1. Australian Curriculum Geography
Consultation draft
This version produced 31/10/2011
Update 16 January 2012
16 January 2012

2. Learning areas
The Melbourne Declaration identifies eight learning areas including:
Humanities and Social Sciences – history, geography, economics, business studies and civics and citizenship
The blueprint for an Australian curriculum is outlined in the Melbourne Declaration on Educational Goals for Young Australian. The Declaration defined the broad areas on what should be valued and taught in schools across Australia.
It has two clear goals:
Goal 1: Australian schooling promotes equity and excellence
Goal 2: All young Australians become:
successful learners
confident and creative individuals
active and informed citizens.
Why an Australian curriculum?
For Australia to maintain its quality of life and presence at an international level, education is the key driver to productivity and competitiveness on the world stage. Other countries such as China and India will overtake at a rapid rate if we do not keep up.
For this to be achieved it relies on the combined effort of all states and territories focused on improving students learning.
We have a much mobile workforce and there will greater consistency for mobile students and teachers.
From the Melbourne Declaration on Education Goals for Young Australians December 2008 MCEEYTA <

3. Curriculum development phases
English
Mathematics
Science
History
Phase 2
Geography
Languages
The arts
Phase 3
Health and physical education
Information and Communication Technology and design and technology
Economics, business, civics and citizenship
Each of the learning areas of the Australian Curriculum will be developed in three phases.
Phase 1
– English
– Mathematics
– Sciences (including physics, chemistry, biology)
– History
The first phase curriculum has been published by ACARA.
Phase 2
– Geography
– The arts
– Languages
The timeline for phase 2 is approx. 12 months behind phase 1, however the phase 2 subjects are at different stages of development
For more details -
Phase 3
– Health and physical education
– Information and Communication Technology and Design and Technology
– Economics, business, civics and citizenship

4. Consultation Timeline
October 2011
Draft of Australian Curriculum: Geography F-12 available
Term
DEC consultation on draft curriculum. Focus groups and online survey.
February 2012
ACARA consultation concludes end of month
2012 – last quarter
ACARA publication of revised Australian Curriculum: Geography
Participating in consultation processes is an important part of the curriculum development process, both at a national level for ACARA and at state level.

5. NSW syllabus development Australian curriculum
Development process
Implementation
NSW syllabus development
Australian curriculum
ACARA has been given the role of developing the Australian curriculum. ACARA stands for the Australian, Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority.
ACARA is responsible for:
 ”An Australian curriculum from Foundation to Year 12 in specified learning areas.
 A national assessment program aligned to the Australian curriculum that measures students’ progress.
 A national data collection and reporting program that supports:
analysis, evaluation, research and resource allocation; and 
accountability and reporting on schools and broader national achievement.”
New South Wales has decided to develop syllabuses using the Board of Studies syllabus development process.

6. Rationale and aims Rationale describes the nature of the learning area
provides an outline of learning
Aims
identify the major learning that students will be able to demonstrate
Rationale: The rationale describes the nature of the learning area in general terms and provides an outline of how learning in this area relates to the contemporary world and current practice.
Aims: The aims of the learning area will identify the major learning that students will be able to demonstrate as a result of learning from the curriculum.”

7. Organisation of the Australian Curriculum
is being developed for F-10 and Years 11-12
is described in Years not Stages
has content descriptions not outcomes in F-10
uses outcomes for Years 11 and 12

8. Personal and social competence
General capabilities
Literacy
Numeracy
Information and communication technology competence (ICT)
Intercultural
understanding
Personal and social competence
Critical and creative
thinking
Ethical behaviour
Literacy – starting and continuing in English but literacy should be developed in all learning areas.
Numeracy – starting and continuing in mathematics but should be in all learning areas.
Information and Communication Technology competence – required for all learning areas; includes information management, use of technology, ability to evaluate the source, reliability, accuracy and validity of information
Critical and Creative thinking – includes generating new ideas, seeing existing situations in a new way, finding alternative explanations, finding new ways to apply ideas
Intercultural understanding – includes appreciation of the special place of Aboriginal and Torres Striât Islander cultures, respect for Australia’s multicultural composition; working with others within and across cultures and appreciation of difference and diversity.
Ethical behaviour – includes identifying right and wrong, ability and willingness to argue the case for change, ethics and values in human life, moral and ethical integrity.
Personal and social competence – includes managing personal relationships, being self aware, manage or resolve conflicts and to participate successfully in a range of social activities.

9. Cross-curriculum priorities
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander histories and cultures
Asia and Australia’s engagement with Asia
Sustainability
There will be three cross-curriculum perspectives addressed in the Australian curriculum:
 Indigenous perspectives will be written into the curriculum to ensure that all young Australians have the opportunity to learn about, acknowledge and value the histories and cultures of Aboriginal peoples and Torres Strait Islanders.
 A commitment to sustainable patterns of living will be reflected in the curriculum
documents.
 The Australian curriculum should assist young people to develop skills, knowledge and understandings related to Asia and Australia’s engagement with Asia. Each of these dimensions will be represented in learning areas in ways appropriate to that area.
The curriculum documents will be explicit on how the priorities are to be dealt with in each learning area and how links can be made between learning areas.

