Statist insanity continues: Science to be put on hold as other OZschwitz schools play catch-up

NSW and Victorian high school students will be put in a holding pattern in year 7 science classes to allow children from other states to catch up, under proposals for a new national curriculum.

Students in Western Australia, South Australia and Queensland complete year 7 in primary school and start high school in year 8.

As a result, NSW high school students would be held back from making full use of high school science laboratories and microscope equipment in year 7. They would then be forced to cram what is now taught across four years of high school science into three years, from year eight to year 10.

The president of the Science Teachers Association of NSW, Margaret Watts, said NSW students would ''have to go back to the bad old days of rote learning because there will not be enough time to do much else'' under the national science curriculum.

Ms Watts said material now taught in year 7 would have to be condensed with material taught in years 8 to 10. ''That is a big concern science teachers are raising,'' she said. ''It is really cramming a lot into years 8, 9 and 10 because of the waiting in year 7.''

Ms Watts recommended boosting the resources of primary schools in other states to enable them to teach science at high school level, instead of holding states back.

The NSW Greens MP John Kaye said year 7 science was being sacrificed to achieve a ''one-size-fits-all national curriculum''. He said NSW and Victorian science classes in the first year of high school would be turned into a ''waiting room, killing time while three other states catch up''. He said NSW needed to stand up for its curriculum gains of the past decade.

"[Otherwise] valuable curriculum time will be squandered, but more importantly students will lose the excitement for science that is crucial to quality lifelong learning,'' Dr Kaye said.

''Science teaching in this state is at risk of losing its important first year in high school because three other states have longer primary schools.''

He said the draft national curriculum would postpone learning about cells until year 8 when all students would have access to microscopes.

The chairman of the Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority, Barry McGaw, said he was aware that NSW and Victoria would have to postpone some aspects of their existing year 7 science syllabus content until year 8.

He said the draft national curriculum for year 7 did not assume the availability of science laboratories. ''The crucial question in this consultation is did we get that right,'' he said.

''We took into account that half the systems have seven years of primary school.''

Professor McGaw said that if NSW was dissatisfied with proposed changes to the science curriculum ''that's the kind of response we need to hear''. Public consultation on the draft curriculum will run until May 23 before it is finalised later this year.

LNK

Statist insanity continues: Science to be put on hold as other OZschwitz schools play catch-up

Statist insanity continues: Science to be put on hold as other OZschwitz schools play catch-up

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