Implementation of the Australian Curriculum in Victoria

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What is the Australian curriculum?LEARNING AREAS/

SUBJECT DISCIPLINESGENERAL CAPABILITIES CROSS-CURRICULUM

PRIORITIES

•English•Mathematics•Science•Health and Physical Education

•LOTE•Humanities and Social Sciences (History, Geography, Civics and Citizenship, Business and Economics)

•The Arts•Technologies (inc ICT)

• Critical and creative thinking

• Self-management, teamwork and social competence

• Intercultural understanding

• Ethical behaviour• Literacy• Numeracy• ICT

• Aboriginal cultures and histories

• Asia and Australia’s engagement with Asia

• Sustainability

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Key content differences

Subjects Key features

English Strands (Literature, Language, Literacy) as well as modes (Reading, Writing, Speaking and Listening)

Mathematics 3 content strands + 4 proficiency strands

History More specificity of content

Science New nomenclature (‘Science as a Human Endeavour’) and some re-ordering of content

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How is it being phased?

Learning areas TimelineEnglish Phase 1

Mathematics Phase 1

Science Phase 1

Humanities and social sciences•History•Geography•Economics, Business, Civics and Citizenship

Phase 1Phase 2Phase 3

The Arts Phase 2

Languages Phase 2

Health and PE Phase 3

Technologies Phase 3

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Victorian timelines Phase 1

English, Mathematics, History and Science

• Introductory professional development• ‘opt-in’ trialling and validation 2011

• Professional development• school-based planning and trialling 2012

Implementation of English, Maths, History and Science F - 10 2013

Implementation of English, Maths, History and Science Year 11 2014?

Implementation of English, Maths, History and Science Year 12 2015?

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Victorian approach - AusVELS

• Continuity with/building on key aspects of VELS and common practice:whole-school approaches to curriculumresponsiveness and innovation at school level

within overall standards developmental continuumstudent centredinterdisciplinary skills

Commitment to a curriculum framework that enables and supports innovative practice developed against common standards

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Assessment and reporting

• Opportunity for Victoria to evaluate and reassess current assessment and reporting practices

• Current structure: Two year standards, semester progression points

• Proposed Australian Curriculum structure: Hybrid: two year standards, single year standards, no progression points

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FAQ

Will we have to report on History and Science in Prep?•For government schools, reporting and assessment requirements will remain unchanged in 2011 and 2012. •To avoid confusion, there will be consultation with parents and schools before any changes to assessment and reporting requirements. •ACARA is still discussing a common approach to A&R. •In English, the standards will be by mode (Reading, Writing, Speaking and Listening).

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FAQ

Does the curriculum content set for a particular year level by the Australian Curriculum have to be taught to all students in that year level? What about multi-grade classrooms?•The Australian Curriculum sets out a nationally-agreed sequence of learning, both in terms of content and achievement standards.•However, teachers and schools retain the flexibility to tailor teaching and learning programs according to local circumstances while reporting against common standards.

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FAQ

What about EAL students?•ACARA is developing teaching resources to support the teaching of EAL students & schools should continue to use the ESL scales for planning and assessment.What about students with Additional Learning Needs?•Continue to use current Victorian approach of matching student with appropriate levels•Working Towards Level 1 of VELS to continue to be made available. ACARA is developing a similar resource.

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Why this approach?

• Commitment to personalised learning – importance of assessment based on a developmental continuum

• Strong culture of school-based curriculum development in Victoria

• Consistent with other initiatives• Student at the centre of curriculum planning• Value of interdisciplinary learning• Commitment to a curriculum framework that enables

and supports innovative practice developed against common standards

Approaches to implementation: School Curriculum and Assessment Planning

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Challenges

• Managing the complexity of curriculum planning: 8 learning areas + PPSL, IL/key competencies/general capabilities.

• Lessons from VELS implementation: not enough support for whole school rather than subject-based planning.

• Building on contemporary research about effective schools and effective learning.

• Building on good existing practice.

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What does implementation mean?

Phase 1: Use of English, Mathematics, Science and History Australian Curriculum for curriculum planning, assessment and reporting within VELS or other existing curriculum framework.

Phase 2: Use of other Australian Curriculum learning areas for curriculum planning, assessment and reporting within revised VELS structure or revised other existing curriculum framework.

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What does implementation mean?

