NSW primary school syllabus overhaul: experts explain

In July, the New South Wales Government announced an overhaul of four primary school syllabuses – Science, History and Geography, Creative Arts, and Personal Development, Health and Physical Education (PDHPE). Flagged as the biggest changes in decades, the curriculum shake-up follows consultation with teachers, parents, and school sectors.

Planning for teaching the new syllabuses will begin next year, becoming mandatory in 2027.

Among the changes is the creation of new content about the functions of the human body, respectful relationships and consent, healthy use of screen time, key events in Federation, the origins of Australia’s democratic system, and the ancient past.

There will also be a change to how students are taught.

The new syllabus emphasises explicit teaching and writing content, focusing on specific instruction for what teachers should teach and detailed content on what students need to know.

University of Sydney academics from the Sydney School of Education and Social Work and the Faculty of Science comment on the syllabus changes and what they mean for primary school teachers and students.

For the first time in 50 years, all primary school syllabuses have been developed at the same time. The aim is to support teachers to connect content across different subject areas and to provide children with more opportunities to apply and build on new knowledge.

“Integration across all of the syllabuses allows for authentic and meaningful teaching and learning in the classroom,” said Professor Manjula Sharma, Director of the STEM Teacher Enrichment Academy.

“A more connected curriculum helps teachers adapt new thinking on how to link the syllabuses together and makes it easier for students to feel engaged with the content, as they will have a greater appreciation for its relevance when using the knowledge in various aspects of their learning.”

Yet the new curriculum isn’t clear on how to upskill teachers in implementing this integration, Professor Sharma said:

“We need to ensure we provide professional development for teachers on how to connect across disciplines, so they can get the most benefit out of the new syllabuses and have a greater impact on their students.”

Updates to Creative Arts content are the first in 24 years, with the new syllabus providing clear guidelines on how much time should be spent on each art form so students can develop a balanced range of creative skills. Ms Natasha Beaumont, Associate Lecturer in Creative Arts K to 6, believes these changes lessen the demand placed on teachers, but more support is required.

“The new syllabus has been significantly streamlined in a commendable effort to lessen the intense curricular demands placed on teachers. Processes for Dance, Drama, Music and Visual Arts appear in a more integrated and accessible way and the updated syllabus draws the four art forms together more cohesively.

“But the trimming down of syllabus content has inevitably resulted in fewer descriptions of outcomes to guide art-marking in the classroom. More support materials should therefore be provided for teachers who are often receiving as little as six hours on each art form during their initial teacher education.”

By moving away from independent, student-led learning and focusing on explicit teaching and writing material and detailed instruction, Dr Christine Preston, Associate Professor in Primary Science Education, said the new syllabus changes may mean more memorising and less doing for children.

“Modern science learning must involve the science practice of inquiry and the technology practice of problem solving. Writing alone is not a good way to learn in science and technology. Australian research shows that learning and thinking is advanced when children use many ways to communicate. Teachers should encourage children to draw, talk, move their bodies, use gesture and make models, as well as write, to support science and technology learning.

“The new syllabus does not provide teachers with guidance on how to use science practices to develop students’ understanding of ideas. A guided inquiry-based teaching approach should not be completely abandoned – we don’t want to be going back to the overuse of worksheets and videos. Teachers will need to pursue more professional learning to help them bridge gaps in learning progressions.”

In the Creative Arts syllabus revamp, creating written texts is now a key part of performance and visual arts teaching instruction. Ms Beaumont said this runs the risk of skewing the learning focus towards explaining art instead of creating art.

“Writing is a valuable cognitive tool in all subject areas, but the Arts are by nature highly practical experiences which are already heavily marginalised in many school timetables. Writing about music does not make for better skills in playing music, just as writing about football does not make someone a better football player.

“Emphasising written texts in this manner seems to signal a valuing of content learning over art-making which is misguided in the subject area of Creative Arts.”

