Resources for parents and carers

The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in a large number of Australian students needing to learn from home on occasion, with many parents and carers keen for resources to support them in the learning. 

ACARA has compiled a range of resources and links to support parents/carers at this unique time:

• Find an overview (PDF 1.5 mb) of how the Australian Curriculum is organised, explaining how the learning areas (subjects), general capabilities and cross-curriculum priorities work together to form the Australian Curriculum.
• Find quick guides to what your child will learn at each stage of their schooling:
  •  Foundation (Kindergarten or equivalent) (PDF 1.6 mb) 
  •  Years 1–2 (PDF 1.2 mb) 
  •  Years 3–4 (PDF 1.4 mb) 
  •  Years 5–6 (PDF 1.4 mb) 
  •  Years 7–8 (PDF 1.5 mb) 
  •  Years 9–10 (PDF 1.5 mb) 

• Our computational thinking parent resources (PDF 2 mb) include printable cards with activity ideas to support children in Foundation – Year 2 in finding opportunities to apply computational thinking in their everyday life. 
• The national literacy and numeracy learning progressions are a resource that describes how literacy and numeracy learning develops over time. Explore this with a guide to the progressions for parents.

The full Australian Curriculum and related resources are published online, they provide accessibility for all users; however, it is important to note that the Australian Curriculum itself has been written for teachers, with the ‘Parent information’ section a streamlined version of this.

NAPLAN resources

Previous years' NAPLAN test papers and answers are available (up to 2016), as well as the NAPLAN Online public demonstration site if parents and children wish to use these resources as an activity while at home. 

Parent and carer resources

• Education departments: Parents and carers can visit the websites of the state/territory education departments that have resources for learning from home:
  New South Wales, Queensland, South Australia, Tasmania, Victoria, the Northern Territory, the Australian Capital Territory and Western Australia. Some education sectors and individual schools will also have resources for home learning.

• ABC Education provides access to more than 4,000 free videos, interactive resources and games mapped to the Australian curriculum – across subjects such as English, Maths, Science, History, Geography, Media Literacy, Financial Literacy, The Arts, and Technologies, including STEM.
  
  The ABC has thousands of free curriculum-linked resources for school teachers and students as well as a new ABC TV Education schedule. 

• The e-Safety Commissioner has developed a range of resources described in the Open letter to Australia's parents and carers. The eSafety guide has new information on Zoom and the Houseparty app and they have recently launched their first-ever national online safety education framework for Australian schools and teachers, helping them equip young people with the necessary skills for navigating the online world safely.

• The Australian Institute for Teaching and School Leadership’s Spotlight: Designed primarily for teachers, this research identifies best practice evidence to guide teachers on setting up online learning and advice teachers can give to parents during this process. Key consideration is given to principles demonstrated to benefit student outcomes and wellbeing. 
  
  
• Education Services Australia (ESA) has created online resources to help teachers, parents and students with learning and wellbeing during COVID-19. ESA offers digital resources and professional learning materials that align with the Australian Curriculum and the Australian Student Wellbeing Framework.
  
  
• ReachOut Australia has developed a range of resources to assist school leaders, students and parents who may be feeling overwhelmed, anxious, scared, uncertain or stressed due to COVID-19.