Welcome

The Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority (ACARA) is the independent authority responsible for the development of a national curriculum, a national assessment program and a national data collection and reporting program that supports 21st century learning for all Australian students.

ACARA's work is carried out in collaboration with a wide range of stakeholders, including teachers, principals, governments, State and Territory education authorities, professional education associations, community groups and the general public.

This website outlines the work of ACARA and provides background information on the processes involved in the development of an Australian curriculum and national assessment and reporting programs.

To view the Australian Curriculum, the My School website or the dedicated website on the National Assessment Program click on the quick links.

The draft Shape of the Australian Curriculum: Technologies has been released. ACARA welcomes consultation and feedback on Technologies draft Shape paper until Sunday 3 June 2012.

The draft Shape of the Australian Curriculum: Health and Physical Education has been released. ACARA welcomes consultation and feedback on the Health and Physical Education draft Shape Paper until Sunday 3 June 2012.

News Just In

Draft Senior Secondary Australian Curriculum Update
ACARA has released the draft senior secondary Australian Curriculum for English, Mathematics, Science and History for public consultation until 20 July 2012. Further information about the draft senior secondary Australian Curriculum for each of the four areas (including notes on how the curriculum has changed since national consultation in 2010) can be found here.

Expressions of Interest: Curriculum writers and Advisors for Health and Physical Education and Technologies

ACARA welcomes expressions of interest for curriculum writers and advisory group members for the writing phase for Health and Physical Education and Technologies.

Click here for more information about the Health and Physical Education roles.

Click here for more information about the Technologies roles.

The Draft Shape of the Australian Curriculum: Technologies
ACARA has released the draft Shape Paper for Technologies for public consultation. Click here for more information.

The Draft Shape of the Australian Curriculum: Health and Physical Education
ACARA has released the draft Shape Paper for Health and Physical Education for public consultation. Click here for more information.

The Students With Disability: Consultation Report has been published. The report provides a summary of the findings from the September to November 2011 online consultation focusing on the Australian Curriculum: English Progressing to Foundation and Mathematics Progressing to Foundation for students with disability. The report also provides broad directions for the ongoing development of this aspect of ACARA's work.

ACARA is currently advertising for the position of Chief Executive Officer. For more information please click here.

ACARA is establishing a Register of Interest for writers for the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander histories and cultures priority. Click here for more information.

The 2011 NAPLAN National Report has been released and is available here. Results for all years of testing are also now available in a searchable format.

The National Report on Schooling in Australia 2009, the annual national report on school education of the Ministerial Council for Education, Early Childhood Development and Youth Affairs (MCEECDYA), is now available. The 2009 report is the first to report on progress towards the Melbourne Declaration on Educational Goals for Young Australians and the Council of Australian Governments (COAG) National Education Agreement.

The report summarises national initiatives and achievements in education in 2009 in terms of Education Ministers’ Commitment to Action in the eight interrelated areas identified in the Melbourne Declaration. It also reports on the nationally agreed Key Performance Measures for school education and provides statistics on school numbers, enrolments, student engagement and attainment, and school funding. Click here to read the report.

What's New

The Shape of the Australian Curriculum: Languages  is now available. The shape paper provides broad directions for the development of languages curriculum. Writing of languages curriculum will now commence, starting with F-10 Chinese and Italian and a Framework for Aboriginal languages and Torres Strait Islander languages.

The 2010 National Assessment Program—Civics and Citizenship (NAP—CC) Public Report has now been released. See media release.

The Ministerial Council for Education, Early Childhood Development and Youth Affairs (MCEECDYA) endorsed the Foundation to Year 10 Achievement Standards for English, Mathematics, Science and History at their meeting on 14 October 2011. For more information and to view version 2.0 of the Australian Curriculum please visit www.australiancurriculum.edu.au.

A Validation Report documenting the Foundation to Year 10 Achievement Standards can be viewed here.

With the first phase of the Australian Curriculum approved by Education Ministers, work is now underway to implement the F-10 Australian Curriculum in English, history, mathematics and science. More information is available in the Implementation Coordination  section of this website, including a PDF document summarising implementation plans of systems and sectors in the various states and territories.

At its October 2011 meeting the Ministerial Council for Education, Early Childhood Development and Youth Affairs endorsed a revised version of the Shape of the Australian Curriculum v3.0.