AUSTRALIAN students will be encouraged to use Twitter, blogs and Facebook as study tools in the new Civics and Citizenship national curriculum.
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The draft curriculum was released for public consultation yesterday. If it is adopted, it will be compulsory for students in years 3 to 8, and optional for students in years 9 and 10, to study civics and citizenship.
The new subject will rest on three platforms: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander histories and cultures, sustainability, and Asia and Australia's engagement with Asia. Underpinning these is a commitment to liberal democratic values, civic duty and a multicultural and multifaith society.
Students would be taught skills including research, analysis and synthesis, collaborative problem-solving and decision-making, and communication.
Communication skills would include "presenting ideas in oral and written form; critical reading, debating, writing and listening; applying empathic and social skills; using both traditional and social media and the internet in socially constructive ways as communication tools".
The Education Minister, Peter Garrett, said the new curriculum would emphasise "respect, tolerance and an understanding and appreciation of our nation's culture and history".