Personalised learning within guaranteed curriculum provision

Implementation means that all students are enable to:1.Access the learning defined in these areas as the entitlement of every young Australian2.Progress towards the achievement standards that represent their next level of individual achievement

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School curriculum and assessment plan: research base

Marzano’s five “areas of

action”

McTighe’s model of

“backwards design”

Hattie’s assessment “effect size”

Planning curriculum and

assessment matters!

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Does curriculum planning matter?

• Robert Marzano’s analysis of school effectiveness research (2003):

a guaranteed and viable curriculum as the school level factor that has the most impact on student achievement.

• Empirical evidence that a characteristic of underperforming schools is lack of curriculum documentation

• Empirical evidence that what is not taught is not learnt – osmosis is not an effective teaching and learning strategy

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Curriculum implementation

Marzano identifies five areas of action for the implementation of curriculum: identify and communicate the content considered

essential for all students ensure the essential content can be addressed in the

amount of time available for instruction sequence and organise the essential content in such a

way that students have ample opportunity to learn it

ensure that teachers address the essential content protect the instructional time that is available

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Hattie’s effect size research

An effect size of d = 1.0 indicates an increase of one standard deviation on an outcome… typically associated with advancing children’s achievement by two to three years

(Hattie 2009, p.7)

Feedback 1.13Students’ prior cognitive ability 1.04Instructional quality 1.00

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Backwards planning

‘Backwards Design’ (McTighe and Wiggins)

Identify outcomes Identify

outcomes

Determineevidence

Determineevidence

Plan learningexperiences

Plan learningexperiences

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Curriculum and Assessment Planning cycle

Whole school CAP

Cohort CAPIndividual student

CAP

Assessmentdata analysis

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An opportunity for multi-level curriculum renewal

1. Whole school planningIf yes, go to 2

2. Student cohort planningIf yes, go to 3

3. Individual student planning

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Whole school curriculum planning1. Whole school planning

a) Does our school have a clearly stated vision of the goal of our curriculum?

b) Is the overall organisation of the curriculum (for example: by year level, core and elective, multi-age classes, vertical streaming) clearly documented?

c) Is the overall structure of the curriculum within that organisation (for example: by theme, subject, integrated topic, specialist subjects) clearly documented with associated time allocations?

d) Does that structure enable the delivery of the content and skills defined by the Australian Curriculum learning areas of English, Mathematics, Science and History?

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Summary of key differences between AC English and VELS English

New emphasis on • selecting literary texts, from F - 10, whose primary purpose is aesthetic. • teaching texts from and about Asia, and texts from the oral narrative

traditions of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.• the study of literary texts in primary schools (new Literature strand)• more explicit references to the types of texts students should read (for

instance, ballad, limerick, haiku, tanka, verse novels). • more explicit about comprehension, production & design of texts with

images/moving images, and audio. • more explicit common meta-language for describing the features and

functions of language, including terms drawn from functional grammar i.e. we will have to teach and use their terms. (Language strand )

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Summary of key differences between AC Maths and VELS Maths

• Coverage of whole numbers is very similar. AC Maths introduces division with remainder at Year 5, (Level 3 in VELS Maths), and emphasises money problems involving profit and loss and best buys.

• Coverage of fractions and decimals is very similar. The AC Mathsincludes counting with unit fractions using a number line at Year 4. VELS Maths includes comparing, adding and subtracting simple common fractions with the assistance of physical models at Level 3, and multiplication of fractions at Level 4.

• AC Mathematics introduces the use of the Cartesian plane and coordinates in all four quadrants at Year 6, earlier than in VELS Maths where it is introduced at Level 5. VELS Maths includes simple networks from Level 2, and tessellations from Level 3, which are not included in AC Maths. VELS Maths has a more explicit emphasis on sets.

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Summary of key differences between AC Science and VELS

Considerable continuity between Australian Curriculum Science (AC Science) and VELS Science. AC Science has three interrelated strands: Science Understanding, Science as a Human Endeavour and Science Inquiry Skills. (cf. Science knowledge and understanding and Science at work but with an increased emphasis on scientific inquiry).

AC Science sets out Achievement Standards for each year beginning at the Foundation year (F). Standards in VELS Science commence at Level 3.

Concepts are more or less the same but some concepts are introduced earlier or later in AC Science so there are differences in the level of complexity in the treatment of these concepts.

