Key Features Of The Australian Curriculum

Overview of the Australian Curriculum

The main aim of Australian curriculum is to provide the schools, teachers, students and parents a clear understanding and knowledge about what the student must learn in schools. The curriculum is applied to every life situation regardless of type of school or their geographical distribution. The learning outcomes for students are guided by Australian Curriculum. The State government, territorial governmental authorities and non-governmental educational authorities are responsible to deliver the Curriculum to students and teachers (Australian Government, 2021). This will include the decisions about timeframes, classroom activities and practices and complementation of resources.   The Australian curriculum is the national curriculum which is used for all the primary and secondary Australian schools which are under progressive development, implementation and review. The development and reviewing of curriculum is done by the Australian Curriculum, the assessment and the Reporting Authority which is an independent statutory. From 2014, all the states and territories in the country have started to implement the aspects of Foundation to the 10^th year part of curriculum. The credentialing and the related requirement and processes of the assessment still remain the responsibility of the territories and states.

The Australian English Curriculum is based on three interrelated and interconnected language, literacy and literature strands. The teaching and learning assessment programs and interventions must balance and assimilate all of the three strands. Altogether, the three strands lays emphasis on developing and enhancing the knowledge, skills and understanding of students in listening, writing, reading, observing, speaking and creating Learning in English is developed and built on the concepts, processes and skills that are developed in the earlier years of education and the teachers are required to strengthen and develop these skills as required (NSW Government, 2022). The Foundation year encourages the students to communicate and interact with their peers, teachers, adults and the children from other classes. The students get engaged with a range of texts for their enjoyment. They are required to listen to, view and read the spoken, written and diversified modal of texts and the primary purpose of which is to entertain and some texts serve the purpose of informing. It includes the traditional oral texts, the picture books, the different types of stories, rhyming verses, poetries, non-fictions, dramatic performances, films and multimodal texts (Australian Government, 2021). The students are also required to take part in the shared reading, storytelling, by using a variety of literary texts, and to identify the enjoyable nature of literature. Literary texts range starting from foundation to 10^th year contains Australian literature that consists of orally narrated traditions of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Community people and the contemporary literature of both the cultural groups. The classic and contemporary literature involves texts that are about Asia and describes the Asian culture. The supportable literary texts extend the students from Foundation level as initial level learners and readers.

The texts involves forthright sequences of everyday happenings and events and it contains recognisable and realistic, sometimes imaginary characters and the informative texts gives a little amount of information and content about familiar and recognisable interest topics, small range of features of language that involves use of simple as well as compound sentences (Moss, Godinho, & Chao, 2019). It also uses a familiar vocabulary, identifiable high frequency words and the words with single syllable which can be decoded phonically and it is followed by those illustrations which give a powerful support to the printed text. With the help of them, the students are able to create range of powerfully imaginative, informative and the persuasive texts which involve pictorial or textual representations, short statements, recounts, poetry, prose and performances.

Australian English Curriculum

The Australian Curriculum is efficient enough to set expectations for everything that the young Australians must be taught, regardless of their cultural or demographic background, or what city they live in. ACARA draws on best of nation’s talent and the professional expertise and it also consults widely in order to improve the Australian Curriculum and the appropriate resources (NSW Government, 2021). To better shape the lives of young Australians, education plays a very important role. It also contributes to democratically equitable society which is cohesively prosperous and culturally diverse. Australian Curriculum is introduced on the basis of the rationale to improve the quality, transparency and equity of the education system in Australia. To support and improve the quality, the Australian Curriculum contributes to the terms of a world-class education system in Australia by developing knowledge, understanding and the life skills for working in 21^st century and the standards are set high for national achievement. Equity is supported by Australian Curriculum providing clear and detailed understanding of the education of young Australians and the expected learning quality from the learners in spite of their type and location of school and their circumstances (Cameron, 2017).

The limitations of Australian Curriculum includes the insufficiently robust background of Curriculum in the academic rigour, sequencing and structuring, lack of clarity in foundational aims and the principles and values of discipline must be more clearly represented. It is also weaker in the positioning arrangements for both the types of assessment, explicit and implicit educational and epistemological traits. It is also weak and totally lacks the involvement of parents and development of reasoning measures responsibility that leads to effective engagement of school community. The curriculum has been found wanting in methods related to robustness and the balance, sequencing, rigour and development and its comprehensiveness when it is benchmarked against American and UK curriculum for English Literature (Austrlian Curriculum, 2022). Even though the modern and current documentation of curriculum in Australia is very highly detailed and prescriptive than the previously framed curriculums, paradoxically, the current curriculum in Australian schools has narrowed as a result of recent emphasis placed on high testing methods of stakes and the accountability of teachers. The curriculum has experienced the integrated approaches as continuously being contested and being undermined by the subject hierarchies.

