Curriculum design
ACARA published the Curriculum Design paper in June 2009 to provide guidelines for the writing of the Australian curriculum. The Australian curriculum is being developed as a web-based document, i.e. using web technologies to embed links, enabling multiple views and access.
There are two main design elements of the curriculum:
- Curriculum content
- Achievement standards
Advice will also be provided on a reporting framework that is linked to the curriculum content and achievement standards.
Curriculum content
The content of the curriculum for each earning areas is arranged by broad organisers (strands) and presented as content descriptions, which describe what teachers are expected to teach at each year level. These descriptions form a scope and sequence across the years of schooling. They also include general capabilities that are specific to the learning area as described in the Shape of the Australian Curriculum. In addition, content elaborations are provided as support for teachers to develop a common understanding about what is to be taught to students.
Achievement Standards
Achievement standards describe the quality of learning (depth of understanding, extent of knowledge and sophistication of skill) expected of students at each year level. In addition, annotated work samples are provided to assist teachers in making their reporting judgements.
Reporting framework
At each year level from K-10, teachers are required to report students’ achievements to parents using an A-E framework. ACARA will develop brief descriptors for each of the five reporting levels. These descriptors will be generic across year levels and learning areas.
