Australia’s most populous state is about to go through the biggest changes to its school curriculum in decades, with the new format set to begin in kindergarten.
The updated NSW syllabuses will not just cover core subjects such as history, geography, health and science, but will also include lessons on consent and the human body.
Consent will be taught from kindergarten onwards with the expectation that by the time children start Year 1, they should be able to ‘assertively gain, give or deny consent and respect responses’, identify inappropriate contact from adults online and adopt the ‘No, Go, Tell’ strategy to protect themselves against abuse.
The update follows the federal government pledging more than $25million for NSW schools to spend on consent education programs, resources and professional development for teachers.
The money will be spent at all schools – public, Catholic and independent.
By 2027, the youngest children at school will also be taught about world history beyond Australia for the first time.
Kindergarten and Year 1 pupils currently just learn their own family history and the lifestyles of previous generations, but study of the ancient past will now be included.
Children will have to ‘read and recount stories, myths or legends from ancient peoples, places and cultures in China, Egypt, Greece and Rome’.
NSW is about to go through the biggest changes to its school curriculum in decades, with the new format set to begin in kindergarten (stock image)
The biggest changes will come in the subject Human Society and its Environment, which will bring together history and geography as well as introduce a greater focus on civics and citizenship in the early years.
In science, kindergarteners will learn the names for parts of the human body – something that currently is not taught to children at that age.
As they move on through primary school, children will learn about how light and sound travel, and lessons about gravity will no longer be an optional example, but will be made compulsory.
The once-in-a-generation curriculum changes will update what are – in some cases – methods and documents that are decades old.
Teaching fads introduced in the 1980s, such as learning about ‘processes’ and ‘capabilities’, will be ditched, with lessons returning to ‘explicit’ teaching of facts and knowledge.
NSW Education Standards Authority chief executive Paul Martin said the changes are a ‘paradigm shift’, ‘groundbreaking for Australia’ and will reduce the academic jargon into language much more easily understood by parents.
‘My view is that a literate parent should be able to understand what their child is learning in primary school,’ he said.
‘The new syllabuses will give students the opportunity to build deep knowledge that will increase in complexity over time and in preparation for high school.
‘The link between Year 6 and Year 7 has never been clearer.’
The updated NSW syllabuses will not just cover core subjects such as history, geography, health and science, but will also include lessons on consent and the human body (stock image)
The reforms will also aim to ensure all students start high school with a common body of knowledge, regardless of where in the state they go to school or what type of school they attend.
‘This is the biggest change to NSW syllabuses in a couple of decades, possibly longer,’ Mr Martin said.
‘The last time the state’s primary curriculum was written, there were different understandings of how students learn and how classrooms are arranged.
‘The education landscape has shifted since then – for the better.’
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