Australian Curriculum Version 9
The Australian Curriculum sets the learning goals for all students as they progress through their school life – wherever they live in Australia and whichever school they attend, and when parents/carers are actively involved in their children’s education, children achieve better results.
The goal for the Australian Curriculum is to develop successful learners, confident and creative individuals, and active and informed young people who are ready to take their place in society. To achieve this goal, the Australian Curriculum includes 3 parts:
- 8 learning areas which are sometimes referred to as subjects,
- 7 general capabilities which as sometimes known as the 21st century skills
- 3 cross-curriculum priorities
The role of Australian Curriculum subjects in the PYP
Forrest Primary School teaches the 8 learning areas (subjects) of the Australian Curriculum through the transdisciplinary PYP Framework.
There are a number of ways our teachers can facilitate this acquisition of Australian Curriculum knowledge and skills:
Transdisciplinary units of inquiry: Learning and teaching of subject-specific knowledge, conceptual understandings and skills is included within the school’s programme of inquiry whenever possible and appropriate.
Subject-specific inquiry: There are times when teachers will teach subject-specific knowledge (such as language conventions and order of operations in mathematics), conceptual understandings and skills outside the programme of inquiry using purposeful inquiry.
Preparing for, or following on from, a unit of inquiry: Where appropriate, introductory or follow-up learning experiences may be useful to help students make connections across the curriculum. Teachers plan and teach learning experiences that prepare the students to participate in a unit of inquiry. Following on from a unit of inquiry, students may extend a subject-specific related interest into another line of inquiry.
Stand alone skills-based teaching: This refers to the teaching of subject-specific skills not directly related to units of inquiry but to support mastery and increase students’ skills base in a particular subject.
How is the IB organisation of subject different?
The IB explains promoting transdisciplinary learning across, between and beyond subjects involves the following:
