[Design and Technology] Australian Curriculum Technologies Endorsed

[David Fletcher]

Dear colleagues

 

Today the Education Council has endorsed Australian Curriculum in eight
learning areas.

 

The Australian Curriculum that was endorsed includes:

.        The revised Foundation to Year 10 Australian Curriculum for
English, Mathematics, Science, Humanities and Social Sciences, The Arts,
Technologies and Health and Physical Education.

.        Foundation to Year 10 Australian Curriculum: Languages for Arabic,
Chinese, French, German, Indonesian, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Modern
Greek, Spanish and Vietnamese.

.        Australian Curriculum: Work Studies Years 9-10 (an elective subject
designed to ready young people for work).

 

Revisions to previously available Australian Curriculum have been made to
make the curriculum, easier to manage, particularly for primary schools,
simplify the curriculum's presentation, and strengthen the focus on
literacy.

 

For Australian Curriculum: Technologies (Design and Technologies, and
Digital Technologies)

The volume of content in learning areas has been reduced by deleting and
clarifying content descriptions. We have introduced optional, single
learning area achievement standards for Technologies. The existing subject
specific achievement standards will also be available as an alternative.

 

Specific changes:

Change to Design and Technologies Scope and Sequence 

.         Changes to thread 'Technologies and Society' (5-8)

.         Changes to thread 'Engineering principles and systems' (5-6)

.         Changes to thread 'Food and Fibre' (5-6)

.         Changes to thread 'Food Specialisations' (5-6) 

.         Change to name of thread 'Investigating and Defining'

.         Change to name / content of thread 'Generating and Designing'
(F-2, 5-6, 9-10)

.         Change to name / content of thread 'Producing and Implementing'
(3-10)

.         Change to thread 'Evaluating' (5-8) 

 

Changes to Digital Technologies Scope and Sequence 

.         Change to thread 'Digital systems' (F-8)

.         Change to thread 'Representation of Data' (5-6) 

.         Change to thread 'collecting, managing and analysing data' (5-6)

.         Change to thread 'creating digital solutions by investigating and
defining' (5-6; 9-10)

.         Change to thread 'generating and defining' (5-6; 9-10)

.         Change to thread 'evaluating' (3-10) 

.         Change to thread 'collaborating and managing' (F-10)

 

For over two decades Australia has been moving towards a national approach
to schooling, including a national curriculum. After all this time, and
through collaborative efforts led by the Australian Curriculum, Assessment
and Reporting Authority (ACARA) and involving all Australian states and
territories, the first truly Australian Curriculum is now available for use
in Australian schools.

 

It is a national curriculum built on the best state and territory curricula
and shaped by comparison with the best from overseas.

 

But curriculum is only one part of the story of school learning. The
Australian Curriculum does not specify how the content must be taught.
Schools and teachers have the flexibility l to make decisions about how they
teach the curriculum in accordance with the needs of their students, the
requirements of their school and local curriculum authorities. Robert
Randall, ACARA CEO, said today, "I welcome today's endorsement of the
Australian Curriculum by the Education Council. It is too early yet to see
the true benefits of the national curriculum, but I am confident that young
people and the nation are better off as a result of the work done by tens of
thousands of people during the last few years. The Australian Curriculum,
along with ACARA's national assessment and reporting programs, are
foundations for improving learning outcomes for all young Australians,
regardless of where they live or the socio-educational advantages or
disadvantage they may have."

 

>From 18 October, the newly endorsed Foundation to Year 10 Australian
Curriculum for English, Mathematics, Science, Humanities and Social
Sciences, The Arts, Technologies, Health and Physical Education; the eleven
Foundation to Year 10 Australian Curriculum for Languages and the Australian
Curriculum: Work Studies Years 9-10 will be made available on the Australian
Curriculum website as version 8.0. Further information will be provided at
that time. 

 

 

Larry Spry 
Lecturer -Teaching Academic 
University of South Australia 
School of Education 

Mawson Lakes Campus
G2-24 
Ph: 8302 5403
Mob; 0407103421 
Larry.spry at unisa.edu.au
President DATTA Australia & DATTA SA.

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