Kim Beswick & Rhonda Faragher
The Australian Curriculum: Mathematics (Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority, 2012), with its specification of content for year levels, represents a break from stage based curricula which have become the norm in Australian educational jurisdictions in recent decades. It thus provides an opportunity to rethink the appropriateness of developmental approaches to mathematics teaching and the concept of readiness that underpins the widely accepted tenet of teaching from where students are at (Anderson, 2010). Such an approach has the risk of students who fall behind their peers remaining behind even when they make progress (Capraro, Young, Lewis, Yetkiner, & Woods, 2009). This is exacerbated in mathematics because of a prevailing belief that mathematics, to a greater extent than other school subjects, is inherently hierarchical and hence must be taught in a linear fashion that precludes access to advanced content (e.g., algebra) until more basic topics (e.g., arithmetic) have been mastered. A year level based mathematics curriculum has the potential to contribute to solving at least two major problems that currently characterise mathematics learning particularly in the middle and secondary years of schooling. These are 1) persistent gaps in attainment between various disadvantaged groups and a majority of their year level peers, and 2) impoverished curriculum offerings for low attaining students who struggle to master ‘basic’ content. This Roundtable will provide a forum for discussion of these propositions and the opportunity afforded by the implementation of the year level based Australian Curriculum: Mathematics. Stimulus in the form of evidence that challenges the hierarchical and linear nature of mathematics learning will presented and ways that these ideas might contribute to closing attainment gaps discussed.