principles that have been established. He also maintains that the Federal Government still has the opportunity to reconsider its approach and to make it more comprehensive.

ACHPER’s concerns have been vindicated by Professor Reid’s analysis.

ACHPER too, believes that the rationale for a national curriculum should not be based on academic reasoning around so called ‘core subjects’ but must be seen in a broader social and cultural framework: Unfortunately since the National Curriculum Board/ACARA began its work, there have been further announcements about learning areas that will be developed in stage 2. There is no question these have been added as a result of the lobbying undertaken by various subject associations. Consequently Geography, Languages the Arts were added in 2009 but ACHPER does not begrudge these admissions to the process.

We now await the outcome of ACARA’s report to MCEECDYA on the approach that will be taken to Health and Physical Education, Design and Technology, Economics, Business and Civics and Citizenship.

ACHPER will continue to lobby if that is what it takes to join the national curriculum club but we would prefer Health and Physical Education to be included on the basis of it’s relevance and credibility around lifestyle education and its significance to learning across the curriculum. We agree with professor Reid that, “It is a basic principle of curriculum development that it is important to understand the whole (and the connections within it) before focusing on the detail of the component parts”.

Professor Reid’s Report card on national curriculum can be found pages 16-25 of the Garth Boomer Lecture.

The ACHPER National Executive met recently to discuss the next stage in its endeavours to establish a national curriculum entitlement for students in Health and Physical Education.

This follows the successful completion of the National Statement of Learning developed by the ACHPER National Working Group and recent confirmation from the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Education that Australian Curriculum Assessment and Reporting Authority (ACARA) would be making recommendations to MCEETYA about inclusion of HPE in the National Curriculum by October 2009.

As reported in the closing session of the National ACHPER Biennial Conference ACHPER will be undertaking a number of concurrent tasks to progress its advocacy and seek community support.

ACTION 1
Ensure that ACARA is informed and prepared in order to provide an accurate report and recommendations to MCEETYA.

The following tasks have been identified.

1. ACHPER will immediately inform ACARA of its desire to provide assistance by way of advice and information.
2. ACHPER will conduct a review of relevant research and literature pertaining to the role HPE plays in the life of children and youth and provide a summary paper.
3. ACHPER will provide a report on the national landscape of HPE, outlining the status of HPE, issues of concern, barriers to delivery of Quality HPE.
4. ACHPER will outline the key elements of a Quality HPE Program across four phases of schooling in line with the notion of a shaping paper but without the detail currently being undertaken by ACARA writers of science for example.
5. These papers will be concise in nature but strong in their intent and support for Quality HPE.

ACTION 2
ACHPER will seek support for a national entitlement in HPE from kindred organisations at a national and state level.

Requests will be made for these organisations to express their views on the critical importance of this learning area. They will be asked to espouse the importance of physical activity in an educational setting and how this relates to lifestyle. A number of allies have already done this but there are many more that will be approached.

ACTION 3
ACHPER members are encouraged to write to local federal politicians and particularly to state ministers of health, education and sport and to media outlets about the importance of HPE. This approach should be in support of the value of HPE to children and youth and outline the risks to the community of exclusion or marginalisation of the curriculum area. This will be part of a continuing awareness campaign that will complement letters sent from ACHPER National to parent organisations and the Principal’s Associations outlining our actions, the reasons for them and demonstrating our professionalism and commitment.

ACHPER Working Groups
ACHPER is keen to build on the work of the National Working Group that recently developed our National Statement of Learning.
ACHPER will be seeking assistance from personnel from the education sector in the tasks outlined particularly those relevant to the Status of HPE in Australia

Jeffrey Emmel
National Executive Director