The Melbourne Declaration supersedes the
Adelaide Declaration
Melbourne
Declaration
The
following is an extract from Melbourne Declaration on Educational Goals for
Young Australians (December 2008). The full text can be found at
http://www.mceetya.edu.au/verve/_resources/National_Declaration_on_the_Educational_Goals_for_Young_Australians.pdf
Promoting world-class curriculum and assessment
Curriculum
Curriculum will be designed to develop successful learners, confident and
creative individuals and active and informed citizens. State, Territory and
Commonwealth governments will work together with all school sectors to ensure
world-class curriculum in Australia.
Together the national curriculum and curriculum specified at the State,
Territory and local levels will enable every student to develop:
A
solid foundation in knowledge, understanding, skills and values on which further
learning and adult life can be built
The
curriculum will include a strong focus on literacy and numeracy skills. It will
also enable students to build social and emotional intelligence, and nurture
student wellbeing through health and physical education in particular.
The
curriculum will support students to relate well to others and foster an
understanding of Australian society, citizenship and national values, including
through the study of civics and citizenship. As a foundation for further
learning and adult life the curriculum will include practical knowledge and
skills development in areas such as ICT and design and technology, which are
central to Australia’s skilled economy and provide crucial pathways to
post-school success.
Deep
knowledge, understanding, skills and values that will enable advanced learning
and an ability to create new ideas and translate them into practical
applications
The
curriculum will enable students to develop knowledge in the disciplines of
English, mathematics, science, languages, humanities and the arts; to understand
the spiritual, moral and aesthetic dimensions of life; and open up new ways of
thinking. It will also support the development of deep knowledge within a
discipline, which provides the foundation for inter-disciplinary approaches to
innovation and complex problem-solving.
General capabilities that underpin flexible and analytical thinking, a capacity
to work with others and an ability to move across subject disciplines to develop
new expertise
The
curriculum will support young people to develop a range of generic and
employability skills that have particular application to the world of work and
further education and training, such as planning and organising, the ability to
think flexibly, to communicate well and to work in teams. Young people also need
to develop the capacity to think creatively, innovate, solve problems and engage
with new disciplines.
Learning Areas
The learning areas
below will be incorporated into the curriculum with breadth, balance and depth
of learning appropriate to students’ phases of development. Schools and school
systems are responsible for delivering curriculum programs that reflect these
learning areas, with appropriate flexibility to determine how this can best be
achieved in a local context.
The learning areas
are not of equal importance at all year levels.
English and
mathematics are of fundamental importance in all years of schooling and are the
primary focus of learning in the early years. However, humanities and social
sciences, for example, take on greater scope and increasing specialisation as
students move through the years of schooling.
Each learning area
has a specific discipline base and each has application across the curriculum.
In addition, a focus on environmental sustainability will be integrated across
the curriculum and all students will have the opportunity to access Indigenous
content where relevant.
Ø
English
Ø
Mathematics
Ø
Sciences (including physics, chemistry, biology)
Ø
Humanities and social sciences (including history, geography,
economics, business, civics and citizenship)
Ø
The arts (performing and visual)
Ø
Languages (especially Asian languages)
Ø
Health and physical education
Ø
Information and Communication Technology and design and technology
Assessment
Assessment of
student progress will be rigorous and comprehensive.
It needs to
reflect the curriculum, and draw on a combination of the professional judgement
of teachers and testing, including national testing.
To ensure that student achievement
is measured in meaningful ways, State, Territory and Commonwealth governments
will work with all school sectors to develop and enhance national and
school-level assessment that focuses on:
– assessment for learning—enabling
teachers to use information about student progress to inform their teaching
– assessment as learning—enabling
students to reflect on and monitor their own progress to inform their future
learning goals
– assessment of learning—assisting
teachers to use evidence of student learning to assess student achievement
against goals and standards.
Australian
governments commit to working together with all school sectors to ensure
world-class curriculum and assessment for Australia at national and local
levels.
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