Implementing the Australian Curriculum: Explicit teaching and engaged learning of subjects and capabilities

1. Implementing the Australian Curriculum:Explicit teaching and engaged learning of subjects and capabilities Acknowledgment The Smarter Schools National Partnership (on Literacy and Numeracy/for low SES School Communities/on Improving Teacher Quality) is a joint initiative of the Australian Government and the Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority, the Department of Education and Early Childhood Development, the Catholic Education Commission Victoria and Independent Schools Victoria.

2. Aims of program • Explore the key role principals will play in determining school-based approaches to the implementation of the Australian Curriculum • Define the dual implementation drivers of compliance and creativity/flexibility/personalised learning • Provide a tool-kit of resources to support principals lead the implementation of the Australian Curriculum in schools.

3. Structure of program • Introduction to and outline of the Australian Curriculum and Victoria’s approach to implementation • Research and theoretical basis to support Victoria’s approach. • Victoria’s implementation requirements. • Curriculum planning to effectively implement the first four Australian Curriculum subjects of English, Mathematics, Science and History. • Planning the explicit teaching of the general capabilities. • Curriculum planning informed by the cross-curriculum priorities. • Whole school curriculum planning.

4. Introduction Research by Nuthall, 2005, shows half (and perhaps more) of all material taught in any class is already known by the students. (Nuthall, The cultural myths and realities of classroom teaching and learning: a personal journey? inTeachers College Record, 107 (5), 902-903) Pre-test activity…

6. Why this matters Refer Reading 1 Two of the findings that surprised researchers involved Australian history. Only 16 per cent of Year 6 students and 23 per cent of Year 10 students could correctly name the event commemorated on Australia Day. Further, only 17 per cent of Year 6 and 27 per cent of Year 10 students could articulate why Australia Day was sometimes called Invasion Day. Students also notably struggled with the concept of "the common good" – strategies that refer to how individuals can influence systems for the benefit of society. They either didn't understand it, didn't believe in it, or couldn't see how they could exercise it.

7. Curriculum is … [Curriculum is] a particular, historically formed knowledge that inscribes rules and standards by which we ‘reason’ about the world and our ‘self’ as a productive member of that world … Curriculum is a disciplining technology that directs how the individual is to act, feel, talk and ‘see’ the world and ‘self’. As such, curriculum is a form of social regulation. Popkewitz, T. (1997). The production of reason and power: curriculum history and intellectual traditions. Journal of Curriculum Studies, 29(2), 132.

8. The matter of definitions… Curriculum … • All the structures, organisation and activities of a school. • Intended, enacted, experienced. • Syllabus as the structure, curriculum as the teaching program. • Imposed vs student-led.

9. A working definition The curriculum is the defined and mandated set of knowledge and skills that schools are required to teach and assess. • A democratic entitlement rather than individual determination of what is required for effective, participatory citizenship.

10. Tensions

11. Implementation approaches

12. Basis of national curriculum Promoting world-class curriculum and assessment: • a solid foundation in skills and knowledge on which further learning and adult life can be built • deep knowledge and skills that will enable advanced learning and an ability to create new ideas and translate them into practical applications • general capabilities that underpin flexible and critical thinking, a capacity to work with others and an ability to move across subject disciplines to develop new expertise. http://www.curriculum.edu.au/mceetya/melbourne_declaration,25979.html

13. What is the Australian Curriculum? What is the Australian Curriculum?

14. Current status Australian Curriculum Another historic milestone towards implementation of Australia’s first national school curriculum was reached with Ministers endorsing the achievement standards for Foundation to Year 10 Australian Curriculum in English, mathematics, science and history. Following Ministers’ endorsement of the curriculum content for these first four learning areas in December last year, (2010) the achievement standards were refined after a validation process .... ACARA will provide student work samples that illustrate achievement against each standard in the four learning areas in 2011 and during 2012 to enable the standards to be consistently interpreted and assessed across the nation. MCEEYDYA Communiqué 14 October 2011

15. Victorian timelines Phase 1: F-10

16. Victorian timelines – all domains

17. AusVELS

18. AusVELS Refer Readings 7, 8, 9, 10 • Current VELS structure • Conceptualisation of Interdisciplinary Learning/Physical, Personal and Social Learning/General Capabilities • As is the case with learning in subject areas, the learning associated with the general capabilities does not always happen by osmosis Digital literacy does need to be taught: young people have usually acquired some knowledge of computer systems, but their knowledge is patchy. The idea that teaching this is unnecessary because of the sheer ubiquity of technology that surrounds young people as they are growing up – the ‘digital native’ – should be treated with great caution. Shut down or restart? The way forward for computing in UK schools, January 2012, p 21

19. AusVELS – key features • Learning Focus and Standards for English, Mathematics, Science and History replaced with Australian Curriculum content descriptions and achievement standards. • Move from six to eleven levels (Year Level X). • VELS domains: ‘odd’ number levels ‘working towards level X’. • Emphasis on curriculum as developmental continuum not separate ‘blocks’ of knowledge.

