THE AUSTRALIAN CURRICULUM

The Australian Curriculum describes what young Australians should learn as they progress through schooling. It is the foundation for their future learning, growth and active participation in the Australian community. It sets out essential knowledge, understanding, skills and capabilities and provides a national standard for student achievement in core learning areas..

English
The Australian Curriculum: English aims to ensure that students:

• learn to listen to, read, view, speak, write, create and reflect on increasingly complex and sophisticated spoken, written and multimodal texts across a growing range of contexts with accuracy, fluency and purpose
• appreciate, enjoy and use the English language in all its variations and develop a sense of its richness and power to evoke feelings, convey information, form ideas, facilitate interaction with others, entertain, persuade and argue
• understand how Standard Australian English works in its spoken and written forms and in combination with non-linguistic forms of communication to create meaning
• develop interest and skills in inquiring into the aesthetic aspects of texts, and develop an informed appreciation of literature.

Humanities and Social Sciences
Geography
The Foundation - Year 10 Australian Curriculum: Geography aims to ensure that students develop:

• a sense of wonder, curiosity and respect about places, people, cultures and environments throughout the world
• a deep geographical knowledge of their own locality, Australia, the Asia region and the world
• the ability to think geographically, using geographical concepts
• the capacity to be competent, critical and creative users of geographical inquiry methods and skills
• as informed, responsible and active citizens who can contribute to the development of an environmentally and economically sustainable, and socially just world.

History
The Australian Curriculum: History aims to ensure that students develop:

• interest in, and enjoyment of, historical study for lifelong learning and work, including their capacity and willingness to be informed and active citizens
• knowledge, understanding and appreciation of the past and the forces that shape societies, including Australian society
• understanding and use of historical concepts, such as evidence, continuity and change, cause and effect, perspectives, empathy, significance and contestability
• capacity to undertake historical inquiry, including skills in the analysis and use of sources, and in explanation and communication.

Civics and Citizenship – awaiting final endorsement
Economics and Business – awaiting final endorsement

Mathematics
The Australian Curriculum: Mathematics aims to ensure that students:

• are confident, creative users and communicators of mathematics, able to investigate, represent and interpret situations in their personal and work lives and as active citizens
• develop an increasingly sophisticated understanding of mathematical concepts and fluency with processes, and are able to pose and solve problems and reason in Number and Algebra, Measurement and Geometry, and Statistics and Probability
• recognise connections between the areas of mathematics and other disciplines and appreciate mathematics as an accessible and enjoyable discipline to study.
 

Science
The Australian Curriculum: Science aims to ensure that students develop:

• an interest in science as a means of expanding their curiosity and willingness to explore, ask questions about and speculate on the changing world in which they live
• an understanding of the vision that science provides of the nature of living things, of the Earth and its place in the cosmos, and of the physical and chemical processes that explain the behaviour of all material things
• an understanding of the nature of scientific inquiry and the ability to use a range of scientific inquiry methods, including questioning; planning and conducting experiments and investigations based on ethical principles; collecting and analysing data; evaluating results; and drawing critical, evidence-based conclusions
• an ability to communicate scientific understanding and findings to a range of audiences, to justify ideas on the basis of evidence, and to evaluate and debate scientific arguments and claims
• an ability to solve problems and make informed, evidence-based decisions about current and future applications of science while taking into account ethical and social implications of decisions
• an understanding of historical and cultural contributions to science as well as contemporary science issues and activities and an understanding of the diversity of careers related to science
• a solid foundation of knowledge of the biological, chemical, physical, Earth and space sciences, including being able to select and integrate the scientific knowledge and methods needed to explain and predict phenomena, to apply that understanding to new situations and events, and to appreciate the dynamic nature of science knowledge.

The Arts – awaiting final endorsement
The Arts (SACSA)
The arts Learning Area aims to develop in all students:

• dispositions and capacities to understand and engage in creation/re-creation and presentation/performance in each of the major arts forms of dance, drama, media, music and visual arts; as well as combinations of these arts forms and those that are newly emergent
• aesthetic understanding by critically responding to and confidently communicating their analyses of arts works
• a contextual perspective for considering and valuing the relationships and interconnections which exist across different cultures
• an understanding that arts both shape and represent the cultures through which they are expressed, thus contributing to the dynamic nature of personal and group identity
• knowledge, understanding and skills in each of the five major arts forms and a capacity to participate actively in constructing new realities and new possibilities through the creation of arts works
• capacities to apply arts learning to other Learning Areas, to life in the wider community, to the virtual community, and in accessing further education and training.

Technologies - awaiting final endorsement
Design and Technology (SACSA)
The design and technology Learning Area aims to develop in all students:

• ethical, critical, enterprising and futures dispositions towards their own and other people’s designed and made products, processes and systems
• capacities to identify and critique the values underlying the intentions, design, manufacture and consequences of any technology
• capacities to consider and respond to the needs of diverse cultures in relation to developing technologies
• broad-ranging design skills to create innovative solutions to design briefs and problems
• broad-ranging techniques for manipulating materials to create products, processes and systems including Information & Communication Technologies
• skills in communicating their thinking, ideas and plans for products, processes and systems
• capacities of responsible management and duty of care towards themselves and others when designing, making and using
• capacities to apply their design and technology learning to other Learning Areas, to life in the wider community, to the virtual community, and in accessing further education and training.

Health and Physical Education awaiting final endorsement
Health and Physical Education (SACSA)
The health and physical education Learning Area aims to develop in all students:

• an understanding of the interrelated nature of the physical, social, emotional and spiritual dimensions of life
• the ability to make informed judgments about health and wellbeing for themselves and in their relations with others
• a positive disposition towards lifelong participation in regular physical activity
• the ability to enhance their own and others’ self-concept
• a wide range of skills which promote healthy active practices
• skills for creating and maintaining positive interactions
• safe and respectful behaviours and responsibility to maintain safe environments
• a commitment to promoting equity, valuing diversity and justice, and establishing supportive learning environments
• an exploration of future work in the health, education and training, food and hospitality, fitness, sport and recreation industries
• an ability to critically reflect on, articulate and challenge social constructs with a view to improving health outcomes for themselves, others and communities
• capacities to apply learning in health and physical education to other Learning Areas, to life in the wider community, to the virtual community, and in accessing further education and training.