Doorstop - Commonwealth Parliamentary Offices, Melbourne
E&OE-------------------------------------
MINISTER ROBERT:
Good afternoon. Thank you for coming along, and I apologise for keeping you waiting. The Education Ministers Meeting has just concluded. Can I thank all of the Education Ministers, my colleagues around the country, for all their hard work of what they're doing. Four million Australian children are going back to school over the next two weeks; this week and next week. Three hundred and twenty thousand young preppies, so young children for the very first time—240,000 in Year 12, in their final year of school. It's been a pleasure working with my state and territory ministerial colleagues as we've all prepared for children to go back to school, and I thank them for all their hard work. And I thank the mums and dads of Australia, and all the kids who've had a very difficult two years, especially here in Victoria, where I'm standing today. And they have done magnificently as the NAPLAN results have shown between 2019 and 2021 no discernible drop in performance, which is a great credit to the hardworking teachers, and the mums and dads, and the children of Australia.
Today, we've been talking about curriculum, and a new national curriculum, and the revision of the foundation, so junior years of school through to Year 10. Mums and dads rightly expect the very, very best when it comes to curriculum, and they expect that we will give them the very best. Many parents I speak to also look at the PISA results, which is international comparison. And over the last 20 years, of course, we in Australia have dropped from 11th to 29th in the world. A curriculum is a key part on how we arrest that. An enormous amount of work has been done with the curriculum.
The Commonwealth and other jurisdictions had a range of concerns, with early drafts that came out about how Western civilisation was taught, about the problems of how English and how spelling and how reading was done. There were concerns regarding how busy the curriculum was. The curriculum presented that ministers went through today is now 21 per cent lighter than what it was before. Phonics is well and truly back, as is direct instruction, and all of that is pleasing to see. So can I thank ACARA, the curriculum authority, and all of their hard work for that.
The Commonwealth and Western Australia, though, continue to have concerns regarding maths, and the humanities, and social science areas. Mathematics in terms of the mastery of mathematics, and humanities and social sciences in terms of the volume of work that students are expected to get across. Accordingly, we have asked ACARA to go away and revise the curriculum, noting the concerns the Commonwealth and Western Australia have, and to come back to education ministers in April. We have pleasingly agreed from all jurisdictions that more work needs to be done on mental health for young Australians, and including that mental health within the health and physical education curriculum.
Chanel Contos from Teach Us Consent was invited to come along and speak to all ministers about the need for consent to be included in the health and physical education curriculum. And I can say there is wide and unanimous agreement from all jurisdictions about including that consent-based education within the curriculum under health and physical education. Accordingly, all ministers will be back in April to go through that curriculum. And of course, whilst WA and Commonwealth have concerns with mathematics and humanities and social science, which is HASS, all jurisdictions, of course, will be involved in that further review.
QUESTION:
So Minister, obviously you haven’t got consensus with everything. Will you proceed with the areas where you do have consensus or will you wait to get consensus across the board?
MINISTER ROBERT:
We've talked through it. And of course, there’s wide consensus on six of the eight teaching objectives, noting that we are happy with HPE, but do want to see further work in mental health. And of course, wonderful to see that consent work within HPE. But there is not consensus from the Commonwealth, and strongly from WA, on mathematics and HASS, humanities and social sciences. So the agreement was made to come back with it all in April.
QUESTION:
Okay. And with history, I mean, obviously that's one of the areas that the Federal Government and WA have concerns. Are you able to be a bit more specific about what you would like to see added or deleted from the history curriculum?
MINISTER ROBERT:
In short, in history, it remains very, very busy. There are 69, for example, learning areas within there, compared to 50 or so in science, but of course, science has 30 more hours within to teach. So one of the concerns we've got is that it is still very, very busy, and we'd like to see the curriculum, whilst we acknowledge 21 per cent reduction is good, we'd like to see it still decluttered more.
QUESTION:
Does the emphasis on Western heritage need to be increased?
