Counting controversy: IPA sticks to claim that maths curriculum is 3500 pages long
Colleen Harkin, director of the Institute of Public Affairs' schools program and research fellow, recently alarmed the good people of LinkedIn by posting four bulging binders full of Australia's maths curriculum, next to Singapore's slimline curriculum.
Harkin explained that Australia's prep to year 10 maths curriculum is '3500 pages long – bursting with ideology: climate change, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders History and Culture, Sustainability, social justice etc ( yes – this is in maths).'
According to Harkin, Singapore's maths curriculum is about 80 pages long with 'no ideological pollution'.
Astounding. Shocking. Also untrue, according to the body that writes the curriculum. The Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority says the foundation-to-year-10 maths curriculum is only 273 pages long, including optional resources.
The core content – the achievement standards and content descriptions – comes in at a whopping 33 pages.
In the face of doubters, Harkin posted to LinkedIn that she would be sticking to her guns: 'Unsurprisingly, some people cannot believe the image of our math curriculum. (See my immediate past post). I don't blame them.'
Harkin later told CBD that it would not be honest to suggest that the national curriculum is straightforward.
More layers of the onion
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
West Australian
4 hours ago
- West Australian
Emma Garlett: Ask yourself if you are an ally and if you are doing enough to support First Nations causes
Diversity strategy. Check. Multicultural team. Check. Cultural awareness training. Check. But what does this all mean? Surely more than the pieces of paper they are written on. Some professions see more exposure to First Nations peoples and communities than others. But chances are with around one million Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples in Australia, you will have either worked with, know of or be friends with a First Nations person. You have to decide — do I to ignore First Nations people or be an ally? An ally is a person who actively supports reconciliation in its many forms between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians. Allies seek opportunities to amplify First Nations voices and seek information to learn from. There's the many face-value acts of allyship that are great when beginning your reconciliation journey or to reignite the momentum — breakfasts, cultural events and discussions held especially during National Reconciliation Week and NAIDOC Week are the most visible forms of engagement. While I encourage everyone to attend these events for exposure to and celebration of culture, there is a pressing need to go deeper than the surface. As an employee or an employer, inviting First Nations peoples to share their culture through training and workshops is a great first step to fostering understanding and seeing the world through a different perspective to foster a culturally safe environment for everyone. Going beyond this, it is great to explore if your organisation has longer term plans to embed diversity, respect and contagious learning of First Nations peoples and culture. This could include the development and implementation of a Reconciliation Action Plan or a cultural audit to understand your strengths and weaknesses. Another way is through opportunities for cultural recognition, like place-naming, language and arts in your home or workplace. If you've ever been across the Tasman to New Zealand, you'll see the amazing cultural celebration that has occurred, with Maori art, language and place-naming commonplace. Doing the same here in Australia would be a welcome step. The better equipped you are to help, the better the future will be for our children and their children. Supporting First Nations peoples is more than acknowledging atrocities and mistreatment — we are more than the sum total of a deficit discourse narrative. NAIDOC week takes place next month, I challenge you to be better prepared than you were for National Reconciliation Week and bring about deeper change in either your personal or professional environments. Be open, be positive, be proud.
The Advertiser
13 hours ago
- The Advertiser
Calls for external death-in-custody inquiry 'appalling'
Federal politicians are being criticised for suggesting death-in-custody investigations should be carried out independently of a territory police force. Northern Territory Chief Minister Lia Finocchiaro's attack on Senator Malarndirri McCarthy and Lingiari MP Marion Scrymgour comes amid calls for an external inquiry into an Aboriginal man's death in police custody. Kumanjayi White, who had a mental disability, died on May 27 after being forcibly restrained by two plain-clothes officers inside a supermarket in Alice Springs. Police allege the 24-year-old was shoplifting and had assaulted a security guard. Within a fortnight of his death, a 68-year-old Aboriginal Elder from Wadeye died in hospital after federal police stopped him boarding a plane in Darwin, allegedly because he was intoxicated. NT Police and Ms Finocchiaro have vigorously defended the force's investigations into the deaths, saying independent inquiries are not needed. Senator McCarthy, the federal Indigenous Australians Minister, has said an independent review might be warranted "in the interest of having some separation". Ms Scrymgour has said a criminal investigation was a job "only police can undertake" but it did not have to be conducted by NT detectives when federal police could step in. Ms Finocchiaro last week labelled Senator McCarthy's comments "unhelpful and uneducated" and called them "quite frankly appalling" at an NT parliament estimates hearing on Tuesday. She said the senator and Ms Scrymgour should know better. "The politicisation of this issue helps no one," the chief minister