20 Aug 2015

Browse through this site and you’ll probably find a number of articles where we’ve discussed the outdated nature of school curriculums in Australia. We live in a society that is constantly evolving, but these changes are rarely reflected in what students are taught in schools – rather they’re forced to work with old school syllabuses that don’t equip them for life after graduation. Sure, at the end of Year 12 I could have told you the names of all the Eighteenth Dynasty Egyptian Pharaohs, or explained what the word paradigm means (just barely). But could I darn socks, handle myself in a job interview or cook for sh*t? No, siree.

Now, the Victorian Government has introduced some changes to their school curriculums that could see students learning some rather useful life skills, with new content based around world histories, cultures, faiths and ethics.

These new areas of study will replace the special religious instruction (SRI) classes that occur each week for a half an hour period during class time. If you, like 80% of the Victorian student population, opted out of these classes, then you probably remember this as the time of the week you were sent to the library and told to do “private study”, when really all you did was sit in stoney silence staring at a notebook or playing Bubble Struggle on your laptop. While it was decent bludge-time, the Victorian Government is keen to fill this time with something more productive and have decided to move SRI to either before/after school or lunchtime classes.

Instead of SRI, students will participate in “respectful relationships education”, which will work towards preventing domestic violence against women.

Its a move that would make all state schools in Victoria secular, a change that is welcomed by many who oppose SRI, including Fairness in Religions in School spokeswoman Lara Wood, who believed SRI was unfairly attempting to convert primary school children to certain faiths. Prevention of Family Violence Minister Fiona Richardson hoped the inclusion of the new respectful relationships education would help put an end to gender bias in schools and beyond.

“Respectful relationships education is key to combating prejudice and preventing violence – we’re including it in the curriculum so that every Victorian school teaches students these important skills and content.”

However, not everyone is happy with the Victorian Government’s decision, namely the Victorian Opposition who believe the Government have broken a pre-election promise by introducing the changes.

“The Government promised Victorian families prior to the last election that the current arrangements would continue under their Government,” Opposition education spokesperson Nick Wakeling said. “We call on the Premier to reverse this decision and to deliver on what he promised Victorian families.”

Access Ministries – the main provider of SRI in Victoria – is also opposed to the changes, arguing that they were not consulted about the new curriculum and that students would be unwilling to attend SRI classes during their lunchtime.

Either way, special religious instruction should be the student’s choice, and those who wish to opt out of these classes shouldn’t miss out on valuable learning time because of it. The new respectful relationships education will be important and useful to all students from all backgrounds and faiths, and will hopefully enforce some positive changes in a curriculum that has been in dire need of a shake up for years. Now, all we need is Tax Return classes and How To Adult tutorials and we’ll be set!

Read more here and here.