News Service from House Harris

Fed: Danger of curriculum being hijacked by left-wingers: Pyne

Parliamentary secretary Maxine McKew said the national curriculum would letteachers know what had to be taught in the key areas of English, maths, science and history while allowing them flexibility to develop local programs.

This would help with student and teacher mobility.

Ms McKew said ACARA's collecting and reporting of data would help parents know how well their children were progressing.

Parents overwhelmingly wanted this.

It would also help governments know which schools needed extra help, she said.

Pat Farmer, who was a parliamentary secretary for education in the Howard government, said he was pleased Labor was adopting the coalition's national curriculum.

Mr Farmer said the former government invested heavily in education, but state governments had been reluctant to cooperate with it.

Debate continues.