Purpose
1. This paper describes the curriculum development process that will be used to develop the national curriculum. It also describes the structure of writing teams and consultation groups that will be involved in the national curriculum development.
Background
2. The Board is committed to a process of curriculum development in each learning area that:
• provides opportunities for consultation
• establishes achievable timelines
• ensures high quality curriculum documents.
3. The proposed process involves four phases:
I. Curriculum shaping
II. Curriculum writing
III. Implementation
IV. Curriculum evaluation and review
4. Major features of the process are as follows.
• Advice is sought at key points from teachers, professional associations and curriculum experts as well as from the broader educational community.
• The curriculum documents are benchmarked against existing state and territory curriculum as well as international examples.
• Project managers and project officers manage the curriculum development process in each subject, including establishing consultative networks, managing consultation, and managing the work of the writers appointed to draft and revise curriculum documents.
• Board appointed Curriculum Advisory Panels will contribute to the monitoring and quality assurance role. These panels will provide advice to the writing teams on the quality of the material during the writing process and contribute to the integrity of the curriculum development process.
• The Board and its Curriculum Committee will review and approve curriculum documents at key stages of development.
Curriculum
5. The process will produce a curriculum that will include the following elements:
• Curriculum content, which details what teachers are expected to teach, and each student is expected to learn.
• Achievement standards, accompanied by annotated student work samples and advice on reporting frameworks. ACARA