Another aim of the paper is to examine some of the key organizational implications of any major changes to the positioning of Year 10 curriculum. The first section of Part A outlines some overarching curriculum considerations and priorities, referred to above, which form the background that can inform any decision regarding the conceptual positioning of Year 10 curriculum.
Key factors constituting the backdrop for curriculum reform
A hallmark of the reconceptualized higher learning phase is the retention of school-based assessments. As the summary below suggests, South Australia has reconceptualized Year 10 as part of the Higher Stage of Learning.
Possible configurations for Year 10 curriculum
Common and agreed curriculum framework for the compulsory years of
The theoretical basis of these developments throughout the eighties lay not only in notions such as 'sound general education' and 'common and agreed framework', but also in the idea of a. core curriculum", which was carefully developed by the former National Center for Curriculum Development: A major challenge for Australian schools in the eighties will be to define the core curriculum in such a way as to provide all students with well-structured, flexible, socially relevant, future-oriented and stimulating learning tasks. Subsequently, national statements and profiles were prepared and announced for each of the key learning areas in the shared and agreed framework indicated by the shared and agreed national aims for schooling in Australia (the 'Hobart Statement') ( Australian Council of Education, 1989) and later the Adelaide Declaration on National Goals for Schooling in the Twenty-First Century (MCEETYA, 1999).
The result of this development was the release of curricula for key learning areas from 1 to 10 years between 1999 and 2005, which together constituted a common and agreed core curriculum framework for the compulsory years of schooling. The most critical feature of this common and agreed core curriculum framework was that it sought to ensure that students from Years 1 to 10 would experience a good general education and that key decisions about future educational pathways would be deferred until at least the end of compulsory schooling. years of schooling.
Different curriculum frameworks for different phases of learning
In Queensland, as in other states and territories, this framework was generally expressed in terms of a core curriculum, the development of which would later become the primary responsibility of the former Queensland School Curriculum Council (now the Queensland Studies Authority ). Not maintaining this approach until the end of the compulsory years of schooling would leave many students without the comprehensive and well-rounded education they need for continued success in the future. Similarly, a comparison of groups of pupils in the early years of secondary schooling (years 4 and 5) with groups of pupils in later years (years 8 and 9) will reveal that there are quite a number significant differences between the two groups.
Against this background, there can also be a strong argument for considering years 6 to 10 as the middle stage of learning. Finally, the majority of Year 10 students will continue to gain significant benefits from the continued exploration of the diversity of lessons offered across all (eight) key learning areas.
Year 10 as an induction year
Starting a route, streaming or specialization of study for students in Year 10 can have a significant long-term detrimental effect on their achievement. It is important to be able to support students in very practical ways in terms of preparing them for the discipline-based and career-oriented studies they will encounter in the following years. The work in South Australia is relevant to both configuration 3 and 4 and a summary of some of these ideas is available in the SACE Review section.
Year 10 as an integral component of the senior phase
It appears that many of these policy initiatives tend to push Year 10 into the upper stage of learning. State-wide consultations carried out as part of the review of the curriculum for the overall stage of learning confirmed the claim that the transition from Year 10 to Year 11 continues to cause difficulties for pupils and their parents as well as for teachers. In summary, the Year 10 curriculum must build on the scaffolded disciplinary learning in the middle phase of learning and provide a gateway to the senior phase of learning.
However, it is important that the inclusion of Year 10 in the higher phase of learning does not result in a difficult transition from Year 9 to Year 10. A recently completed review of the South Australian Certificate of Education (SACE) (The State of South Australia, 2006a) provides a key insight into how the proposal to make Year 10 the introduction to the higher stage might work.
Broad conceptual positioning to inform Year 10 curriculum
The reconceptualized senior phase of learning is informed by the following notions of a "broad and general education":. However, it is feasible to assume that traditional pedagogies are likely to persist across the year levels, with a greater likelihood of occurring in the senior phase of learning. Much of what currently constitutes assessment practice in the senior phase of learning is highly commendable, particularly in terms of the professional collaboration involved in the.
