“That ICPA Qld lobbies the Department of Education (DoE) to utilise specialised teachers and technology staff by re-establishing the Brisbane centred Curriculum Writing Hub to write the Version 9 Australian Curriculum and produce the associated resources to meet implementation requirements whilst maintaining the highest standards of quality to use in geographically isolated classrooms.”
Historically, the Brisbane based ‘Writing hub’ efficiently produced curriculum materials and resources by utilising specialised teachers and technology staff. This collaborative model ensured the development of high-quality, interactive learning resources that were thoroughly reviewed and effectively delivered to geographically isolated students.
The current decentralised model withdraws experienced valuable teachers (when accessible) and support staff from classrooms to develop these materials. This disrupts classroom teaching, and this exacerbates the existing challenge in attracting and retaining quality educators. The financial burden on schools and the wellbeing of staff is immensely impacted, attempting to keep pace with an ever-changing curriculum. The centralisation of the writing hub gives great standardisation of the key learning outcomes and intentions of the curriculum with the individual schools/teachers then be able to utilise and adapt to suit their various demographics.
The rollout of Version 9 English and Maths has been marred by insufficient quality assurance, resulting in an incomplete product and inadequate curriculum materials creating challenges for teachers, home educators, and students alike. Additionally, the English curriculum materials remain incomplete, preventing their distribution to teachers and in turn distance education families.
The removal of or inability to access many digital learning objects due to compatibility issues with modern technology has left the ILMs lacking. These interactive learning resources are essential for diverse learning styles, essential for students to revisit, revise and consolidate key concepts. These digital learning interactive activities and learning objects are utilised in the Distance Education classroom and in many rural and remote schools particularly in multiage classrooms. Currently teachers are paying for external resources, adding to the financial strain and impacting their well-being.
The COVID-19 pandemic underscored the critical importance of ensuring that high-quality, accessible materials/resources are available to all classrooms especially for the rural and remote student. Recent natural disasters have reinforced this necessity. Ensuring the continued production and maintenance of these critical resources is essential to supporting equitable education for all students.
Re-establishing the Brisbane based writing hub is the most efficient way to produce timely high-quality curriculum development and resources to address. The above-mentioned challenges ensuring the continued production and maintenance of these quality resources are essential to supporting equitable education for all student students.
