Do you know what your child is studying at school?     006

Nationally about one third of children attend private schools. This is a growing trend, particularly over the last decade. There are of course a number of reasons why parents choose private education. One is that parents perceive private schools as providing a higher emphasis on moral values and beliefs. I think that in the future this reason will certainly continue as an important factor in parental decision making, especially with respect to secondary school education.

At present, in some public high schools, children are studying some surprising material as part of their English program. Details of the English syllabus for Years 11 and 12 in NSW can be found at the website of the Board of Studies Teaching and Educational Standards, www.boardofstudies.nsw.edu.au.  Within the English Stage 6 Syllabus document, the Board states that one of the purposes of the program of study is to “foster the… social and moral development… and spiritual development [of students]… and to enrich their lives…” (pp. 5, 6). Today, in the subject of English, students study a range of texts, including film, as part of what syllabus calls “visual communication”. However it is very difficult to reconcile the above quoted purposes of the English program with some of the material, including film, being studied in classrooms.

In at least two high schools that I have specific knowledge of students are being shown, for example, a film rated in this country as ‘MA 15+ Restricted’. The content of this film is so abhorrent that some of the students literally cover their eyes. In teenage slang this is called being ‘grossed out’. I am quite sure that if these children’s parents knew what was happening they would be shocked, and would very quickly be in contact with the school to complain or to withdraw their children from those classes. In this family oriented website I cannot provide specific details and I do not want to identify the schools involved.

Parents should know what their children are studying at school, and if they find teaching/learning activities and content disturbing, then they should say something. Children are not grown-ups and do need an appropriate degree of protection. However we now seem to be entering a time when children at school are no longer protected in the way that parents might expect. It is now a time when parents need to be extra vigilant and supportive of their children.

All content copyright—Mark Thackray—Australian Educational Services