‘Cluttered’ curriculum circus faces major overhaul

A cluttered curriculum which teaches New South Wales students circus skills and puppetry will be axed and replaced by a focus on literacy and numeracy. Premier Gladys Berejiklian said she would bolster maths and science skills to give children a chance to improve their career prospects. It will be the state’s biggest education reform in three decades as the state moves to increase the focus on maths, science and writing skills. "We know English and literacy is so critical for a student's capacity to learn and actually change careers over the course of their lives,” she said. "We have the potential to do so much better in key areas and we do need to focus on those core competencies. "We know - in the digital age in particular - maths and science will be leading to many different career options in the future.” Excess syllabus content would be scrapped, refocusing on early learning and oral language development, reading, writing and mathematics. "It's about raising standards across the board," Mr Berejiklian said. "Selfishly, it means we have a stronger New South Wales - a stronger Australia." A smaller number of HSC subjects would be offered and would need to have clear links to further study and future employment. "This is about setting us up for the future," the Premier said. NSW Education Minister Sarah Mitchell said the reforms would remove the “clutter” which had crept into the state’s curriculum over the years. "It has crept up over the years and now it needs to be pared back to free up the time for teachers to teach in the classroom on those core concepts," Ms Mitchell said. "It's important work and it needs to start right away." Image: News Corp Australia Via news.com.au — Australia’s leading news site https://www.news.com.au