General capabilities as a way in to planning.

Clarence, Kerrie ; Comber, Barbara

Introduction

Following the introduction of national testing of literacy and numeracy (NAPLAN) in 2008 and subsequent establishment of the MySchool website, during 2010 many primary and secondary schools across Australia in all sectors were involved in trialling the draft Australian Curriculum. Trial school consultation processes involved schools engaging with the draft document in one or a combination of activities which included: developing teaching programs; teaching, assessing and collecting work samples from a developed program; or testing the functions of the online curriculum portal (ACARA, 2010a).

As English literacy educators and researchers we are interested in the ways in which these national developments are being taken up and/or contested by systems and practitioners. Our work is informed by Institutional Ethnography, an approach which emphasises that texts, including the draft Australian Curriculum, are read by particular people working in local sites and who interpret and take action as a result of reading in particular ways. As Nichols and Griffith (2009 p. 241) explain, 'Texts, created to govern public school can only do so when they are taken up by people in their everyday work'. Here we explore through interviews with a literacy consultant and a teacher working in the same sector how they are reading the Australian Curriculum and how they are organising their work around it. What are they finding productive? What are the challenges? These questions underpin our research projects.

Systems are trying to ind ways of introducing the Australian Curriculum to school practitioners while at the same time they want practitioners to be able to adapt it to meet local needs, to continue to pursue philosophies which are fundamental to their sectors and to maintain some professional autonomy. One teacher who trialled the draft Curriculum explains:

basically I had to fulfil the requirements of the trial while also fitting in with my own philosophy ... I wanted ACARA to have a sense of our school and my class and me as a teacher and where we're at and what our philosophy is and how we plan to fit the Australian curriculum in with that. (Teacher interview, 2010)

Literacy consultants from all sectors are designing professional development opportunities for teachers to become familiar with the Australian English Curriculum often by focussing on literature, language or literacy. One consultant stressed the potential of using the General Capabilities in the curriculum as a 'way-in' to planning and reinvigorating units of work.

Seeing the big picture of the role of General Capabilities and Cross-Curriculum Priorities and the exciting potential of planning and having them drive a unit of work that can be just in English or go beyond just English in some ways. (Literacy Consultant interview, 2010)

The preceding interview extracts highlight both the potential for pedagogical innovation and possible impediments to creativity associated with the mandating of curriculum reform. Here we draw upon Kerrie Clarence's ongoing research to explore the tensions identiied by one teacher. As an experienced Year 5/6 teacher with responsibility for school-wide curriculum coordination in a school located in Adelaide's northern suburbs, Susan (a pseudonym) shares a commitment to curriculum innovation with the school's leadership team and teachers. The school as a whole was keen to trial all areas of the Australian Curriculum to see how it 'its with what we're doing'. This case makes it obvious that teachers are differently positioned to take up or experiment with new curriculum. The intellectual work of aligning what is proposed with what they already believe and do is complex though as Beavis (2010, pp. 21-22) states, 'the work of English teachers has always been to interpret policy documents and requirements and to remake the curriculum in ways that accord with their own histories, contexts and priorities'. We believe it is in the interests of the profession to hear how teachers are experiencing and grappling with the new Australian Curriculum.

Connecting personal and school philosophies with the general capabilities

The General Capabilities are explained in the National Curriculum Framing Paper (NCB, 2008) as 'emphases for learning' across the curriculum. In other words learning that is outside of subject specific knowledge but 'portable, flexible, and broadly consolidated knowledge' (p. 8). In more recent drafts of curriculum documents they have been described as 'a comprehensive set of knowledge, skills and dispositions' (ACARA, 2010b).

The seven capabilities to be developed across the curriculum are:

* Literacy

* Numeracy

* Information and communication technology (ICT) competence

* Critical and creative thinking

* Ethical behaviour

* Personal and social competence

* Intercultural understanding

While General Capabilities have been envisaged by ACARA as being developed through learning area content, the interview extracts presented here show how Susan approached her planning by placing the General Capabilities of 'Critical and creative thinking' and 'Personal and social competence' as the focus of her unit and as a way to 'direct' students to curriculum content. Susan explained that her passion for her students, their learning needs and her commitment to the importance of curriculum as the core of 'what we do', led her to develop a student-centred learning activity based on the General Capabilities of the draft Curriculum document. Her approach to planning through the General Capabilities allows her to take on the demands of the new curriculum but also to honour her commitment to child-centred learning.

I'm here for my children, my students ... what they need to develop. I suppose it could sound judgemental "I think they need to develop this" but we all know the skills and qualities that a person needs ... to become a responsible citizen and all those things that we talk about, but we need to start with the learner. (Teacher interview, 2010)

As part of her personal teaching philosophy, Susan saw the principles of the General Capabilities as being central to her students' learning. She also felt strongly that a curriculum driven by developing essential skills will meet the needs of 21st century students more than a curriculum driven by content.

If students are developing their learning relationships so their ability to work independently, work with others, their creativity, make connections with their learning, ask questions ... I think that they're going to be much more successful learners than if they learn what the planets in the solar system are ... We know that these are the essential skills and qualities that our learners need to be successful outside of school and in [their] personal lives then I think that they need to be explicitly taught first, that needs to be what we focus on rather than content. (Teacher interview, 2010)

The importance of teachers' knowledge of content and the development of students' curricular literacies should not be underestimated in their importance to primary school students' learning (Comber & Nixon, 2011).

Susan's school has a strong philosophy of student-centred integrated learning where a common focus is developed. The school's focus during the Australian Curriculum trial period was on ecology and speciically the school's gardens. Susan used this focus to thematically plan her unit of work which also attempted to ally her own and the school's philosophy with that of the draft curriculum and trial requirements.

