A new report on curriculum issues and needs in schools was released on October 16, 2022 by the Grattan Institute. The report, titled Ending the lesson lottery: How to improve curriculum planning in schools, is packed with data, and includes a range of recommendations that would deliver much-needed support to teachers and schools across the country – including government funding to produce high-quality curriculum materials that would be made available to all teachers and schools.
The Grattan Institute report identified that, of the 2,243 teachers and school leaders across Australia that were surveyed, 15% (or less) had access to high quality curriculum materials. The Australian Curriculum (and State variants) provide high-level teaching direction, but specific lesson planning is left to individual teachers – a time consuming endeavour that’s required term-after-term.
Alarmingly, the authors of the report claim teachers across Australia are forced to source and utilise classroom resources and materials alone, often times trawling through social media. With the lack of government support in this area, teachers carry a heavy curriculum planning load and school students are left with inconsistent classroom learning.
Through its Primezone, Primezone Academy and Farmer Time programs, Primary Industries Education Foundation Australia (PIEFA) hosts more than 600 curriculum-aligned, food and fibre education resources. With a mission to embed the value of Australia’s food and fibre production in schools and community, PIEFA is regularly developing and rolling out new credible, hands-on classroom resources and lesson plans, but capacity to produce these resources is limited due to funding constraints.
The message is clear from educators – they need more structure and support to be more effective in the classroom. Organisations like PIEFA have the knowledge, skills, experience and technology to produce a scalable program that enhances learning across primary and high school classrooms, nation-wide, providing real, highly implementable resources that are curriculum-aligned.
We encourage our community to access and read this crucial report.