It's the first review of the state's school curriculum in 29 years, with NSW Education Minister Rob Stokes saying the entire curriculum from Kindergarten to Year 12 would be reviewed and will put businessman David Gonski's latest education report into practice.

The April report, commissioned by the federal government and prepared by a panel headed by Mr Gonski, found Australia's school curriculum failed a generation of children.

It recommended a focus on stretching individual students to improve every year, while calling for a greater focus on literacy and numeracy in early education and an urgent inquiry into the teaching and assessment of year 11 and 12 students.

Mr Stokes said NSW's curriculum review would examine the role of new technologies and teaching methods and would draw on the expertise of teachers to ensure they were supported.

NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian said the world had changed "rapidly" since the last comprehensive review in 1989 with these reforms providing greater focus on the basics including English, maths and science.

NSW opposition spokesman Jihad Dib said it was about time the reforms were introduced as the state was falling behind the Australian average in scientific and reading literacy in the OECD's Programme for International Student Assessment.

The review will be led by Australian Council for Educational Research chief executive Professor Geoff Masters who said it would need to focus on implementation issues and look for ways to de-clutter and simplify the curriculum.

Australian Associated Press