The Federal government needs to consider a new full national school curriculum if it is serious about introducing an Australian School Certificate (ACE) according to Associate Professor Geoff Riordan of the UTS Faculty of Education.

Speaking at a recent UTS/Daily Telegraph education forum attended by Federal Minister for Education, Science and Training Julie Bishop, Professor Riordan argued a national approach to school education was long overdue and the ACE proposal as it stood was neither "bold or ambitious enough".

Professor Riordan said he was concerned that limiting the focus of the ACE to achieving national conformity in the certificate awarded to students at the end of Year 12 would not address other problematic areas of State syllabuses and approaches to assessment.

"The current system bears all the marks and wounds of a system that has emerged over time rather than one that has been carefully planned," Professor Riordan said.

"Unless the ACE is part of a larger, well-planned and resourced Australian curriculum, its introduction as proposed should be treated with caution."

A common credential based on different curriculums with different assessment processes would be "too easy to do badly and impossible to do properly" he argued.

"What is needed now is leadership by the States and the Commonwealth to develop an Australian curriculum that puts to rest, once and for all, a mess of curriculum arrangements that are artefacts of 19th century colonial Australia."

Ms Bishop opened the forum by saying that the Commonwealth was not suggesting a national curriculum. She said she was more concerned with improving overall national standards in literacy and numeracy, and ensuring students graduated from school with the type of skills employers were seeking.

The forum, the latest in a series sponsored jointly by UTS and the Daily Telegraph, also involved Professor Gordon Stanley of the NSW Board of Studies and Macquarie University's Professor George Cooney in the debate on the merits and problems of the Australian School Certificate proposal.

Associate Professor Geoff Riordan's full speech is available online.