AGTA News 2014

Review of the Australian Curriculum

The newly elected federal government announced a comprehensive review of the curriculum to be held that would hear all submissions and report back by the middle of the year. AGTA developed a response document on behalf of all affiliates and Grant Kleeman was asked to appear before the review body to present this document and answer any questions.

The review panel had very specific areas of focus – the curriculum development process and potential bias and the applicability of the cross curriculum priorities. The review panel did not appear to have closely read any of the submissions.

AGTA was given a series of questions to respond to focussed on the process of the curriculum development. AGTA highlighted the role that state jurisdictions ended up having especially with regard to specific agendas. Also raised the issue of multiple hats – writer, reviewer, adviser, and jurisdiction representative could be the same person and this did impact on how the curriculum was developed. AGTA supported the notion that the relationship between AGTA and ACARA was supportive and was only superseded in the final moths where the pressure of the timeline took over.

The most likely outcome appears to be that recommendations are made to strip back the AC to a very basic and general series of core content statements – with contextual information, priorities or competencies left to the jurisdictions. On behalf of AGTA Grant Kleeman lobbied for more geography teachers to be trained. More information will be available here.

AAAE Founding Membership

AGTA is proud to be a founding member of the newly formed AAAE.

AAAE is a body specifically formed to represent the interests of teacher professional associations at a national level. There are 23 founding member associations, and the AAAE will be able to lobby at a federal level on issues affecting teachers and their professional practice. More information will be available later in the year but in the meantime checkout the website for further details.

Decadal plan for Geography

This is a new initiative by the Academy of Sciences to work on a long term plan for the development of Geography as an academic discipline with strong and real connections to developing the key skills needed in the 21st Century.

AGTA is keen to be partner in this as a major player in the teaching and development of geography in schools. There will be some funding available for affiliates to get involved in the process and to ensure that school based geography remains a major focus for the work. An example of a decadal plan for space science can be viewed here.

National Geography Competition

The RGSQ continues to offer the National Geography Competition for schools and students and in 2014 over 70 000 students took part.
It is a great opportunity to inspire your students and to identify high achievers at your school. Winners of the competition can also be invited to join the Geography at your school. Winners of the competition can also be invited to join the Geography Olympiad team. The Olympiad team represents Australia in 2014 at the international competition to be held in Krakow, Poland.

Further details about the National Geography Competition are available here.