Personalised Writing in Centralised Curriculum: Critical Gaps in New South Wales Stage 1 English Units

Curriculum reform in New South Wales (NSW), Australia, emphasises the need for change, arguing that current educational arrangements must better meet children’s future needs. A key recommendation advocates for greater flexibility in teaching and learning to support personalisation, addressing the wide variation in children’s learning needs. This qualitative study critically examines four Stage 1 narrative writing units, focusing on whether personalised writing practices—such as opportunities for scaffolding and feedback, choice in writing topics, and flexibility in pacing—are embedded in these centralised curriculum materials. Drawing on Bernstein’s theoretical concept of framing, we analyse the extent to which these practices are integrated into the units. Our analysis reveals a predominance of strong framing, characterised by tightly controlled writing organisation, limited topic choices, and rigid pacing. These constraints offer few opportunities for personalisation. This study highlights critical gaps in the Stage 1 narrative writing units, suggesting that without critical adaptation by teachers, these units risk perpetuating ineffective writing instruction and hindering children’s writing development. This study calls for further research into the impact of centralised curriculum materials on teachers’ writing instruction and the development of children’s writing knowledge and skills, with a particular focus on how personalisation can be integrated within these units to improve writing outcomes for all children.