The Australian Curriculum is devoted towards development and encouragement of high-quality educational curriculum for the Australian students which is known to promote excellence, quality and equity in education (Australian Curriculum, 2022). The curriculum fairly provides opportunities to the Australian teachers to develop and support inclusive teaching and developing the learning programs which builds and encourages the interests of students, their strengths and goals and their individualistic learning needs to support every student to achieve their aim and potential. The diversity of children in schools includes disabled students, specifically gifted and talented and those students for whom English is an additional or dialect language. The diversity can present extraordinary promises and the potentially identified challenges for the Australian schools (Families Magazine, 2016). It is committed to provide a curriculum to each student that supports every one of them to achieve their potential The Alice Springs Education Declaration confirms the goals of Melbourne Declaration in 2008. The goal of this foundation provides a policy framework to Australian Curriculum and it promotes the Excellency and equity to enable successful opportunities for learning for each student. Those propositions which continue to form the Australian Curriculum development establish such expectations so that the curriculum stands appropriate for every student. The propositions of this framework include:

• Every student is capable of learning and needs of every student are considered important.
• Every student is entitled to education and knowledge, the understanding and the skills which provide a base for successful and long-term learning and student participation in Australian Community(Australian Curriculum, 2022).
• High expectations are required to be set for every student as teachers are held accountable for the present learning level of individual child and different rate of student development.
• The needs and requirements of every student is known to vary and the school and the teachers are expected to plan for the curriculum in such a way which responds to needs and interests of the students.

Literary Texts in the Australian Curriculum

The learning experiences will be planned on the basis of lesson statements and overview for year 3 in Australia. The design planning method identifies the specific learning outcomes or goals and sequences the learning experiences of students so that they can develop an adequate amount of understanding. The important aspects of learning experiences in year 3 are described below:

1. To check the prior knowledge of the students, their skill levels and the potential misconceptions.
2. Identification of particular specific learning goals(Australian Curriculum, 2022).
3. Organising and sequencing the goals and learning outcomes.
4. Using where to method to inform the learning experiences.
5. Coding the learning events.
6. Deciding the monitoring of the progress during learning methods and how to get the feedbacks from the students.

The learning experiences that are achieved as a result of the informed pedagogies are,

1. Students are able to understand and reflect back to different types of texts in literature including pictorial and informative texts.
2. They help in the cognitive development of a child as it helps in improving the intellectual skills.
3. Student is also able to share their thoughts by using wide range of communicative skills learnt as a result of the pedagogies.

Purpose Statement of Lesson- The Australian Curriculum for years 3-6 helps students in development of their ability of taking positive action for their own well-being, relating and communicating well with people around them, posing up questions and then solving problems, making important informed decisions and acting responsibly (NSW Government, 2022). This engages the students purposefully in the disciplined knowledge, understanding criteria and the skill development in the eight learning areas under the Australian Curriculum.

Learning Requirements of K-6 Curriculum for year-3- The NSW Education Standards Authority (NESA) is held responsible to develop the syllabuses of Kindergarten-year 12 for the New South Wales in agreement to Education Act 1990 and the NSW Education Standards Authority Act 2013. The syllabus outcomes from kindergarten to year-3 are the main references point to make decision about the learning programs for students, their progress and the achievements (NSW Government, 2017). The syllabus outcomes are derived from objectives of syllabus. The outcomes indicate the knowledge, skills and understanding which are expected to be grown and developed by all students at the end of any stage. It presents a sequence for learning for every stage and takes proper responsibility for prior and subsequent students’ learning. The examples of the learning experiences in students involve their increased efficiency in the literacy, verbal skills, communication skills, proper speaking and listening skills. Students are able to take part in role plays, acting classes, they listen more effectively, respond to texts and questions in batter way. It is seen in their improved communication skills where they are able to showcase their verbal and non-verbal skills via making an effective communication with their peers and teachers. The parents are also responsible in helping children to practice their literacy skills. Students in grade 3 are thereby able to develop themselves into effective communicators.  

