Curriculum
The Standards have been developed in response to the growing body of evidence on how people learn and the developmental stages of learning that young people experience at school. This research recognises that while students learning is a continuum from Prep through to Year 10, and that different students develop at different rates, they broadly progress through three stages of learning from:
Prep to Year 4 (laying the foundations), where
the curriculum focuses on developing the fundamental knowledge, skills and behaviours in literacy and numeracy
and basic physical and social capacities which underpin all future learning; to
Years 5 to 8 (building breadth and depth), where
students progress beyond the foundations, their literacy and numeracy becomes more sophisticated and important
discipline-based and interdisciplinary capacities are progressively introduced; to
Years 9 and 10 (developing pathways), which constitute a bridge to the post-compulsory years and where students begin to focus more clearly on areas of particular interest related to both their future schooling and intended pathways beyond school while developing their understanding of, and connection to, the community in which they live.
Educational Principles:
The Essential Learning Standards are underpinned by a clear set of educational principles which reflects the community's expectations for schooling in Victoria.
Specifically, the educational principles are:
Learning for all - proceeding on the basis that all students can learn given sufficient time and support, and that good schools and good teaching make a positive difference to student outcomes.
Pursuit of excellence - seeking to accomplish something noteworthy and admirable individually and collectively, and performing at one's best.
Engagement and effort - acknowledging that student ability is only one factor in achievement and that if students work hard and make an effort they improve
Respect for evidence - seeking understanding and truth through structured inquiry and the application of evidence to test and question beliefs
Openness of mind - being willing to consider a range of different views and consider different ways in which evidence is perceived and solutions can be reached.
Structure
Within each strand of learning the essential knowledge, skills and behaviours are organised into domains with further divisions into dimensions. Standards are written for each dimension. The relationship between the strands, domains and dimensions is shown below:
|
Strand |
Domain |
Dimension |
|
| Physical, Personal and Social Learning | Health & Physical Education | Movement and physical activity Health knowledge and promotion |
|
| Interpersonal Development | Building social relationships Working in teams |
||
| Personal Learning | The individual learner Managing personal learning |
||
| Civics and Citizenship | Civic knowledge and understanding Community engagement |
||
| Discipline-based Learning | The Arts | Creating and making Exploring and responding |
|
| English | Reading Writing Speaking and Listening |
||
| Languages Other Than English | Communicating in a language other than English Intercultural knowledge and language awareness |
||
| Humanities | Economics | Economic knowledge and understanding Economic reasoning and interpretation |
|
| Geography | Geographical knowledge and understanding Geospatial skills |
||
| History | Historical knowledge and understanding Historical reasoning and interpretation |
||
| Mathematics | Number Space Measurement, chance and data Structure Working mathematically |
||
| Science | Science knowledge and understanding Science at work |
||
| Interdisciplinary Learning | Communication | Listening, viewing and responding Presenting |
|
| Design, Creativity and Technology | Investigating and designing Producing Analysing and evaluating |
||
| Information and Communications Technology (ICT) | ICT for visualising thinking ICT for creating ICT for communicating |
||
| Thinking | Reasoning, processing and inquiry Creativity Reflections, evaluation and metacognition |
||
Websites
Blueprint for Government Schools
www.sofweb.vic.edu.au/blueprint
Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority
www.vcaa.vic.edu.au
Victorian Essential Learning Standards
http://vels/vcaa.vic.edu.au
National Assessment Program Literacy & Numeracy
http://www.naplan.edu.au