10. Implementation
The Board of Studies NSW will develop a NSW Geography syllabus
The Minister will approve the geography syllabus.

11. Time allocation
The time allocation provided for writers of the Australian Curriculum: Geography is the same as the time for history.
Analysis and feedback should be based on how successfully the curriculum can be taught in the time allocated to geography for 7-12 or for the geography component of HSIE K-6.
Geography currently has 100 indicative hours in Stage 4 and 100 indicative hours in Stage 5. Your analysis of the content should be based on the current time allocated to geography from Years 7-10.

12. Content Strand Descriptors
The geography curriculum is organised into two interrelated strands:
Geographical Knowledge and Understanding
Geographical Inquiry and Skills
The Australian Curriculum Geography:
is being developed for F-10 and Years 11-12
is described in Years not Stages
has content descriptions not outcomes in F-10
uses outcomes for Years 11 and 12
The Australian Curriculum: Geography is organised into two interrelated strands,
Geographical knowledge and understanding, and Geographical inquiry and skills.

13. Concepts for geographical understanding
The curriculum explains key geographical concepts for the development of geographical understanding:
place
space
environment
interconnection
sustainability
scale
change.
These are the key geographical concepts that are required for students to think geographically.
These major concepts that underpin geographical investigations and understandings related to the world in which we live are described.

14. Geographical knowledge and understanding
This strand includes the investigation of the facts, generalisations, principles, theories and models developed in geography. Students apply their geographical knowledge to new situations or to solve problems by thinking and planning for action.
The strand of Geographical knowledge and understanding:
is interpretative by nature
promotes the construction of explanatory frameworks to illustrate relationships
encourages application of this knowledge to new applications and problems to solve present and future challenges.

15. Geographical Inquiry and Skills
This strand includes skills used in the process of geographical inquiry:
observing and questioning
planning, collecting and evaluating
processing, analysing, interpreting and concluding
communicating
reflecting and responding.
Geographical inquiry and skills are in two-year bands that correspond to NSW stages. .
Geographical inquiry and skills is about the collection and interpretation of information to develop conclusions. There is an emphasis on techniques used by geographers in the field.
Students learn to think critically about the methods used to obtain information and to analyse and interpret the information to communicate their findings.
Geographical Inquiry and skills are described at two-year intervals.

16. Curriculum Structure Content Descriptions:
The geography curriculum is structured around content descriptions.
It includes:
Content descriptions which specify what teachers are expected to teach (mandatory)
Elaborations which are examples that illustrate each content description (non-mandatory).

17. Curriculum Structure
An example of a Content description (mandatory) and its Elaborations (non-mandatory) from Year 7.
Why people live where they do (Unit 2)
There are differences and similarities in the way of life of people living in urban, rural and remote places in Australia.
Elaborations
Investigate how population density tends to decline with increasing distance from urban centres
Explaining ‘remoteness’ and comparing demographic characteristics of urban, rural and remote places
Describing the advantages and disadvantages of living in different kinds of places, for example, regional towns, rural areas and remote places.
This is an example of the content description and elaborations for Year 8.
The curriculum from F-10 is written in the same way.

18. Achievement Standards
Provided at the end of each year and include reference to both strands.
An Achievement standard is a statement of the learning typically expected of students for that year.
(e.g. the depth of their understanding, the extent of their knowledge and the sophistication of their skills)
Work samples illustrate achievement of the standard.
The achievement standard describes the quality of learning (the depth of understanding, extent of knowledge and sophistication of skill) expected of students at each year level.
Students who achieve the standard are well able to progress to the next level.
Annotated student work samples will be made available to illustrate the achievement standard at each year level.

19. Activity (optional)
This activity is based on the Achievement Standard for Year 6.
Read through the achievement standard.
Discuss if this is consistent with the knowledge and understanding and skills which you would expect for students at the end of a Year 6 geography course.
Analyse the achievement standards from K-6 or for Years 7-10 to see if they identify appropriate progression of achievement.

20. Activity – Reading Part A
By the end of Year 6, students analyse how places are connected at a global scale and explain the impacts or effects of these connections. Students explain human and environmental contributors to extreme weather events and describe responses to them. They describe perspectives on an issue and suggest responsive and sustainable actions. They can support their view with analysis of its consequences for varied people or environments.
Extract from the draft Australian Curriculum: Geography Achievement Standard for Year 6.

