 Hi, I'm Rob Randall, Chief Executive Officer of ACARA. In this VODcast I'd like to talk to you about the Australian Curriculum and the review recently announced by the Australian Government. ACARA's mission is to improve learning outcomes for all young Australians through our work on curriculum, assessment and reporting. In developing the curriculum over the last few years, ACARA has undertaken a rigorous national process, considering more than 8,000 submissions which incorporate the views of thousands of people – teachers, parents, professional bodies, interest groups, industry business and state and territory education authorities. The Australian Government's review of the Australian Curriculum provides another opportunity for everyone to comment on what we want young people to learn as they progress through schooling. Without doubt, this is a fundamentally important matter for young people and for the nation. The instigation of the review also provides an opportunity to share important information about the Australian Curriculum. I'll provide some information in this VODcast and will follow it up with further information over the next few weeks. Firstly, the Australian Curriculum and English Mathematics, Science and History was endorsed by all Education Ministers in December 2010. Since that time, all states and territories have worked to implement the curriculum with NSW Commencing Implementation this year. ACARA has also completed curriculum for other areas. Geography has been endorsed by Education Ministers. The arts, health and physical education, technologies, economics and business and civics and citizenship curriculum are awaiting endorsement as national curriculum. But with the agreement of Education Ministers, they are available for states and territories to implement, if they wish to do so. When you are reading the curriculum, it's important to know that the key elements are the content descriptions and the achievement standards. The content descriptions specify the knowledge, understanding and skills that teachers are to teach and young people are expected to learn across the years of schooling. The achievement standards describe what students are typically expected to understand and be able to do, having been taught the content. Across F to 10, the achievement standards describe a broad sequence of expected learning. All of the other information provided on the website, including content elaborations, work samples etc., is support material, which teachers and others can choose to use or not. If you look for example at the mathematics content descriptions and achievement standards for Foundation to Year 10, you will see subject matter that is clearly and unambiguously mathematics. In the English curriculum, content descriptions, you will see subject matter that ranges from spelling, punctuation, grammar and phonics through to poetry and classical literature. I encourage anyone viewing this podcast to go and read the curriculum, not just read what others are saying about it. Australian Curriculum, the content and achievement standards, sets out what we would like young people to learn. The Australian Curriculum does not determine how it should be delivered. We think that teachers in schools who know the students in their classrooms are the best place to decide how to organise and present the learning. There is flexibility in how the curriculum can be delivered. And on the back of the Australian Curriculum, we have seen significant work being undertaken by the Australian Institute for Teaching and School Leadership, ATSL and Education Services Australia, ESA, to support implementation of the National Curriculum, as well as the work that has been done by state and territory education authorities, teacher professional associations and many other organisations across the country. With national agreement on what we want young people to learn, we can all turn our attention to strengthening the quality of teaching and learning in our schools. Akara welcomes the review of the Australian Curriculum. The creation and ongoing improvement of a high quality, world class curriculum is something that we should all work together on. Thank you.