Dr Catherine (Kate) Smyth, Program Director for the Bachelor of Education (Primary) degree, said the challenge with the new syllabus is how to teach it.

“The syllabus guides what you must teach but it won’t tell you how to teach,” she said. “Kids love asking questions and finding answers – the challenge is how teachers scaffold the work and provide the support their students need. You need explicit writing and teaching instruction, you need facts, but kids also need to be able to actively engage in the material in more ways than just reading and writing.

“Research has shown that embodied learning – immersive, whole body learning using senses, feeling and emotion – is a really powerful way to teach. How you get school children to do the writing aspects of the syllabus needs to be more embodied. That could be by doing something outdoors, interacting with materials, or using drama rich methodologies,” Dr Smyth said.

“The old syllabus emphasised distinct disciplinary knowledge and looked more like a secondary approach. The new syllabus has shifted back to a more primary approach and is more integrated, but there needs to be more of the ‘how’ to learn not just the ‘what’ to learn for teachers, and disciplinary knowledge can still help here – things like scientific, historical and mathematical ways of thinking and doing.”

Professor of Political Education and Chair of Education Murray Print said the new Human Society and its Environment (HSIE) syllabus – the replacement for separate subjects History and Geography – is a good starting point for teaching school children civics education.

“NSW will, at last, allow students to learn about Australian democracy. Changes to the K-6 HSIE syllabus will require primary schools to teach about Australia's parliamentary system, our Constitution, and how our laws work,” Professor Print said.

“It’s not enough, but it’s a start. The real impact will occur if high-school curricula also change to engage with Australian democracy. Both primary and secondary HSIE changes will need teachers to update their knowledge base."

Changes to Personal Development, Health and Physical Education (PDHPE) include content about the healthy use of digital devices, the importance of balancing screen time with an active lifestyle, and age-appropriate lessons on respectful relationships. These updates allow children to build the foundational knowledge required to begin navigating these concepts from an early age, said Professor Jioji Ravulo, Chair of Social Work and Policy Studies.

“The new syllabus provides scope for more contemporary conversations to be had with children about social issues they will interact with across the community,” he said. “By enabling students to have access to such information and resources, they will be better informed to make helpful and healthy choices and decisions. This includes understanding how to interact with social media platforms, how to engage with cultural diversity and its differences, and how to explore their own burgeoning identities in an ever-changing world.”

Some aspects of the new Science and Technology syllabus are unsuitable for certain age levels, said Dr Preston, Associate Professor in Primary Science Education.

“Some topics are unsuited to students of different ages,” she said. “Kindergarten ideas are too easy: learning basic human body parts is pre-school level, young learners in kindergarten will be bored and not engaged with this material.

“Content in other years is too hard. For example, the concepts of light in years 1 and 2 compared to year 5 in the Australian Curriculum is a big disparity. Additional ideas added to topic, such as heat in years 3 to 4 list examples more suited to and already taught in high school. Matching knowledge with age-level is vital for successful learning.”

In Creative Arts, not including Media Arts – communicating stories through technologies like television, film, video, newspapers, radio, video games, the internet and mobile media – as an art form in the new syllabus is a missed opportunity to teach about new technologies like artificial intelligence (AI), said Ms Beaumont, Associate Lecturer in Creative Arts K to 6.

“Unlike the national curriculum, the NSW syllabus still fails to recognise digital Media Arts as a distinct form. This devaluing misses the crucial opportunities that the Media Arts present. Digital media-making builds children’s technological and creative skills while teaching them how to interact safely and ethically online, and how to critically evaluate digital and AI media. This subject deserves a place in NSW primary schools.”

Contextual learning is also important, said Dr Smyth.

“A classroom is going to be different in Sydney, Dubbo and Yamba. Teacher’s work is about making sure they can teach the syllabus content in a way that makes sense to the kids in their class. Focusing on professional development training for teachers with education consultants to unpack the curriculum is essential for its success.”

Hero photo: Adobe Stock.