Brett Mason (Queensland, Liberal Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Education) Share this | Hansard source

I would like to address Senator Carr’s comments regarding the development of the national curriculum. The issue was this: as Senator Fielding eloquently put it before, the national curriculum has yet to be devised, both the content of it and its level of prescription. For that reason we were very concerned about how that would interact and engage with Montessori and Steiner schools, which are about educational philosophy. But more particularly, we were very concerned about how that would engage with the International Baccalaureate and the Cambridge University entrance examination schools, because they are specifically about curricula.

In addressing the national curriculum, we do not know now what that will include. We are talking about an embryonic curriculum that is still to be developed. The concern of the opposition for months now has been how that will mesh with existing world-class and world-respected curricula such as the International Baccalaureate and the Cambridge University international entrance examinations. That has been our problem. Minister, I heard your reassurances and the opposition is gratified by them. But that is why we maintain this concern, but I am gratified by your reassurance.