We’re working on a long ACARA post, which, hopefully, will be up in a day or so. In the meantime and as a bit of background for the coming post, readers may wish to have a wander through the Singaporean Primary Mathematics Syllabus.* (The syllabus begins with explanatory chapters, and the content description begins on page 34.)(Added 12/10/21 – The Secondary Syllabus 1-4 is here.)
As a reminder, ACARA’s “research” supposedly determined that the current Australian curriculum and the Singaporean syllabus were similar in “breadth”, “depth” and “rigour”. Readers may wish to make their own comparison, and also to Australia’s draft primary curriculum.** The attentive reader may spot some subtle differences. Lazier readers can look here.
*) The current Singaporean primary syllabus was published in 2012, for the start of the 2013 year. A new syllabus is currently being rolled out; at this stage only the Year 1 syllabus is available. (04/02/23 Link updated.)
**) SIngapore Year n and Australia Year n are reasonably comparable. Singapore primary school begins with Year 1, with students typically six years old. There is no “foundation” year in Singapore, but the Singaporean “kindergarten” appears to play a similar role.