Under NESA’s draft drama syllabus, which created outrage among drama teachers, students and parents this week, HSC group drama performance had been downgraded (NESA backflipped on this), options for students cut and the link between Year 7-10 drama and the HSC had been broken, and written exams increased.
NESA failed to listen to academics and teachers on the drama syllabus and now NESA is failing to listen on the music syllabus. I know this because I was an advisor on drama.
Is NESA broken?
They need to start again. Release a new draft for drama, provide adequate consultation, and this time, listen to voices outside their organisation. Same for music. If we let the rot in NESA continue, the ultimate losers will be our students who will be denied learning that is world leading. Surely that is more important than NESA’s pride.
Syllabus revisions for drama and music are normally sedate affairs. Academics, teachers and NESA officers work collaboratively to generate a syllabus that will create rigorous and engaging learning for students.
Not in 2024. Last week more than 350 drama teachers met at the Seymour Centre to ask Paul Martin CEO of NESA about the complete inadequacy of this draft drama syllabus.
On the same day, an emergency session of an upper house committee was convened to find out what the fuss is all about. To be fair, NESA had a perfectly good draft drama syllabus that had been constructed in the way we expect but sometime between that draft and its subsequent release the syllabus became unworkable and unteachable.
Heather Mitchell and Tim Minchin speak out
Renowned performing artists Heather Mitchell and Tim Minchin raised their voices in protest, the shift was so breathaking. Education academics and former supervisors of marking wrote letters to Prue Car asking for a restart. Most have been unanswered.
Even with all this pressure, NESA is stonewalling attempts to admit it has not got this right. They insist their process is unimpeachable.
Music also has major concerns. Calls for a new start on the HSC music syllabus have also been ignored. To me, this looks like bureaucratic arrogance.
To whom does the syllabus belong?
In the face of overwhelming advice from teachers, students, academics and the community, NESA are insisting that it is right. CEO of NESA Paul Martin went as far as to say to a room full of teachers: “It’s not your syllabus.”
Of course he is right. This syllabus does not belong to teachers and academics.
It also does not belong to NESA.
It belongs to our young people who have the right to a world-class, engaging, rigorous and transformative syllabus.
What NESA has produced so far is not a shadow of that in either music or drama.
My fear is that a narrow ideologically driven approach to learning and assessment has taken hold that does not understand nor provides space for the richness creative arts learning offers our young people.
NESA can fix this. They need to start again.
Professor Michael Anderson is Co-Director of the CREATE Centre and Professor of Creativity and Arts Education in the Sydney School of Education and Social Work at The University of Sydney.
Good on you Michael for writing this article. We criticised the 7-10 History syllabus and NESA will not budge. (See our article in The Conversation “ NSW will remove 65,000 years of Aboriginal history from its years 7–10 syllabus. It’s a step backwards for education”). The damage they’re doing to students is profound and will only be fully understood years from now when the current management have moved on and are no longer accountable.
A really disturbing trend of NESA ignorance on what constitutes quality arts education. These changes make no sense given the rapidly growing importance of human creativity in the face of AI and Australia’s fantastic results in global creativity metrics. Testament to our world leading arts education sector – a system that was NOT broken.
Astounding that the voices and collective wisdom of Arts educators, academics, industry practitioners and the students themselves have no choice despite having our say, in the dismantling of a previously strong and robust curriculum. How can these decisions be made by those that have little to no expertise or understanding of the truly transformative power of a quality Arts Education? Physical, social, emotional, cognitive and aesthetic skills
developed through creative processes. within the current curriculum. When opportunities for collaboration, problem solving and creativity are reduced, we start to limit the potential of what is possible. Shame.
As an advocate for Music Education for over 50 Years. I am also incredulous that in the blink of an eye ,the obvious and valid benefits to Music students and school populations that have accumulated because of a syllabus which encouraged Physical engagement with the subject,can be dismissed..
Yes,Start again .