The Adelaide Declaration on National Goals for Schooling in the Twenty First Century outlines a view about the significance of schooling for Australia and then goes on to suggest specific goals.

Overview

The Declaration is based on assumptions outlined in the Preamble, namely that:

• schooling is of importance to the nation as a whole;
• all young people have the capacity to learn;
• schools are merely part of environment from which young people learn;
• schooling provides a foundation for young people's development;
• government policies set the framework for schooling;
• common goals allow various levels of government and also government / non-government schools to cooperate in achieving common purposes;
• collaboration is needed to strengthen schools, promote teacher professionalism, develop curriculum and increase public confidence;
• national goals provide a basis for investments in schools that will enable young people to engage with an increasingly complex world, and contribute to Australia's social, cultural and economic development

The Declaration then presents goal related to (a) developing the talents and capacities of students (b) curriculum content and (c) social justice. In particular this involves:

• developing the ability of students in relation to: analysis and problem solving; confidence; moral / ethical / social judgment; informed citizenship; job skills; use of technologies; environmental responsibility; health; and leisure;
• high standards of knowledge / skills / understanding in eight key learning areas (arts; English; health / PE; LOTE; maths; science; society / environment; technology) as well as: attaining basic literacy / numeracy; and participation in vocational learning and enterprise education;
• socially just schooling in relation to: ensuring outcomes are not affected by discrimination or socio-economic background / geographic location; improving position of disadvantaged students; equitable access for indigenous students; student understanding of indigenous cultures and cultural diversity; and enabling education to Year 12 level for all.

The Declaration was adopted in April 1999 by the Ministerial Council on Education, Training and Youth Affairs, superceding the 1989 Hobart Declaration, and appears still to be the Council's position.

While the aspirations expressed are undoubtedly noble, there appear to be serious defects in this Declaration as the basis for schooling in Australia. In particular:

• the statement of national 'goals' is too rigid a basis for providing leadership in the development Australia's school system [1] because:
  • in a rapidly changing environment it is necessary to mobilize practitioner / community initiative at the level of teachers, schools and school systems;
  • defining 'goals' implies that outcomes are to be a result of a planning process to implement those goals rather than the result of initiative in response to a vision of what might be. The issues involved in the way in which systemic change can be managed are outlined in Strategy Development in Business and Government - where the failure of centrally planned methods is highlighted;
  • developing a vision of what might be possible should be undertaken by leading practitioners at the teacher / school / school system level rather than through committees seeking political consensus on what can be officially endorsed by central authorities;

Likewise the assumption that governments 'set the public policies that foster the pursuit of excellence etc' is thus also inappropriate - because the role of governments is to endorse (not to determine) current best practices which have been the result of other's initiatives;

• the Declaration is built on a foundation of overly-simplistic 'post-modern' assumptions that knowledge is more a product of the assumptions of particular social groups rather than having objective / empirical reality independent of those assumptions. This is reflected in:
  • the emphasis in the Declaration on learning how to learn rather than on acquiring basic knowledge as well as the ability to learn;
  • the emphasis on developing student's sense of self worth through a nurturing environment, rather than by making solid 'intellectual, physical, social, moral, spiritual and aesthetic' progress and a nurturing environment;
  • defining schools as learning communities, rather than as knowledgeable and learning communities;
  • failure to include making solid 'intellectual, physical, social  ..' progress as an item in developing the talents and capacities of students.

  Post-modern assumptions are a serious over-reaction to defects in traditional epistemologies (ie theories about the nature of knowledge which exaggerated human abilities to acquire positive / empirical knowledge) - an over-reaction which has had serious adverse practical consequences (see comments in Competing Civilizations).

  Post-modern assumptions are also reflected in the Declaration's approach to cultural issues where the practical consequences of differences in cultural assumptions (see Competing Civilizations) are entirely ignored. In particular:

  • the Declaration endorses making students 'informed citizens with an understanding and appreciation of Australia system of government and civic life' - but not of understanding the cultural foundation on which the effectiveness of that system of government depends (see The Importance of Values Taught in Schools);
  • in endorsing social justice, the Declaration focuses on ensuring that outcomes are not adversely affected by discrimination or by socio-economic / regional disadvantage - but entirely ignores the disadvantages which may flow from particular cultural assumptions. The significant of this is explored in a preliminary and entirely inadequate way in  The Challenge of Aboriginal Advancement  and Discouraging Pointless Extremism.

  The Declaration stresses the importance of curriculum development but needs to very clearly define how this is to be achieved - as the effect of post-modern assumptions seems to have undermined course quality in some cases.

• the Declaration does not recognize the seriousness of Australia's economic challenges (eg see The Need to Do Better  - which refers to Queensland's situation but has national parallels). In particular:
  • the Declaration endorses the need for young people to be able to cope with an increasingly complex world in terms of information and communication technologies (ICT), population diversity and environmental / social challenges without even mentioning (a) other technologies and (b) the economic challenges; 
  • emphasis is given to to the 'use' of new technologies (especially ICT) and understanding their impact on society, which understates the importance of (a) other technologies (b) the economic role of technologies and (c) the development of technologies as a route to gaining competitive advantage;
  • the defined key learning areas include studies of 'society and environment', but economic issues are not given equal weight. 

November 2004