Cross-Curriculum Priorities
The Australian Curriculum must be both relevant to the lives of students and address the contemporary issues they face. With this and the education goals of the Melbourne Declaration in mind, the curriculum gives special attention to three priorities:
- Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander histories and cultures will allow all young Australians the opportunity to gain a deeper understanding and appreciation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander histories and cultures, their significance for Australia and the impact these have had, and continue to have, on our world.
- Asia and Australia’s engagement with Asia will allow all young Australians to develop a better understanding of the countries and cultures of the Asia region. Students will develop an appreciation of the economic, political and cultural interconnections that Australia has with the region.
- Sustainability will allow all young Australians to develop an appreciation of the need for more sustainable patterns of living, and to build the capacities for thinking and acting that are necessary to create a more sustainable future.
The cross-curriculum priorities are embedded in learning areas as appropriate. When planning teaching and learning programs for the Australian curriculum, teachers will notice that the three cross-curriculum priorities have a strong but varying presence depending on their relevance to the learning area.
Within each learning area, individual content descriptions and elaborations have been tagged to show links to the cross-curriculum priorities.
Further information can be found on the cross-curriculum priorities home page on the Australian Curriculum website at www.australiancurriculum.edu.au.