The indicators for learning are the reasons of using the syllabus by the schools. They include planning and development of learning opportunities, monitoring the student progress, assessing their achievements, reporting the student progresses and the achievements made at end of a stage and at last making collaborative and inclusive planning decisions regarding the curriculum pathways and reporting and handling the students with disabilities (NSW Government, 2021). The learning ability method in year 3 comes with a parent or carer guide followed by instructions. Most of them contains multiple play methods and video learning methods that help in the learning and cognitive development of the child.

Inclusive education in Australia is a very firmly set and well-established part of educational policy and discourse in Australia and has been so for more than a quarter of century. The inclusive education in Australia comprises of implementation of good education practices that supports and necessitates the high-quality approaches in teaching and the positive interaction skills which helps the teachers to respond to all the educational needs and requirements of every child in the class (Boyle & Anderson, 2020). The inclusive education policy will support the socio-economic differences of all children and will help in active participation of the kids. To conclude, the educational policies that are being implemented in Australia supports the learning needs of students based on the teaching background and the strategies used by the teachers. The role of inclusive education and learning has been helpful in encouraging the diversified learning outcomes of the curriculum. 

References

Australian Curriculum. (2022, April). Information for Parents. Retrieved from Australian Government:

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Australian Curriculum. (2022, April). Learning 3-6. Retrieved from Australian Curriculum:

https://www.australiancurriculum.edu.au/f-10-curriculum/learning-3-6/

Australian Curriculum. (2022, April). Student Diversity. Retrieved from Australian Curriculum:

https://www.australiancurriculum.edu.au/resources/student-diversity/#:~:text=The%20Australian%20Curriculum%20provides%20opportunities,students%20to%20achieve%20their%20potential.

Australian Government. (2021, July 22). Australian Curriculum. Retrieved from Australian Government:

https://www.dese.gov.au/australian-curriculum

Austrlian Curriculum. (2022, April). Planning for Student Diversity. Retrieved from Australian Curriculum:

https://www.australiancurriculum.edu.au/resources/student-diversity/planning-for-student-diversity/

Boyle, C., & Anderson, J. (2020). The justification for inclusive education in Australia. Early Childhood Education Journal, 203-217.

Cameron, L. (2017). How learning designs, teaching methods and activities differ by discipline in Australian universities. Journal of Learning Design, 10(2), 69-82. Retrieved from

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Families Magazine. (2016, December 8). What Will My Child Learn in Grade 3 and 4 Curriculum? Retrieved from Families Magazine: https://www.familiesmagazine.com.au/grade-3-and-4-curriculum-for-parents/

Moss, J., Godinho, S. C., & Chao, E. (2019). Enacting the Australian Curriculum: Primary and secondary teachers’ approaches to integrating the curriculum. Australian Journal of Teacher Education, 44(3). Retrieved from https://ro.ecu.edu.au/ajte/vol44/iss3/2

NSW Government. (2017). Science And Technology k–6 Syllabus (2017).

Retrieved from NSW Government: https://educationstandards.nsw.edu.au/wps/portal/nesa/k-10/learning-areas/science/science-and-technology-k-6-new-syllabus

NSW Government. (2021). K-6 Curriculum Requirements.

Retrieved from NSW Government: https://educationstandards.nsw.edu.au/wps/portal/nesa/k-10/understanding-the-curriculum/k-6-curriculum-requirements

NSW Government. (2021, January 21). Plan learning experiences and instruction. Retrieved from NSW Government:

https://education.nsw.gov.au/teaching-and-learning/professional-learning/teacher-quality-and-accreditation/strong-start-great-teachers/refining-practice/planning-a-sequence-of-lessons/plan-learning-experiences-and-instruction

NSW Government. (2022, April). English Stage-6. Retrieved from NSW Government: https://educationstandards.nsw.edu.au/wps/portal/nesa/11-12/stage-6-learning-areas/stage-6-english/!ut/p/z1/jZDLDoJADEW_xQVLaWfkpbsxKiomLJSI3RgwOJAgYxAl_r1EVhJf3bU5t729QBACFdEtk1GVqSLKm35H1p4LZrG5wTyHTxmKgTdfsfWKT4QJ21fAd50G2PjM4kub-4EJ9I8eP5TA__RfAPq-fgv

NSW Government. (2022, April). Year 3 and 4 learning packages. Retrieved from NSW Government: https://education.nsw.gov.au/teaching-and-learning/learning-from-home/learning-at-home/learning-packages/year-3-and-4-learning-packs