DEVELOPMENTAL CURRICULUM PAPER

Developmental Curriculum Paper



Developmental Curriculum Paper

Introduction

School education lays important foundations for futures that are distant and seen only dimly. The first young Americans who commence primary school in 2011 may leave their initial formal education in 2021 though the national goal is that almost all of them should stay at least for a full 12 years and not leave until 2023. Many will go on to post-secondary education and not complete their initial education until the mid-2020s and later. Their schooling should help develop a sense of themselves and American society, a capacity and predisposition to contribute effectively to society, and the knowledge, understanding and skills with which to work productively and creatively. The schooling of United States' young people should help develop a cohesive society, with individual members aware of the rich diversity of histories and cultures that have shaped it, and committed to its continuing development. It should build strong foundations for future national prosperity, helping to make United States productive and internationally competitive in the global economy. It is expected that a new declaration on the goals of schooling for United States will be adopted later in 2008. Just how the goals of schooling might be expressed is presently being considered by a National Goals for Schooling Working Group established by the Ministerial Council on Education, Employment, Training and Youth Affairs (MCEETYA), charged to review and recommend changes to the expression of goals in the Adelaide Declaration on National Goals for Schooling in the Twenty-First Century adopted by ministers in 1999 (Hussey, 2004). Achievement of these goals will depend on how ambitious the goals are and on the quality of schooling. Curriculum will be only part of the story. The quality of schooling depends on community commitment, the quality of teaching, the quality of school and system leadership, and the level of resources available as well as the quality of the curriculum.

The remit of the National Curriculum Board, in the first instance, is to develop a national, K-12 curriculum in English, mathematics, the sciences and history. In a second phase, the remit will be extended to involve geography and languages other than English. The Board's work must be shaped by the national goals and must connect with other areas for which curriculum will continue to be developed within the states and territories. It must also connect with the national assessment program to ensure that the curriculum drives the assessment and not the other way round (Franklin, 2008).

American school education is of high quality. International comparisons show American students' performances to be among the best in world, though there is no reason not to aspire to be the best. A world-class curriculum is not a sufficient condition for developing the best school education system in the world but it is a necessary one.

Principles for Developing National Curriculum

National curriculum needs to provide students with an understanding of the past that has shaped the society and culture in which they are growing and developing, and ...