World class Australian qualification to match world class education
Julia Gillard,Simon Crean
posted Monday, 9 August 2010
Australian students will be able to access a new voluntary qualification of international standing - similar to national certificates like the British ‘A’ Levels and French Baccalaureate, the German and Finnish Arbitur, and the certificates of Australia’s regional neighbours.
The Gillard Labor Government will develop an Australian Baccalaureate as the next platform of Australia’s world class education system.
The Australian Baccalaureate will sit alongside existing senior secondary school qualifications as a voluntary credential that will build off the National Curriculum.
High performing students who want an internationally recognised qualification that benchmarks their attainment nationally and that measures a wide range their achievements are expected to undertake the Australian Baccalaureate.
Students would elect to be certified for the award, similar to the way students can currently elect to undertake the International Baccalaureate.
The Gillard Labor Government is delivering an education system that is world class, rolling out a new National Curriculum with nationally agreed content and achievement standards, consistent robust information about school performance on MySchool, and the largest school modernisation program in history.
The development and implementation of a national senior secondary certificate is the next logical step in school reform.
The introduction of the Australian Baccalaureate would naturally follow the implementation of the phase one Australian Curriculum subjects in the senior secondary years, expected to commence from 2015, and would potentially recognise both traditional academic and vocational education and training courses.
It is envisaged that the Australian Baccalaureate will operate within and alongside existing State and Territory certification and credentialing systems.
There are currently nine separate school certificates across the country and there is great diversity amongst them.
While, this diversity has positive aspects, it also results in duplication of effort and a lack of comparability of student results and difficulties for students moving interstate or overseas.
Internationally, Australia’s senior secondary certification arrangements do not have the recognition of, for example, the British ‘A’ levels, the French Baccalaureate, the German and Finnish Arbitur, or the certificates of regional neighbours such as China, Hong Kong, and Singapore.
We will work to develop a certificate structure and achievement standards which are benchmarked against the world’s best systems and standards which will become nationally consistent.
The development of the Baccalaureate will be led by the Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority (ACARA), in partnership with the Australasian Committee of Chief Executive Officers of Curriculum, Assessment and Certification Authorities (ACACA) agencies, and in consultation with education authorities, schools and other stakeholders.
The development of the Australian Baccalaureate will be the subject of a detailed consultation process with educators, parents, students, training providers, employers and community members.
The Gillard Labor Government will provide $2.5 million for this commitment over the forward estimates period.
Funding will be fully offset over the forward estimates, consistent with Federal Labor’s commitment to return the budget to surplus in 2013, three years ahead of schedule.
Further details on the Australian Baccalaureate are available at http://alp.org.au/agenda/school-reform/australian-baccalaureate/
Tags: Education, Gillard, Labor, Schools, Students