Board Bulletin (Vol 17 No 1)

On 11 December 2007, the Board of Studies approved the Broad Directions for revision of the K–6 Science and Technology syllabus.

This follows wide consultation with the education community, including surveys and a symposium held in August 2007.

John O’Brien, Director Curriculum, said, ‘The Broad Directions will now become the underlying principles for the final syllabus. One key direction will be to capture the wonder, curiosity and interest young students have for science and technology and develop that into a base for lifelong learning.

‘The consultation has shown that teachers are generally looking formore clarity in the syllabus and a clear continuumof learning in science and technology.’

‘These goals, as well as a user-friendly structure, are now included in the Broad Directions.’

Writers have begun developing these Broad Directions into a draft writing brief for the revised syllabus in Term1, 2008. Teachers will be invited to read and comment on the draft writing brief in Term2, and are encouraged to check the Board Bulletin and the Board’s website for details. (See Important Dates on page 11 in this issue.)

There will be further consultation on the draft syllabus. The syllabus will be completed in 2009, sent to schools for theminimum12-month preparation period in 2010 and implemented in 2011.

For more information on the Broad Directions and how you can participate in the syllabus revision process, please check the K–6 Board website.

The Evaluation Report, Broad Directions and Literature Review are available on the Board’s website.

The revised syllabus will:
• provide a user-friendly structure
• emphasise the processes currently called Investigating and Designing and Making
• provide manageable, explicit content for deep understanding
• build on students’ natural wonder and curiosity to develop lifelong interest in science and technology
• incorporate the nature of science and the nature of technology and the relationships between them
• provide a clear continuum of learning
• provide flexibility for teachers to select contexts that challenge and deepen students’ understanding
• require readily available resources
• provide content that is inclusive of the diversity of students’ needs.