Australia’s new government will continue with the development of a new digital technologies curriculum, the nation’s first formal effort to teach computer science from kindergarten to year ten in every primary and high school.
Drafts of the new curriculum have been under way for more than a year. Early efforts questioned whether it was necessary to teach programming in schools. Later drafts not only said yes to that question but included agile development practices. Industry feedback on that draft considered it perhaps a bit too computer-science heavy and questioned whether schools will have the staff or resources to teach the curriculum.
The new government is content that the Australian Curriculum Assessment and Reporting Authority (ACARA) has responded to industry commentary on the draft curriculum and feels it “…. will be appropriately supported by state and territory education authorities depending on the individual needs of each jurisdiction.” The spokesman dodged our question about industry worries the new courses won’t address skills shortages.
The new government also, however, intends to conduct a review of the entire Australian Curriculum “… to ensure that it is providing a rigorous, contemporary curriculum and delivers what parents expect.”
