Australian Curriculum Should Get 'Back to Basics’ Report

According to a recent review, the Australian curriculum has been found to be confusing. Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott earlier said that he would want it to be a "back to basics" system in school, where the essentials were given more importance.

The government report, consisted of nearly 300 pages, was made by business professor Ken Wiltshire and Liberal staffer Kevin Donnelly. The "confusing" report was found to be slipping behind. There were 30 recommendations made for the betterment of the curriculum. Greater focus is shown on numeracy, morals and literacy, especially during primary years. At the same time, parents are recommended to give simpler directions, 9News reported.

Labor gave an "F" to the Abbott government as, according to the new suggestions, schools are encouraged to use the 'A to E' marking. Opposition education spokeswoman Kate Ellis called the plan "meaningless." She said that toying with the curriculum was meaningless as every school had suffered a huge deduction in its budget. Ellis also questioned why Australia should be under such a heavy influence of the European system. She said that Education Minister Christopher Pyne had always played the game of distraction and this report was no exception.

While the teachers are recommended to take remedial lessons in grammar, it is said in the report that Western civilisation is demonised in the current curriculum; the Daily Telegraph reported. It is also recommended that more emphasis is given to poetry and literature. "Australia's development as a nation is often presented in a negative light, ignoring the positives. The opposite is the case when dealing with indigenous history and culture," the report says, "It would be better if priorities like Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander histories and cultures are taught as essential content related to particular units of work rather than scattered across the history curriculum and various subjects."

In the meantime, Abbott said that the report had not based on "ideology." Student should be able to write, read, know, count and think enough about the history of their country and of the world. Abbott said that they would require doing so to understand the reasons behind "things" happening around.

Contact the writer: s.mukhopadhyay@ibtimes.com.au