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| Christopher Pyne: curriculum must focus on Anzac Day and western history | Christopher Pyne: curriculum must focus on Anzac Day and western history |
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| The Abbott government is set to trigger a new battle over Australia’s culture and history as it launches a review of the national curriculum with a goal of removing “partisan bias”. | The Abbott government is set to trigger a new battle over Australia’s culture and history as it launches a review of the national curriculum with a goal of removing “partisan bias”. |
| The education minister, Christopher Pyne, says the review will address concerns about the history curriculum “not recognising the legacy of western civilisation and not giving important events in Australia's history and culture the prominence they deserve, such as Anzac Day”. He also wants the curriculum to “celebrate Australia”. | |
| One of the two people appointed to lead the review, the conservative education commentator Kevin Donnelly, recently attacked the curriculum for “uncritically promoting diversity” and undervaluing western civilisation and “the significance of Judeo-Christian values to our institutions and way of life”. Donnelly, a former chief of staff to the Liberal minister Kevin Andrews, wrote Why Our Schools are Failing in 2004 and established a think-tank,the Education Standards Institute, in 2008. | One of the two people appointed to lead the review, the conservative education commentator Kevin Donnelly, recently attacked the curriculum for “uncritically promoting diversity” and undervaluing western civilisation and “the significance of Judeo-Christian values to our institutions and way of life”. Donnelly, a former chief of staff to the Liberal minister Kevin Andrews, wrote Why Our Schools are Failing in 2004 and established a think-tank,the Education Standards Institute, in 2008. |
| The other appointee, the public policy academic Ken Wiltshire, is the JD Story professor of public administration at the University of Queensland business school. He previously oversaw a review of the Queensland curriculum for the Goss Labor government in the mid-1990s. | The other appointee, the public policy academic Ken Wiltshire, is the JD Story professor of public administration at the University of Queensland business school. He previously oversaw a review of the Queensland curriculum for the Goss Labor government in the mid-1990s. |
| Wiltshire wrote an article after the 2010 election suggesting the balance-of-power independents should support the Coalition. In July 2013 he criticised the Labor government’s handling of school funding reforms as a “disgrace”, adding he hoped Tony Abbott would “recognise the soundness of the Gonski blueprint but devise a better approach to funding it”. | Wiltshire wrote an article after the 2010 election suggesting the balance-of-power independents should support the Coalition. In July 2013 he criticised the Labor government’s handling of school funding reforms as a “disgrace”, adding he hoped Tony Abbott would “recognise the soundness of the Gonski blueprint but devise a better approach to funding it”. |
| Pyne said he was confident Donnelly and Wiltshire would bring a balanced approach to the curriculum review. “Everyone’s been to school; everyone’s an expert in education one way or the other,” he said in Adelaide. | |
| “It’s not possible to appoint anybody to review the national curriculum who doesn’t have a view on education. The important point is to appoint people who are going to bring an intelligent and considered approach to the review and both Kevin and Ken have a long history and experience in education.” | |
| Pyne said one of the criticisms of the curriculum was that it had “not sold or talked about the benefits of western civilisation in our society” and he would be surprised if the review did not trigger criticism from people who had another view. | |
| Asked whether he believed the curriculum was too left leaning, Pyne said he wanted the curriculum to be a “robust and worthwhile document” that embraced knowledge and did not “try and be all things to all people”. | |
| “I also want the curriculum to celebrate Australia, and for students when they have finished school to know where we’ve come from as a nation, because unless we know why we are the kind of country we are today we can’t possibly know where we want to go in the future. There are two aspects to Australia’s history that are paramount. First of course is our Indigenous history, because for thousands of years Indigenous Australians have lived on this continent. The second aspect of our history is our beginnings as a colony and therefore our western civilisation, which is why we are the kind of country we are today,” he said. | |
| Pyne pre-empted his announcement by writing an opinion piece in the Australian newspaper, calling for a “robust, relevant and up-to-date” curriculum to improve the quality of education. | Pyne pre-empted his announcement by writing an opinion piece in the Australian newspaper, calling for a “robust, relevant and up-to-date” curriculum to improve the quality of education. |
| Pyne wrote he had asked Wiltshire and Donnelly to gather the views of parents, state and territory governments and educators as part of the review, arguing the government wanted to “take politics out of this issue”. | |
| “That means a curriculum that is balanced in its content, free of partisan bias and deals with real-world issues,” he said. “But that doesn't mean the curriculum should be dull. Australia needs a curriculum that helps teachers to breathe life into a child's time at school, one that challenges students and assists them to make the right choices for their future.” | “That means a curriculum that is balanced in its content, free of partisan bias and deals with real-world issues,” he said. “But that doesn't mean the curriculum should be dull. Australia needs a curriculum that helps teachers to breathe life into a child's time at school, one that challenges students and assists them to make the right choices for their future.” |
