Why do politicians often want to change the school curriculum? What happens when you do?

Both sides of politics are saying the Australian school curriculum needs to change.

The Coalition has proposed changes it says would strengthen the teaching of Western values and Australia’s civic traditions.

It also wants to make Indigenous history and culture, and sustainability discrete subjects, instead of topics taught right across the curriculum.

When looking at falling test results, Coalition education spokesperson Julian Leeser says “the curriculum is part of the problem”.

Meanwhile, Education Minister Jason Clare argues the primary curriculum needs further reform to address concerns about students’ maths results.

Changing the curriculum can appear to offer a direct and visible response to complex educational challenges.

However, while curriculum reform is relatively easy to announce, changing what happens in classrooms is much harder.

What is the curriculum and what’s in it? In its most basic form a curriculum sets out what students should learn throughout their years of schooling.

But it does much more than provide a list of topics.

It reflects broader societal goals for education including helping young people become active and informed citizens .

One way to think about a curriculum is as a “ map ”, which identifies the destinations and major landmarks along a journey, but does not dictate every turn a traveller must take.

The national school curriculum is organised into eight learning areas including, English, maths, science and humanities and social sciences.

There are also seven general capabilities, including literacy and numeracy, and cross-curriculum priorities, including Indigenous histories, Australia’s engagement with Asia and sustainability.

These are taught across all subjects as teachers see opportunities to weave them into their teaching.