Assessment of learning, or summative assessment, seems to predominate in the current higher phase of learning. Queensland Studies Authority Syllabuses for the Higher Stage: Disciplinary Learning, Standards, Flexibility and Continuity, QSA, 2007c, p. 16).
Preferred configuration
In summary, we propose that the conceptual positioning of the 10th grade curriculum be informed by a minimally defined curriculum, permeable entry into and exit from the higher phase of learning, and pedagogical and assessment reform. In summary, the argument that follows is based on the claim that aligning Year 10 with the middle stage of learning might link this year in the minds of students, their parents/carers and others with their own interest in education, as some form of end point on the way to school. Even without the issue of a formal certificate at the end of Year 10, there is a good chance that Year 10 - if it were not included in the higher phase of learning - would be seen by some as a logical starting point.
Such insights strengthen the argument for including Year 10 in higher education in Queensland and for continuing to strengthen school-based approaches to assessment that may be threatened by the move to a national curriculum. In summary, Vickers and Lamb's (2002) research warns us not to regard year 10 as the end point of the school journey in any way.
Curriculum implications
Apart from the fact that a Year 10 Certificate is no longer issued, there are compelling social justice reasons, outlined earlier, for not highlighting the end of Year 10, the final year of compulsory schooling in Queensland, as a possible exit point from schooling. Based on this research, it is possible to hypothesize that it may be the most disadvantaged in our society who would experience the most detrimental effects of constructing year 10 as an endpoint. Specific spaces must be found in the Year 10 component of the senior phase curriculum to support students' reflection on their learning in relation to essential learning and standards.
Specific spaces should be found in the Year 10 component of the Higher Stage curriculum where students can implement personalized learning plans (see sidebar section, SACE Review). The preferred configuration is based on Year 10 as an integral part of the Higher Stage of Learning.
Background
Furthermore, the QSA suggests that "the re-release complements the revision of syllabuses for the senior phase of learning being undertaken" (Key learning area syllabuses to be re-issued in 2009, QSA, July 2007a, p. 1). The review is based on a conceptual and structural analysis for the redevelopment of the syllabuses for the 'senior phase of learning'. The objectives of Year 10 and the different learning needs of young people at the end of the middle phase of learning were confirmed through consultation: continuation, remediation, acceleration, specialisation.
In the same way that 11th grade learning needs to connect with the core learning and standards established for the end of the middle stage, so too. learning in the 11th and 12th grade curricula must build towards the knowledge and skills needed for further education, training, work and active citizenship. Against this background, the next section explores some of the possible implications of curriculum reform for Grade 10.
Implications of reform to Year 10 curriculum
In particular, the expectations for organizing and integrating the Year 10 curriculum into the mainstream of learning will require teachers who have expertise in ensuring that students, where appropriate and/or necessary, can 'connect' with previous learning, ie . , consolidating the learning achievements achieved during years 1 to 9 and with future learning, that is to prepare for the disciplinary and vocational studies that come in years 11 and 12. In the words of the above plan, teachers must plan continuation, remediation, acceleration and specialization (Review of the curriculum for the senior phase of learning: A proposed plan for the future development of the curriculum, QSA, July 2006). In schools, libraries/resource centers play a vital role in the introduction of the curriculum and any significant structural change, such as linking Year 10 to Years 11 and 12, together with associated change to the organization and integration of the curriculum for the senior phase of learning, may require a major review of the curriculum materials and equipment currently available in such facilities.
School human resources, in particular teaching and support staff, may require training and/or re-training to be able to provide appropriate teaching and support to Year 10 and/or Year 11 and Year 12 pupils as they undertake specific academic requirements. higher levels of learning. They may see that participation in Year 10, linked to Years 11 and 12, will provide strong incentives for their children to continue participation throughout the three years of higher level learning. They may be concerned if they feel that participation in Year 10, linked to Years 11 and 12, will provide strong incentives for their children to continue participation throughout the three years of higher level learning.
The authors of this paper see that the notion of a minimally defined curriculum offers a generative way forward in terms of informing the configuration of the preferred curriculum, ie Year 10 as an integral component of the higher stage of learning.
