Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority

Recent curriculum reforms in many countries such as England, New Zealand and Hong Kong have involved defining content and achievement standards for student learning and achievement. New curriculum documents and statements have specified what students are expected to learn, and when, how student work should be assessed and exemplified at appropriate attainment levels. The same approach has been applied to certification and qualifications reforms. England and New Zealand were among the first to develop curricula and national qualifications with clear content standards and expected attainment descriptors. Now, in Australia, with a stronger federal or national approach towards education, alongside the implementation of compulsory testing, early steps are being taken towards developing a national curriculum to replace the state/territory curricula, and which will be based upon clear standards. The purpose of this paper is to review the lessons that the nascent National Curriculum Board in Australia can learn from the experience of other countries in developing and implementing a standards-based approach towards student learning and assessment