The Australian Academy of Science today responded to the review into the National Curriculum, supporting the review's positive view of the current science curriculum and calling on the government to make science an education priority.
The National Curriculum review, written by by former teacher and Liberal staffer Kevin Donnelly and business professor Ken Wiltshire, noted the overall good opinion of the current science curriculum. But the review also expressed concern that the curriculum was overcrowded and greater focus should be placed on literacy and numeracy.
While the Academy acknowledged the issue of curriculum overcrowding, particularly at primary level, Professor Denis Goodrum, the director of the Academy’s secondary school science education program Science by Doing, said science should remain a priority, alongside literacy and numeracy.
Shelley Peers, development director of the Academy’s primary school science program, Primary Connections, also warned against removing science from the early years of primary school, as one reviewer suggested.
She also noted that Primary Connections research has shown that science provides a meaningful context for literacy and numeracy learning.
Read the media release outlining the Academy's reponse.
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