Education Ministers have accepted a recommendation from the Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority (ACARA) to undertake a targeted iterative review of the Australian Curriculum: Mathematics for Foundation to Year 2, as part of a national push to lift early numeracy outcomes.
The review will begin this month and is expected to deliver advice and recommendations to ministers in the third quarter of 2026.
According to ACARA, the decision follows extensive consultation with key stakeholders and partners. Feedback indicated strong overall support for the current Foundation to Year 2 Mathematics content, but also identified opportunities to strengthen guidance for teachers implementing the curriculum in classrooms.
The iterative review will concentrate on four key areas for improvement:
- Clearer advice on the prioritisation of mathematical content
- Greater mathematical detail to improve clarity about what students will learn at and within each year level
- More explicit sequencing of content, highlighting related concepts and the order in which they are introduced
- Inclusion of explicit content on foundational mathematics for consumer and financial literacy
ACARA said it will work closely with practising primary school teachers, school leaders and systems, and mathematics curriculum experts throughout the review process. The aim is to ensure that any strengthened content changes are “fit for purpose” and provide clear sequencing and prioritisation of key concepts.
Latest NAPLAN data shows that around one in three Australian Year 3 students are not reaching challenging but achievable numeracy standards, with one in ten requiring additional support.
ACARA CEO Mr Stephen Gniel said a strong foundation in mathematics is critical.
“A strong grounding in mathematics and numeracy are crucial skills for our young people to develop to succeed in their education and later in life,” he said.
“Given one in three students are not reaching challenging but achievable numeracy standards, it’s right for us to have a national focus on numeracy improvement, including with the Year 1 Numeracy Checks coming into effect this year. It is why ACARA put forward this iterative review of the Foundation to Year 2 Mathematics curriculum to give more clarity and support to our school leaders and teachers as they bring the curriculum to life in our classrooms.”
Mr Gniel said that while consultations highlighted overall satisfaction with the current Mathematics curriculum, stakeholders had also identified areas for refinement.
“Ultimately, this will help support our teachers to be more confident in teaching this important learning area, as well as deliver improvements for Australian students,” he said.
The current version of the Australian Curriculum was endorsed by all education ministers in April 2022, following a public consultation process and research program that ACARA says resulted in a more streamlined and knowledge-rich curriculum.
Under Australia’s federated education model, states and territories can adopt and adapt the national curriculum for their local context.
Since the 2022 launch, ACARA’s focus has been on supporting teachers with optional resources to assist classroom implementation.
In October 2025, education ministers introduced provisions for an iterative review process for the Australian Curriculum and approved ACARA’s recommended criteria and approach. ACARA said the process is designed to balance curriculum stability with the ability to respond quickly when required, while placing teacher workload at the centre of any proposed change and protecting the integrity of the curriculum.