MINISTER ROBERT:
We have seen it. If you look at the April draft, there were considerable concerns the Commonwealth had about that April draft. For example, at the time, Anzac Day was seen as a contested day, which of course is unacceptable to Australians. There was no mention of Gough Whitlam, of course, or Robert Menzies to create or cite two giants of politics, but students were encouraged to research Greta Thunberg. A lot of those issues have been resolved. The Western civilisation is something we should be proud of, and what it means to be Australian to be proud of is well and truly back in the curriculum, but it remains quite cluttered.
QUESTION:
Do you have a view of what could be taken out?
MINISTER ROBERT:
I'll leave that to the professionals. I think when it comes to curriculum, everyone has a view. And importantly, mums and dads have a view, and I think their view really, really matters. And I’d encourage mums and dads to be involved in this, to be involved in the reviews, to have a say in terms of what they would like, and I think that's very healthy for us.
QUESTION:
With the maths curriculum, is the concern of the Federal Government and the West Australian Government that it's been dumbed down? Is that the curriculum- is that the concern, that it needs to be a higher standard?
MINISTER ROBERT:
It does, and I give you an example to show that. In Singapore, for Year 5, Singapore explicitly lists the mathematical operations students must be able to demonstrate without a calculator. So addition and subtraction of algorithms up to three digits without a calculator, multiplication and division. It's very clear. This is what you must do without a calculator. In the current curriculum for- in Australia, it seems you can choose between performing a mental calculation or using a calculator, or a spreadsheet to solve a wide range of problems. For example, using a calculator or a spreadsheet where the numbers are difficult, justifying your operation and calculation method and reflecting on their answer in relation to the context to ensure it makes sense. Or we can teach kids to add up. In Singapore, you must recall your times tables from Year 2 and 3. In this maths curriculum, you don't have to recall your times tables, and they start in Year 3 and move into Year 4. You must be able to know your times tables. These are the issues when it comes to mathematics. We'd like to see mastery of mathematics for students to understand maths and how to recall them, not just an enquiry approach.
QUESTION:
So with some of the states, particularly Victoria, they have a balanced literacy approach. Other states have more of a phonics approach. Would you like to see states like Victoria move towards a more phonics-based approach?
MINISTER ROBERT:
The curriculum is quite clear on moving towards a very strong phonics-based approach.
QUESTION:
So that’s- there's agreement on that?
MINISTER ROBERT:
There is agreement on the English side of this, which is very phonics-based.
QUESTION:
Okay. Are you still optimistic that we will have a new national curriculum in time for next year?
MINISTER ROBERT:
Absolutely. We'll come back in April when those issues that we've got in humanities and social sciences and mathematics have been addressed. All jurisdictions will be involved in that. The Commonwealth and Western Australia have been very clear on what we want to see in those two areas, and likewise, all jurisdictions have agreed with the Commonwealth on the need for greater mental health teaching to be included in HPE. I'm very confident this can be done by April and approved by ministers in April and then to allow the curriculum to move forward from there.
Tremendous. Thanks very much.
QUESTION:
Minister, can I ask over the phone?
MINISTER ROBERT:
You can ask over the phone.
QUESTION:
Thanks, Minister. Andrew Greene from ABC. Do you believe there will be a guarantee for the protection of gay students in legislation before the election under the RDA?
MINISTER ROBERT:
Well, the question was put to the Prime Minister, and the Prime Minister indicated that yes, he would be moving in that space.
QUESTION:
One more question, sorry. Do you think that you will take this portfolio to the election, or do you think Mr Tudge will return before the election?
MINISTER ROBERT:
Well, we all serve at the pleasure of the Prime Minister, and I continue to do so. I'm the senior portfolio minister for Department of Education, Skills and Employment, so I've had wide coverage of the entire portfolio, noting a number of ministers work through me and to me in this space, including for regional education, Bridget McKenzie, of course for youth, Minister Howarth, and education in terms of Minister Tudge. So I've had the senior portfolio role, so I've been across all the issues, and I'll continue to serve as requested.
Thanks very much.