More students to thrive in move to explicit teaching

Australia's largest school system has been placed at the vanguard of a national shift to explicit teaching in a bid to reverse sliding student results.

A reworked NSW primary-school curriculum aims to clearly set out classroom expectations, replacing a pupil-led model formerly in vogue with experts.

Education Minister Prue Car says the shift will help teachers ensure students understand what they are being taught.

"Evidence tells us a knowledge-rich curriculum to be explicitly taught in the classroom will work with our children," she said on Wednesday.

The changes aligned with the direction of the national curriculum, with Victoria announcing a similar shift focused on explicit teaching in June.

Belinda Brown, principal at Bowning Public School in southern NSW, said teachers were excited.

It's about allowing teachers to be flexible for their context in their schools," she said.

The Grattan Institute's Nick Parkinson told AAP the shift would be business-as-usual in many schools that were already using explicit teaching.

Another approach, sometimes referred to as inquiry-based learning, asked students to apply knowledge they were often yet to learn.

"Students can feel overwhelmed ... that's when behaviour ... can start to flare up," Mr Parkinson said.

Some students thrived in inquiry-based learning, but they would also do well under an explicit-teaching model.

"They're from backgrounds where maybe they're getting taught a lot at home ... what is important about the explicit instruction model is it doesn't assume students have those opportunities outside school," Mr Parkinson said.

Other states were moving towards explicit teaching models, but NSW was a front-runner in a shift that had developed through Catholic schools in recent years, he said.

Overall student performance has steadily declined compared to other nations since the early 2000s, although the NSW system generally delivers results above the national average.

Opposition education spokeswoman Sarah Mitchell said the changes began under the former coalition government.

Ms Car said a review involving parents, students, teachers and principals had found the curriculum needed to be simpler.

As part of the changes there will be a new science and technology syllabus with more hands-on learning on how the human body works while also exploring fields such as space and climate systems.

History and geography will come under human society and its environment, exploring interconnected themes on both topics.

It will include compulsory civics and citizenship content, with lessons on voting in a democracy.

Balancing screen time with physical activity will be part of an updated personal development, health and physical education syllabus, with support for students with physical disabilities.

Lessons on respectful relationships and consent will also be included.

The updated syllabuses will be rolled out in all NSW primary classrooms in 2027, but they can be implemented before.

Updated maths and English syllabuses have already been introduced.