Premier Gladys Berejiklian said the government had exceeded its target of reducing the elective courses developed by high schools by at least 20 per cent. “We need our schools to be focussed on the core learning areas,” Ms Berejiklian said.
The NSW Standards Authority (NESA) allows schools to develop their own courses,subject to NESA endorsement. They are developed in response to a particular need at that individual school,and could only be run there.
Under the new policy,all 62 school-developed electives for years 9 and 10 will be phased out over 2021 and 2022. Students in those years will have to select subjects developed by NESA. Languages,Auslan and Braille will remain.
New criteria for school-developed courses will require them to be of high quality and cover material not already addressed in the syllabus.
“[Classical ballet students] can do the dance course already offered as an elective,” said Ms Berejiklian. “Looking at those criteria,if there’s already an overlap,that will mean it’s no longer eligible to continue.”