| Pyne said the curriculum “must be both content-rich and, importantly, focus on the 21st-century skills of critical thinking, team work, problem solving, creativity, analytic reasoning and communication”. | Pyne said the curriculum “must be both content-rich and, importantly, focus on the 21st-century skills of critical thinking, team work, problem solving, creativity, analytic reasoning and communication”. |
| “It must help students to be the best they can be. It must be based on high standards and high expectations for all students,” he said. | “It must help students to be the best they can be. It must be based on high standards and high expectations for all students,” he said. |
| In November, Donnelly said the national curriculum inspired by Kevin Rudd and Julia Gillard provided “further evidence of the cultural-left nature of Australia’s education establishment”. | In November, Donnelly said the national curriculum inspired by Kevin Rudd and Julia Gillard provided “further evidence of the cultural-left nature of Australia’s education establishment”. |
| “Every subject has to be taught through environmental, indigenous and Asian perspectives where new-age, 21st-century generic skills and competencies undermine academic content,” he said. “Instead of acknowledging that direct instruction, championed by Noel Pearson and endorsed by the US study ‘project follow through’, is the most effective way to teach the national curriculum also embraces an inquiry-based, child-centred view of learning.” | “Every subject has to be taught through environmental, indigenous and Asian perspectives where new-age, 21st-century generic skills and competencies undermine academic content,” he said. “Instead of acknowledging that direct instruction, championed by Noel Pearson and endorsed by the US study ‘project follow through’, is the most effective way to teach the national curriculum also embraces an inquiry-based, child-centred view of learning.” |
| He said: “The draft civics and citizenship curriculum airbrushes Christianity from the nation’s civic life and institutions and adopts a postmodern, subjective definition of citizenship, one where ‘citizenship means different things to people at different times and depending on personal perspectives, their social situation and where they live’. | He said: “The draft civics and citizenship curriculum airbrushes Christianity from the nation’s civic life and institutions and adopts a postmodern, subjective definition of citizenship, one where ‘citizenship means different things to people at different times and depending on personal perspectives, their social situation and where they live’. |
| “The history curriculum, in addition to uncritically promoting diversity and difference instead of what binds as a community and a nation, undervalues western civilisation and the significance of Judeo-Christian values to our institutions and way of life.” | “The history curriculum, in addition to uncritically promoting diversity and difference instead of what binds as a community and a nation, undervalues western civilisation and the significance of Judeo-Christian values to our institutions and way of life.” |
| Donnelly said: “Forget the cultural-left bias and PC group mentality of the Australian Broadcasting Commission, when it comes to a pervasive ideological commitment to the left nothing beats Australia’s education establishment.” | Donnelly said: “Forget the cultural-left bias and PC group mentality of the Australian Broadcasting Commission, when it comes to a pervasive ideological commitment to the left nothing beats Australia’s education establishment.” |
| Donnelly has previously argued it is wrong for teachers in the classroom “to introduce students to sensitive sexual matters about which most parents might be concerned and that the wider community might find unacceptable”. | Donnelly has previously argued it is wrong for teachers in the classroom “to introduce students to sensitive sexual matters about which most parents might be concerned and that the wider community might find unacceptable”. |
| “Welcome to the gender wars! Since the mid- to late '70s, much of the education debate has centred on the supposed disadvantage suffered by migrants, working-class kids and women. More recently, gays, lesbians, bisexual and transgender (GLBT) people have become the new victim group,” he wrote in March 2005. | “Welcome to the gender wars! Since the mid- to late '70s, much of the education debate has centred on the supposed disadvantage suffered by migrants, working-class kids and women. More recently, gays, lesbians, bisexual and transgender (GLBT) people have become the new victim group,” he wrote in March 2005. |
| Donnelly criticised the Australian Education Union for arguing school curricula should "enhance understanding and acceptance of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people". | Donnelly criticised the Australian Education Union for arguing school curricula should "enhance understanding and acceptance of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people". |
| “Forgotten is that many parents would consider the sexual practices of GLBT people unnatural and that most parents would prefer their children to form a relationship with somebody of the opposite sex,” he wrote. | “Forgotten is that many parents would consider the sexual practices of GLBT people unnatural and that most parents would prefer their children to form a relationship with somebody of the opposite sex,” he wrote. |
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