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Summary of key differences between AC Science and VELS:

The Science Understanding strand has four sub-strands: Biological sciences; Chemical sciences; Earth and space sciences; and Physical sciences.

The Science Inquiry Skills strand has five sub-strands: Questioning and predicting; Planning and conducting; Processing and analysing data and information; Evaluating; and Communicating

The Science as a Human Endeavour strand has two sub-strands: Nature and development of science; and Use and influence of science

Content in the Science Understanding strand is organised in year level bands, but Science as a Human Endeavour and Science Inquiry Skills strands are described in two-year bands, following the Foundation year

Six overarching ideas: Patterns; Order and organisation; Form and function; Stability and change; Scale and measurement; Matter and energy; and Systems.

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Australian Science Curriculum Content –

additional or relocated

VELS Content – reduced or relocated

Australian Curriculum Content – additional or

relocated

VELS Content – reduced or relocated

Years F–2 Levels 1–2 Years 3–6 Levels 3–4

•pushes and pulls•use of Earth’s resources•compare observations with predictions

•insect life cycles•make generalisations•fair testing•shadows•conservation of Earth’s resources•properties of natural and manufactured materials

•life cycles•fair testing•shadows•properties of natural and processed materials•contribution to science by people from a range of cultures•suggest improvements to investigation methods

•pushes, pulls and motion in terms of forces•food chains•Earth/moon system •design and build simple models to explain scientific concepts•organ systems in the human body•role of chemical change in the production of materialslayers within and surrounding Earth

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Summary of key differences between AC History and VELS:

• Similar content and sequence: begins with family and community history leading to Australian history in the later primary years

• Both emphasise the teaching and learning of history in an inquiry frame and have a developmental sequence of learning with an increasing emphasis on analysis and interpretation, and the use of evidence to support historical argument.

AC History has the following structure and characteristics:Each year level description provides a series of key inquiry questions which

frame the learning for that year.Content: Historical Knowledge and Understanding has specific content for

each year level from F–10. Historical Skills are written in two-year bands, apart from F–2 which is written in a three-year band.

The Achievement Standards for History are written for each year. They focus on skills and understanding rather then knowledge content.

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Summary of key differences between AC History and VELS:• In Levels 1 & 2 VELS, the historical content and skills are in the Humanities

Learning Focus statements. AC History has a year by year sequence of Historical Knowledge and Understanding with a single band of Historical Skills which are to be developed over the first three years of schooling. The focus of F–2 History is on family and community history, but AC History also includes a specific study of an historical site of cultural or spiritual significance at Year 2.

• In Level 3 VELS, History is part of Humanities & standards for combine History & Geography. Standards for History begin at Level 4. AC History has a year by year sequence of Historical Knowledge and Understanding with Historical Skills in 2-year bands for Years 3–4 and Years 5–6.

Each Year Level has specific thematic content AND time frames. Year 4: pre-European history to European Settlement in 1788. Year 5: Colonial history in the 1800s and Year 6: Federation and the twentieth century AND A specific focus for Years 5 and 6 is on the peoples who became part of the

Australian nation through migration and experiences of citizenship.

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Cohort curriculum planning2. Cohort planning

a) Has a particular learning focus for this cohort been identified? (e.g. literacy and school engagement in P; local environment in Year 4; community engagement in Year 6). If so, is it clearly defined?

b) Are the specific components of learning areas for this cohort clearly documented, together with associated time allocations?

c) Are the learning contexts (eg. unit topics, integrated units of work) and associated resources through which the components are provided clearly documented?

d) Is an expected sequence of learning for each component of the learning areas clearly documented?

e) Is there a planned program of assessment for learning?

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Individual student planning

3. Student planninga) Have the reporting mechanisms and/or assessment tasks

that will identify the students’ current and future levels of achievement been identified?

b) Is the way the curriculum will be differentiated for students working at differing levels documented?

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What about pedagogy?

Curriculum and Assessment Planning the what

Pedagogy the how

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Conclusion

• Implementation of Australian Curriculum an opportunity to build on and extend current curriculum reform

• Schools can use the implementation of Australian Curriculum for both incremental change and substantial curriculum renewal

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Does all this matter?

Content matters•Empirical data (national Civics tests, SAP HPE data) shows that student learning achievement is directly correlated to what they have been taught•Learning by osmosis is not a universal phenomenon