said. "It does not support our police to do their important work or the coroner to do her important work, families who are grieving, communities who want answers." Ms Finocchiaro urged people with the power to influence to use their voice to reinforce the strength of institutions, particularly NT Police. Acting Commissioner Martin Dole said NT Police had a statutory responsibility to investigate all crimes in the territory "so it's not simply a matter that we can call in an external body that doesn't have any powers". He said strict protocols were in place when investigating deaths involving police and the NT's ombudsman, anti-corruption agency and the coroner all had oversight. Many Indigenous advocacy groups have backed independent inquiries into deaths in custody and over the weekend rallies were held across the nation calling for justice for Mr White. On Tuesday, the Aboriginal Peak Organisations Northern Territory Aboriginal Corporation issued a statement saying it supported calls for an independent inquiry and police reform. Chair John Paterson said every time an Aboriginal person died in custody the government said "never again ... but here we go again". "Our people keep dying, and still nothing changes." He said the group was outraged that both Mr White and the Wadeye Elder had vulnerabilities but were not met with care, only criminalisation. "Their deaths reflect a system that is not broken, but functioning as it has been designed, to control, contain, and silence Aboriginal lives," Dr Paterson said. He urged Ms Finocchiaro to work with his organisation to prevent further deaths. 13YARN 13 92 76 Lifeline 13 11 14 Federal politicians are being criticised for suggesting death-in-custody investigations should be carried out independently of a territory police force. Northern Territory Chief Minister Lia Finocchiaro's attack on Senator Malarndirri McCarthy and Lingiari MP Marion Scrymgour comes amid calls for an external inquiry into an Aboriginal man's death in police custody. Kumanjayi White, who had a mental disability, died on May 27 after being forcibly restrained by two plain-clothes officers inside a supermarket in Alice Springs. Police allege the 24-year-old was shoplifting and had assaulted a security guard. Within a fortnight of his death, a 68-year-old Aboriginal Elder from Wadeye died in hospital after federal police stopped him boarding a plane in Darwin, allegedly because he was intoxicated. NT Police and Ms Finocchiaro have vigorously defended the force's investigations into the deaths, saying independent inquiries are not needed. Senator McCarthy, the federal Indigenous Australians Minister, has said an independent review might be warranted "in the interest of having some separation". Ms Scrymgour has said a criminal investigation was a job "only police can undertake" but it did not have to be conducted by NT detectives when federal police could step in. Ms Finocchiaro last week labelled Senator McCarthy's comments "unhelpful and uneducated" and called them "quite frankly appalling" at an NT parliament estimates hearing on Tuesday. She said the senator and Ms Scrymgour should know better. "The politicisation of this issue helps no one," the chief minister said. "It does not support our police to do their important work or the coroner to do her important work, families who are grieving, communities who want answers." Ms Finocchiaro urged people with the power to influence to use their voice to reinforce the strength of institutions, particularly NT Police. Acting Commissioner Martin Dole said NT Police had a statutory responsibility to investigate all crimes in the territory "so it's not simply a matter that we can call in an external body that doesn't have any powers". He said strict protocols were in place when investigating deaths involving police and the NT's ombudsman, anti-corruption agency and the coroner all had oversight. Many Indigenous advocacy groups have backed independent inquiries into deaths in custody and over the weekend rallies were held across the nation calling for justice for Mr White. On Tuesday, the Aboriginal Peak Organisations Northern Territory Aboriginal Corporation issued a statement saying it supported calls for an independent inquiry and police reform. Chair John Paterson said every time an Aboriginal person died in custody the government said "never again ... but here we go again". "Our people keep dying, and still nothing changes." He said the group was outraged that both Mr White and the Wadeye Elder had vulnerabilities but were not met with care, only criminalisation. "Their deaths reflect a system that is not broken, but functioning as it has been designed, to control, contain, and silence Aboriginal lives," Dr Paterson said. He urged Ms Finocchiaro to work with his organisation to prevent further deaths. 13YARN 13 92 76 Lifeline 13 11 14 Federal politicians are being criticised for suggesting death-in-custody investigations should be carried out independently of a territory police force. Northern Territory Chief Minister Lia Finocchiaro's attack on Senator Malarndirri McCarthy and Lingiari MP Marion Scrymgour comes amid calls for an external inquiry into an Aboriginal man's death in police custody. Kumanjayi White, who had a mental disability, died on May 27 after being forcibly restrained by two plain-clothes officers inside a supermarket in Alice Springs. Police allege the 24-year-old was shoplifting and had assaulted a security guard. Within a fortnight of his death, a 68-year-old Aboriginal Elder from Wadeye died in hospital after federal police stopped him boarding a plane in Darwin, allegedly because he was intoxicated. NT Police and Ms Finocchiaro have vigorously defended the force's investigations into the deaths, saying independent inquiries are not needed. Senator McCarthy, the federal Indigenous Australians Minister, has said an independent review might be warranted "in the interest of having some