The Australian Curriculum sets out the core knowledge, understanding and skills important for all Australian students and describes the learning outcomes needed as a foundation for their future learning, growth and active participation in the community.
The Australian Curriculum is three dimensional. It includes learning areas, general capabilities and cross-curriculum priorities. The three dimensions set out essential knowledge, understanding and skills all young students need to learn and contribute to the world they live in.
The eight learning areas are: English, Mathematics, Science, Humanities and Social Sciences, The Arts, Technologies, Health and Physical Education, and Languages. Each learning area sets out, through content descriptions and achievement standards, what students should be taught and achieve as they progress through school.
The Australian Curriculum outlines how the seven general capabilities and three cross-curriculum priorities contribute to, and can be developed through, each learning area. The seven general capabilities are literacy, numeracy, information and communication technology capability, critical and creative thinking, personal and social capability, ethical understanding, and intercultural understanding.
Learning continua (developmental sequence of learning) are available for each capability, which describe the relevant knowledge, skills, behaviours and dispositions at particular points of schooling.
The three cross-curriculum priorities are Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander histories and cultures, Asia and Australia’s engagement with Asia, and sustainability enrich and enhance the content of the learning areas.
A new version of the Australian Curriculum Review, Version 9 has been endorsed by Australia’s federal, state and territory education ministers.
The updated curriculum is available on the new Australian Curriculum website. The new version will be implemented by states and territories according to their own timelines.
Catholic schooling authorities will support teachers with effective planning, teaching, assessment and reporting practices. The Australian Curriculum Assessment Reporting Authority (ACARA) will develop resources, a range of work samples, and illustrations of practice to support teachers implementing the new version of the curriculum.