The Debacle of the Proposed National Science Curriculum. (November 26, 2010)

Professor John Rice, Executive Director of the Australian Council of Deans of Science (ACDS), writing in the December issue of Australasian Science writes bluntly: "The draft science curriculum scores a 'fail, more work needed' from the Deans of Science" and goes into detail the reasons for the deans' condemnation.

Professor Rice sums up his article, the whole of which is available online:

The weak emphasis on the organisation of science knowledge and the split into separate strands has produced a fragmented curriculum of topics that are vaguely described and loosely connected. It doesn’t paint a picture of what science is or what it means.

The ACDS believes that the curriculum should be overt, not hidden like this, and should be for all teachers just as it is meant to be for all students.

This raises the giant sleeper, as yet unaddressed, of the huge amount of staff development that will be required for teachers to be able to use a curriculum like this.

 Australia should have a national science curriculum, but it should be one that it can be proud of.