National Curriculum Development and Initial Reflections on the Mathematics Framing Paper

The National Mathematics Curriculum Framing Paper has been released for consultation until 28 February 2009 (see www.ncb.org.au). Professional associations, teachers, teacher educators and others are taking this opportunity to organise meetings and forums to consider the views presented in the paper and to provide critical feedback and commentary on the proposed broad directions. The University of Sydney held a National Curriculum Symposium in December to bring together teachers, school system personnel, academics and representatives from the National Curriculum Board to have a "robust and broad ranging discussion" about the four framing papers released by the NCB: English, Mathematics, History and the Sciences. The program for the symposium began with a presentation by Professor Kerry Kennedy about his reflections on national curriculum in Australia over the last 30 years. This was followed by brief presentations by each of the authors of the framing papers. Discussion groups for each of the disciplines considered key questions about the papers with feedback from each group. Finally Rob Randall, the acting Director of the NCB commented on the challenges identified by the discussion groups. In this paper, I summarise the comments and discussion about curriculum development in general and the National Mathematics Curriculum Framing Paper in particular. I hope the comments provide a catalyst for discussions at your school or workplace.