separation". Ms Scrymgour has said a criminal investigation was a job "only police can undertake" but it did not have to be conducted by NT detectives when federal police could step in. Ms Finocchiaro last week labelled Senator McCarthy's comments "unhelpful and uneducated" and called them "quite frankly appalling" at an NT parliament estimates hearing on Tuesday. She said the senator and Ms Scrymgour should know better. "The politicisation of this issue helps no one," the chief minister said. "It does not support our police to do their important work or the coroner to do her important work, families who are grieving, communities who want answers." Ms Finocchiaro urged people with the power to influence to use their voice to reinforce the strength of institutions, particularly NT Police. Acting Commissioner Martin Dole said NT Police had a statutory responsibility to investigate all crimes in the territory "so it's not simply a matter that we can call in an external body that doesn't have any powers". He said strict protocols were in place when investigating deaths involving police and the NT's ombudsman, anti-corruption agency and the coroner all had oversight. Many Indigenous advocacy groups have backed independent inquiries into deaths in custody and over the weekend rallies were held across the nation calling for justice for Mr White. On Tuesday, the Aboriginal Peak Organisations Northern Territory Aboriginal Corporation issued a statement saying it supported calls for an independent inquiry and police reform. Chair John Paterson said every time an Aboriginal person died in custody the government said "never again ... but here we go again". "Our people keep dying, and still nothing changes." He said the group was outraged that both Mr White and the Wadeye Elder had vulnerabilities but were not met with care, only criminalisation. "Their deaths reflect a system that is not broken, but functioning as it has been designed, to control, contain, and silence Aboriginal lives," Dr Paterson said. He urged Ms Finocchiaro to work with his organisation to prevent further deaths. 13YARN 13 92 76 Lifeline 13 11 14 Federal politicians are being criticised for suggesting death-in-custody investigations should be carried out independently of a territory police force. Northern Territory Chief Minister Lia Finocchiaro's attack on Senator Malarndirri McCarthy and Lingiari MP Marion Scrymgour comes amid calls for an external inquiry into an Aboriginal man's death in police custody. Kumanjayi White, who had a mental disability, died on May 27 after being forcibly restrained by two plain-clothes officers inside a supermarket in Alice Springs. Police allege the 24-year-old was shoplifting and had assaulted a security guard. Within a fortnight of his death, a 68-year-old Aboriginal Elder from Wadeye died in hospital after federal police stopped him boarding a plane in Darwin, allegedly because he was intoxicated. NT Police and Ms Finocchiaro have vigorously defended the force's investigations into the deaths, saying independent inquiries are not needed. Senator McCarthy, the federal Indigenous Australians Minister, has said an independent review might be warranted "in the interest of having some separation". Ms Scrymgour has said a criminal investigation was a job "only police can undertake" but it did not have to be conducted by NT detectives when federal police could step in. Ms Finocchiaro last week labelled Senator McCarthy's comments "unhelpful and uneducated" and called them "quite frankly appalling" at an NT parliament estimates hearing on Tuesday. She said the senator and Ms Scrymgour should know better. "The politicisation of this issue helps no one," the chief minister said. "It does not support our police to do their important work or the coroner to do her important work, families who are grieving, communities who want answers." Ms Finocchiaro urged people with the power to influence to use their voice to reinforce the strength of institutions, particularly NT Police. Acting Commissioner Martin Dole said NT Police had a statutory responsibility to investigate all crimes in the territory "so it's not simply a matter that we can call in an external body that doesn't have any powers". He said strict protocols were in place when investigating deaths involving police and the NT's ombudsman, anti-corruption agency and the coroner all had oversight. Many Indigenous advocacy groups have backed independent inquiries into deaths in custody and over the weekend rallies were held across the nation calling for justice for Mr White. On Tuesday, the Aboriginal Peak Organisations Northern Territory Aboriginal Corporation issued a statement saying it supported calls for an independent inquiry and police reform. Chair John Paterson said every time an Aboriginal person died in custody the government said "never again ... but here we go again". "Our people keep dying, and still nothing changes." He said the group was outraged that both Mr White and the Wadeye Elder had vulnerabilities but were not met with care, only criminalisation. "Their deaths reflect a system that is not broken, but functioning as it has been designed, to control, contain, and silence Aboriginal lives," Dr Paterson said. He urged Ms Finocchiaro to work with his organisation to prevent further deaths. 13YARN 13 92 76 Lifeline 13 11 14
Sky News AU
13 hours ago
- Sky News AU
VIC Labor government falls through $250 million promise of a high speed express bus way
Institute of Public Affairs' Colleen Harkin says the Labor government spending $250 million on a high-speed express busway is an 'extreme waste of taxpayers' money'. Despite the high-speed promise, Victorian Premier Jacinta Allan says the journey from Doncaster to Melbourne will take even longer, with instead of 100 km speed limits, it might be down to 60 km. 'It's like a Monty Python episode,' Ms Harkin told Sky News host Rita Panahi. 'It's just a crazy situation.'