So through describing gardens and their own experience and asking some questions about gardens and answering them you kind of direct them to ... the content descriptors. So rather than the content descriptor coming first it actually comes towards the end of the learning, so you start with the General Capabilities first. (Teacher interview, 2010)

This approach is only one way to work with the curriculum but it appears to have allowed this teacher to achieve a sense of coherence to address the competing demands of her personal-professional philosophy, school priorities and those of the national Curriculum. It is important to curriculum debates that we focus on and understand the 'enacted curriculum' or 'what actually goes on in Australian classrooms' to draw attention to the impact of classroom practices in recontextualising the 'officially designated "stuff" (i.e., knowledge, skill, capacity)' (Luke, 2010, p. 59) on teaching and learning and the potential consequences for learners, teachers and communities.

Tensions and potentials of the Australian Curriculum: English

We have drawn attention to one way in which teachers make use of their existing knowledges, practices and philosophies through the Capabilities. Since the release of Australian Curriculum documents sector consultants have been active in mediating the familiarisation and trialling of the curriculum.

working with teachers is a priority to really look at the reform intention ... then potential of the General Capabilities and Cross-Curriculum Priorities as important drivers rather than tick the box on a proforma to say yes I've done them, but think carefully through "what would a unit of work be like if I had the ethical behaviour as a driver as a General Capability?" for example. (Literacy consultant interview, 2010)

These interviews raise timely and interesting points for consideration during the current phase and before moving into the full implementation of the national Curriculum. They raise awareness of the tensions which exist between the 'enacted curriculum' or local adaptations and the imperatives of national curriculum policies.

Tensions between content and Capabilities are also indicated. These debates are affected by and affect individual philosophical standpoints and pedagogical choices. Such tensions have the potential to be productive and positive or to stymie innovation and change. In implementing the current curriculum reform teachers will need to find 'ways into' meaningful engagement and planning with mandated curriculum in ways that allow them to balance competing demands to suit their local contexts. The presentation of one teacher's work in reconceptualising and contextualising the mandated curriculum illustrates how these tensions have played out in one local setting.

I think the biggest challenge will be empowering staff that we can still follow [our] own personal philosophies about teaching and learning and also our school's philosophy and do the curriculum at the same time (Teacher interview 2010).

The preceding discussion, while emphasising the importance of examining the impact of curriculum reform on teachers' work, also draws attention to the challenge for teachers in all sectors to explore affordances in the Australian Curriculum to adapt mandated content to suit the individual needs of their classrooms and schools.

It is important at this time of high stakes testing, transparent accountability and curriculum reform to refocus our 'attention on the shaping of classroom practice' (Luke 2010 p. 59) so that we are effective in empowering our students in achieving the aim of becoming successful, lifelong learners and participants in 21st century Australian communities. As sector leaders, consultants, school leaders and teachers address the demands of the new curriculum we are presented with an opportunity to consider our priorities. With respect to the English curriculum it may be useful for teachers to work together as they design units of work and assessment tasks to ask:

* How does this unit/task allow all my students to develop (any of) the key capabilities?

* What are my main goals for their learning in the content area?

* How will I ensure all students can participate successfully and be challenged?

* What kinds of teaching and student activities will ensure this?

References

ACARA (2010a) Report on trial school consultation, Australian Curriculum and Reporting Authority accessed January 2011 at http://www.ACARA.edu.au/verve/_resources/ Report_on_Trial_School_Consultation.pdf.

ACARA (2010b) General Capabilities, Australian Curriculum and Reporting Authority, accessed July 2011 at http://www.australiancurriculum.edu.au/GeneralCapabilities.

Beavis, C. (2010) English in the digital age: making English digital, English in Australia, Vol. 45, No. 2, pp. 21-30.

Comber, B. & Nixon, H. (2011) Critical reading comprehension in an era of accountability, The Australian educational researcher, Vol. 38, No. 2, pp. 167-179

Nichols, N. & Griffith, A. (2009) Talk, texts, and educational action: an institutional ethnography of policy in practice. Cambridge journal of education, Vol. 39, pp. 241-255.

Luke, A. (2010) Will the Australian curriculum up the intellectual ante in primary classrooms? Curriculum perspectives, Vol. 30, No. 3, pp. 59-64.

NCB (2008) National English curriculum: framing paper for consultation--November 2008 to 28 February 2009, National Curriculum Board, accessed 2 February 2009 at http://www.ncb.org.au/verve/_resources/ FramingEnglishFINAL_011208.pdf

Prof Barbara Comber is a plenary speaker at the 2012 ALEA Sydney Conference, to be held at The SMC Conference and Function Centre, Goulburn Street, Sydney. For more details go to www.alea.edu.au

Kerrie Clarence is undertaking her PhD, National English Curriculum as Social Organisation of Education Practitioners' Work (working title) at the Faculty of Education, Queensland University of Technology. The project examines the changing roles of teachers' work with the implementation of the Australian Curriculum: English. She is interviewing teachers and consultants involved in the trialling of the draft English curriculum.

Barbara Comber is working on the Mandated Literacy Assessment and the Reorganisation of Teachers' Work Australian Research Council (ARC) Discovery Project (No. DP0986449) between the University of South Australia, Queensland University of Technology and Deakin University in Australia and York and Victoria Universities in Canada. The chief investigators are Barbara Comber, Phillip Cormack, Helen Nixon, Alex Kostogriz and Brenton Doecke. Partner investigators in Canada are Dorothy Smith and Alison Griffith. The views expressed in this paper are those of the authors only.