Thank you so much, Paul. Thank you for all being here. I'm really, really honored to be in this room full of incredible educators. I to, acknowledge the Gadigal people of the Eora nation, obviously the traditional custodians of this land.
I pay my respects to the elders, past, present and emerging, and I pay my respects to all Aboriginal people here with us today.
I'm really grateful to have the opportunity to meet with you here this morning and to continue to listen to teachers across the state of New South Wales.
I have to start by thanking you for all the work that you have done as part of reforming the curriculum so far. That incredible body of work that was just read out. I know how vitally important your network has been in the development of this new curriculum, and the quality of that work is reflected in the comments I hear as I've already been in schools. The most recent K to 2 Maths and English syllabus has been very, very well received and that is no mean feat in an environment where teachers are overworked, schools are understaffed.
So as Minister, I really want to be here to thank you for that work and acknowledge your incredible commitment to robust consultation. As a politician, I certainly know that can be very tricky, but listening to people at the coalface, as they say, always ends in a better result. In my mind.
I don't need to tell this room that this is the biggest reform to the curriculum in more than 30 years. So it is crucial we get it right and teachers are put at the heart of this reform. The curriculum review by Professor Masters made it clear that teachers wanted change, and in opposition we agreed. Change definitely was needed. Teachers clearly told that review that many of the syllabuses were overcrowded and restrictive. Their ability to teach effectively was being compromised and that they, you, were being put under enormous pressure by being asked to do too much too quickly.
Student outcomes and teacher workload are not mutually exclusive. If we don't have a teaching workforce that have the time to do their jobs well, then we are letting both students and teachers down.
I've heard that message loud and clear. As you all know, the Master's review found that the prescriptive nature of the curriculum was limiting the way teachers could teach and impacting the learning outcomes of students. Some fell behind, some disengaged completely. That is why getting this reform right is so important. And you can do that. Government can do that by listening to teachers and valuing your profession.
To me, that means giving you time to provide feedback on syllabuses. Time to get to know the content and time to implement it successfully in the classroom. That is also what Masters recommended. That the reforms occur, but they occur within a manageable timeframe because quality is critical to success. But to call a spade a spade, unfortunately that wasn't going to happen under the previous government and the timeline that it was going to impose on you. That timeline was simply unworkable. Their language is about pressing forward at the expense of teachers and often support staff. It wasn't about student outcomes. It was about optics at the expense of teachers and students.
For example, as you know, it had high school teachers having to provide feedback to nine HSIE syllabuses in just one term. It was requiring primary school teachers to implement six new syllabuses in three years. It was a timeline that was going to put immeasurable pressure on teachers at the worst possible time. When you are already overburdened with administrative work and when schools are already experiencing chronic staff shortages.
So today, I am very pleased to tell you that the new government has listened. We have heard the concerns of teachers across all the sectors, and I can announce to you here that the government will reprioritize the curriculum reform schedule. We will implement the new curriculum in a way that is consistent with the timeline that the Master's curriculum review intended. It will get a new curriculum in front of your students without compromising your ability to deliver it successfully and effectively.
Let me go through this in terms of what it will mean. Under the new schedule, the timeline for syllabus release will be extended to 2027. That means we won't be asking you to implement almost 100 syllabuses in just two years. We have listened to the concerns raised across all three sectors and agree that it is just too short a time frame to be implemented successfully.
Instead, we will be staggering consultations and spreading out the release of syllabuses. We intend to give schools at least one year of planning time once they receive the final syllabuses.
Now, for this term, no draft syllabuses will be released. Hopefully this will alleviate some of the immediate pressure you face. This will also provide more time to ensure that the new K to 10 Maths and English curriculum are ready for full implementation, day one, term one 2024.
We will also reschedule a significant number of upcoming consultations. We want term two to just be about the essentials. So instead of 26 syllabuses that were due to be released for feedback in term two, we will just be releasing eight syllabuses, and this will be in term three.
These are syllabuses that have not yet been consulted on. So, to be clear, only eight syllabuses will be released for consultation in term three and they will be four mandatory syllabuses for K to six. Creative arts, human society and its environment, personal development, health and physical education and science and technology and the remaining four mandatory syllabuses will be for years 7 to 10, which of course are geography, history, PDHPE and visual arts.
The priority for us is getting mandatory syllabuses out to youth for consultation before we start on electives. We will also be seeking final feedback on three syllabuses that you have already been consulted on. They are 7 to 8 technology, 7 to 10 science and 7 to 10 music.
Now I know there are particular syllabuses that you have been eagerly waiting for, and I know there have been concerns about implementing them by next year. So firstly, the year 11 to 12 Health and Movement Science syllabus will be released in term three, but we are extending the implementation out to 2025 for examination in the 2026 HSC.
For those interested, we do intend to go ahead with the Auslan syllabus, but I would like to announce the specifics of that with the Auslan community. We think that this re-sequencing is appropriate and necessary to ensuring the new curriculum will make a meaningful difference in the education of our young people.
I think we have struck the right balance here. Paul and NESA have been speaking with the whole sector about rescheduling and this represents a consensus view of the right way forward. I very much hope this has allayed some of your concerns, but please feel free to continue to provide us and myself as Minister directly with feedback as the new curriculum is rolled out, because that feedback is absolutely vital.
This is your core business and we want to be a government that respects that. We want to be a government that values the expertise of the teaching profession. As a new government, we are committed to lifting the literacy and numeracy outcomes of our students. And as you all know, what you tell me I meant to say is that doesn't just happen through the English and maths syllabuses.
It happens through the excited engagement of students with the subjects that they find the most interesting, which is going to be different for different kids. For some it will be Maths and English. Others will engage with language that most as they learn, PDHPE. Some will realize a love of maths as they engage with science and technology.
We know above all that you need to have the time and the space to be able to deliver a new curriculum. We know a new curriculum is not a manual to be read out in class. It requires you to undertake professional learning, to develop new lessons and assessments, and to develop new ways of reporting it to parents and students that are clear and meaningful. And around it all. You need to be able to ensure it works for your students in practice.
This takes time, and it shouldn't unfairly compromise the time that you have with your students now, by squeezing all this work into an unworkable timeframe.
Prior to coming to government, we committed to valuing the teaching profession. I had been out the schools and heard from hundreds of teachers and I've heard from so many more in the last five weeks, mostly all about the significant workload pressure that you are facing.
And before the election, we committed to doing everything we can to reduce that workload pressure, to reduce the admin hours for teachers, the rescheduling of the new curriculum is just another step. Another step in doing that.
Last week I announced that we would be halving the more than 70 mandated changes to policies that were due to be rolled out in term two. Only those that were absolutely essential were to go ahead and only those that were to have a small impact on teachers. I instructed the department to make those changes straight away.
I know that we have so much more work to do to make your lives easier, to keep overburdened teachers in this critical profession and to recruit our very best and brightest in as well. Being fairly heard during a consultation process is vital to you, understanding that we really do value your professionalism.
We are committed to making measurable differences to your workload and importantly, your need to feel those differences on the ground. You know that we've committed to reducing the admin burden on teachers by that 5 hours a week, but unless you actually feel that in your staff rooms and your classrooms, it's just not going to translate into better learning outcomes for our kids or the retention and satisfaction of our wonderful teachers.
So in closing, I just really want to reiterate that the work of this network is central, and I acknowledge that is central to addressing student learning outcomes. I very much look forward to working with you and your colleagues across the state.
Thank you for having me today. Thank you for teaching students the knowledge and the skills required to learn, succeed and thrive in our world. I really wish you an enjoyable and successful three days and now I think I’ll hand back over to Paul.
Thank you so much.