Statements of Learning for Mathematics
The AAMT provided advice regarding its position with respect to the Statements of Learning for Mathematics. This document that may well come to be seen as part of the current drive towards a national curriculum.
A document entitled "Statements of Learning for Mathematics" was published in August 2006 by the Ministerial Council for Education, Employment, Training and Youth Affairs (MCEETYA; all ministers of education in the country are members) on the MCEETYA website.
The Statements have been developed to "describe essential skills, knowledge, understandings and capacities that all young Australians should have the opportunity to learn by the end of Years 3, 5, 7 and 9". The plan is for each minister to sign off that the Statements are "addressed and incorporated" in state and territory curricula by the start of 2008. It is not anticipated by those involved that this process will require much, if any, change to current curricula/syllabi in the states and territories.
Despite the low-key, low fanfare publication of the Statements, and the claim that they are "not intended for a teacher audience" the AAMT Executive feels that there may be significant implications for teachers of mathematics. This is likely to be especially true in the context of current work to look at the relationship between these Statements and national testing and standards.
The AAMT response is available by clicking here