20. AusVELS

21. AusVELS

22. AusVELS An example from The Arts domain Learning focus As students work towards the achievement of Level 4 standards in the Arts, they apply and develop their arts knowledge by exploring arts processes and ways to communicate concepts arising from their personal experiences and from the world around them.… Standards At Level 3, students are working toward the Level 4 standards. Refer http://ausvels.vcaa.vic.edu.au/The-Arts/Curriculum#level=3

23. AusVELS - English

24. AusVELS - Mathematics

25. AusVELS - History

26. AusVELS – Science proposal

27. Key differences - English AusVELS viewed through the language modes of: • Reading and viewing • Speaking and listening • Writing

28. Key differences - English • AC curriculum viewed by: • VELS viewed by Reading, Writing, Speaking and listening

29. Key differences - Mathematics • The AC and VELS have much in common • Four proficiency strands, similar in purpose to current VELS Maths Working mathematically dimension. • Achievement standards are written for each level however in AusVELS they will be organised around each content strand.

30. AusVELS - History • Two strands: • Historical knowledge and understanding • Historical skills • Content descriptions and Achievement standards included for F - 3 • History includes Depth studies for Levels 7 to 10 • Content descriptionsfor each level for Historical knowledge and understanding but across band levels for Historical skills • Achievement standards written for each level F-10

31. AusVELS - Science • Three strands: • Science understanding • Science as a human endeavour • Science inquiry skills • Content descriptions and achievement standards included for F – 10. • Content descriptionsfor each level for Science understanding but across band levels for Science as a human endeavour and Science inquiry skills. • Currently achievement standards written for each level F-10, but will be rewritten mainly in two-level intervals.

32. Assessment and reporting See circular to schools 62/2012 http://www.vcaa.vic.edu.au/correspondence/notices/2012/62.html Key reporting message: For 2013 the current reporting requirements will continue to apply. • Specific information for student reporting of Phase 1 studies • Reporting of remaining VELS domains

33. Assessment and reporting: Phase 1, 2013 Foundation Level 1 Level 2 Level 3

34. Assessment and reporting Remaining VELS domains Student reporting will continue as per current arrangements for the remaining VELS discipline domains and the Interdisciplinary Learning and Physical, Personal and Social Learning strands. Student reports for Years Prep/Foundation to 2 will continue as per current arrangements for English, Mathematics, Health and Physical Education, The Arts and Interpersonal Development.

35. Victorian approach • No mandated time allocations (except HPE, Languages) • Maintain school-based responsibility for design of learning programs • Respect for professional autonomy/responsibility balance with accountability • Schools should be able to demonstrate how the Australian Curriculum is being delivered • It is expected all domains will be made available to all students • VCE/VET programs will continue to be available in Year 10

36. Senior secondary • National agreement to develop 14 senior secondary subjects (plus Geography) in four learning areas. • No national agreement yet on development of further subjects in these or other learning areas.

37. Victorian timelines Phase 1: senior secondary

38. Senior secondary

39. Process • Agreed content to be ‘packaged’ into VCE study designs: • Rationale • Areas of study • Outcomes • Key knowledge • Key skills • Assessment

40. Other VCE studies? • All other current VCE studies will continue to be offered as per existing arrangements. • New subjects (e.g. Extended Investigation) will continue to be introduced.

41. VET and VCAL • Current VET arrangements will continue • VCAL will continue to be offered

42. Resources • http://www.vcaa.vic.edu.au/foundation10/curriculum/index.html • Overview and comparison documents (AC with VELS) • Scope and sequence • PowerPoint presentation with speaker notes for curriculum leaders • Portfolios of annotated student work samples for AC

43. Resources – Early years • Charts that indicate linkages and continuity between the VEYLDF and the VELS have been developed and can be found at: http://www.vcaa.vic.edu.au/earlyyears/vfldoutcomes/index.html • Government and Catholic schools will be required to report student achievement in F-2 against the AusVELS standards. However the VEYLDF outcomes can be used as curriculum organisers at F-2. • The VCAA is currently working with five schools to develop case studies on this use of the VEYLDF outcomes.

44. Resources http://www.scootle.edu.au/ec/p/home Catholic schools in Victoria contact: sxavier@ceomelb.catholic.edu.au

45. Key issues How much time will we allocate to each learning domain? Australian Curriculum should take up no more than 80% of teaching time [69(d)] http://www.acara.edu.au/verve/_resources/The_Shape_of_the_Australian_Curriculum_V3.pdf, What else/more/deeper/broader do we want to teach? Teaching content does not necessarily mean teaching a timetabled subject How will we structure learning? Refer Reading 3 Refer Template Bank

48. General capabilities • Literacy • Numeracy • ICT • Personal and social capability • Critical and creative thinking • Intercultural understanding • Ethical behaviour general capabilities that underpin flexible and critical thinking, a capacity to work with others and an ability to move across subject disciplines to develop new expertise.

49. Personal and social capability - Perseverance Key questions • How and when will we intentionally teach the qualities and dispositions associated with perseverance? • How will we capture evidence of students’ developing capacity to persevere? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pBBngsAvafQ Refer Readings 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 Refer Template Bank

50. Empirical research “Students in the lower 50% of their class in reading achievement who received the AB4L program showed statistically significant improvement in their reading comprehension performance”. “Those students who received the AB4L program and who showed improvements in their behaviours for learning demonstrated statistically significant improvements in their reading comprehension performance.” Report on the Attitudes and Behaviours for Learning program(AB4L), 2011 Professor Michael Bernard, University of Melbourne http://www.youcandoit.com.au/Assets/Files/Helping_great_teachers_make_great_students_Full_Final[1].pdf