From: John.Feltham@f706.n640.z3.fidonet.org (John Feltham)
Newsgroups: k12.ed.tech
Subject: NTPP 2
Date: Mon, 17 Aug 92 12:13:32 PST
Organization: FidoNet node 3:640/706 - Coral Sea, Townsville Qld Australia

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* Forwarded by John Feltham (3:640/706)
* Area : K12.ZONE3 (K12.ZONE3)
* From : John Feltham, 3:640/706 (Friday August 14 1992 14:55)
* To   : All
* Subj : NTPP 2
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Posted: Fri, Jul 31, 1992   8:53 AM EST              Msg: HJJC-2850-7967
From:   SMITH.RA
To:     tech.bb
Subj:   National Technology Statement

As part of the Hobart Agreement (1989), Technology was adopted
as one of eight mainstream areas of learning, together with
English, Languages other than English, Mathematics, the Arts,
Health and Personal Development, Studies of Society and
Environment, and Science. A national curriculum mapping
exercise was undertaken to find out what was already happening
in Technology education, and also what was planned.

An interim National Statement has since been prepared which
represents a national agreement on the nature of technology
education in Australia. It is an agreed direction
incorporating elements which are in practice at present.
Changes may be made to it in the light of later developments.
It is intended to be used by education systems, rather than by
individual teachers.

The statement includes a rationale and a description of
learning in technology. This description is arranged in four
bands (A to D) which may relate loosely to lower primary,
upper primary, lower secondary and upper secondary. It is
strongly emphasised, however, that individual students may
progress through the bands at different rates. Across the
bands, the learning is described in four strands. The first is
Designing Making and Appraising, which, for the purpose of
describing learning, is subdivided into the processes of
investigating, devising, communicating, producing and
reflecting. The other strands are Materials, Information and
Systems. It can be seen, therefore, that technology is not
just computers.

A profile is now being prepared, based on the statement. It is
due to be completed in October 1992. It will be a framework
for reporting on individual students' progress. There will be
8 levels. Level 6 will be pegged to Year 10; it is expected
that between 70% and 80% of students should achieve the level
6 outcomes by the end of year 10. The other levels are not
pegged. The profile at each level will consist of a general
statement, outcomes, pointers and work samples. The outcomes
will describe what a student can do at that level. The
pointers will suggest ways in which each outcome could be
determined. The work samples will show actual tasks performed
by students, what the students produced, and how the task is
related to outcomes in the profile. Ultimately a teacher
should be able to pick up the profile and use it to report on
students.

Once the profile has been developed it will then be trialled
and validated. This should be completed next year.
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ooroo


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