Abstract:
Learning outcomes, benchmarks and the like require teachers to develop common understandings of levels of attainment which in turn requires a clear and common specification of what students should learn. The nationally developed curriculum documents, Statements and Profiles for Australian schools, have to some extent facilitated this renewed emphasis on syllabuses and what is negotiable and non negotiable in school programs and courses of study.
This paper considers the strengths and weaknesses of the nationally developed curriculum documents and their sustainability in the present climate and pursues this matter in the context of the preparation and publication of Student Work Samples in Health and Physical Education, a Curriculum Corporation Project which the authors of this paper coordinated. It also addresses how work samples can be most effectively used in schools to benchmark students progress and promote reflection on the effectiveness of teaching and learning strategies in improving the progress of all students against agreed expectations.
This paper considers the strengths and weaknesses of the nationally developed curriculum documents and their sustainability in the present climate and pursues this matter in the context of the preparation and publication of Student Work Samples in Health and Physical Education, a Curriculum Corporation Project which the authors of this paper coordinated. It also addresses how work samples can be most effectively used in schools to benchmark students progress and promote reflection on the effectiveness of teaching and learning strategies in improving the progress of all students against agreed expectations.