21. Activity – Reading Part B
Students select geographical questions that range in complexity to guide a deep inquiry. They identify, interpret and judge the validity of a variety of geographical sources to collect information and data relevant to their inquiry. When investigating, they identify and use appropriate materials, geographical tools and equipment and manage the data and information they collect to analyse patterns and relationships. They combine their data and information to support their conclusions. When communicating their conclusions to a range of audiences, they use a variety of presentation methods and select and use appropriate geographical tools and geographical vocabulary including geographical conventions. Students evaluate their research methodologies to help explain what they have learned and to support their views and findings. Extract from the draft Australian Curriculum: Geography Achievement Standard for Year 6.

22. Curriculum focus Each stage has an identified curriculum focus:
Foundation to Year 2: Exploring local and more distant places
Years 3-4: Investigating places
Years 5-6: Analysing and managing places
Years 7-10: Regional and global places in an environmental and human geography context.
Each year includes a specific focus with key themes which provide a balance of physical and human geography for each year of learning.

23. What students will learn K-6
Geographical knowledge and understanding is organised according to ‘Place’, ‘Space’ and ‘Environment’ for each school year. Geographical inquiry and skills is organised in stages.
Geography is currently taught in K-6 as part of the HSIE K-6 syllabus, mainly through the Environment strand and the Resource systems component of the Social Systems and Structures strand.
K-10 teachers will be able to identify content taught to students before they come to Year 7.

24. What students will learn 7-10
Two units of study are identified for each year, one with a physical geography focus and the other with a human geography focus. Geographical Inquiry and skills are organised in stages.
Two topics are identified for each year. Key concepts are addressed with increasing level of complexity.

25. Year 7 Environment Resources – uses water as a case study.
Why people live where they do – investigates the environmental, economic and social and other factors that might influence decision making.

26. Year 8
Landscapes – the forces, processes and factors which physically shape landscapes and people who use them.
Personal and community geographies – focuses on defining and understanding place and space with scope for fieldwork.

27. Year 9
Biomes and food security - personal and global patterns of food production and consumption and impact on the natural environment, including sustainability.
Navigating global connections - the nature of Australia’s regional and global connections and their impacts, now and in the future.

28. Year 10
Environmental challenges and geography - the geographical understanding and management of environmental challenges and their impacts at a variety of scales.
Global wellbeing – the nature and measurement of global wellbeing; the inequalities that exist at a variety of scales and programs that address these issues.

29. Key questions for evaluating the K-10 curriculum
Does the course cater for the range of students?
Are the units broad and deep enough to engage and challenge our students?
Is there evidence of adequate quality and rigour in the curriculum?
Does the content provide a logical progression from F-10?
Can the content be covered by the structure and the time frame?
Does the content of this course identify the learning we value?
Some questions that can help to determine facilitate the development of feedback on the draft Geography curriculum.

30. Australian Curriculum Geography 11-12
the draft curriculum

31. Structure of the Senior Curriculum
Units 1 and 2 are designed to follow on from learning in Years 7-10 and are a foundation for the study of geography at a senior level
Units 3 and 4 require greater rigour in applying the understandings and skills of geography.

32. Organisation of the subject
1. The changing biophysical cover of the earth
2. Sustaining places
3. Environmental risk management
4. A world in the making

33. Unit 1: The changing biophysical cover of the earth
Focuses on the changing biophysical environment including the processes, effects and management
Students will undertake an in depth study of one of the following processes and responses both globally and through case studies from Australia and other countries:
Deforestation
Agricultural expansion
Rangeland modification
Urbanisation

34. Unit 2: Sustaining places
Focuses on the economic, social and environmental sustainability of places and their associated challenges.
Students will select one of two contexts to study:
Metropolitan and regional centres
Regional centres and rural places.

35. Unit 3: Environmental risk management
Focuses on the identification and management of environmental risks and their relationships to people.
Students will undertake an in depth study of one environmental risk:
An environment placed at risk as a result of the use of a natural resource
An environmental hazard.

36. Unit 4. A world in the making
Focuses on the investigation of global interconnections and their impact on people and localities.
Students will undertake studies of:
People living in an interconnected world
The material world – including global cities and globalisation
Interdependence – including transnational organisations at a variety of scales and the use of technology to disseminate perceptions of places and events.

37. Key questions for evaluating the 11-12 curriculum
Does the F-10 curriculum prepare students for this course?
Does the course cater for the range of students?
Are the units broad and deep enough to engage and challenge our students?
Is there evidence of adequate quality and rigour in the curriculum?
Does the content provide a logical progression from the F-10 curriculum?
Can the content be covered by the structure and in the time frame?
Does the content of this course identify the learning we value?
Some questions to assist in providing feedback on the draft curriculum.

38. Department of Education and Communities consultation
Department of Education and Communities survey (15 minutes) - < - For this survey, only one response is allowed per computer. Groups or individuals may respond.
More information can be found on the NSW Curriculum and Learning Innovation Centre website. <

39. ACARA consultation
Teachers are invited to provide feedback directly to ACARA. Registration on the ACARA website is required. Click the ‘Surveys’ tab, Geography section of the ACARA website.
<

40. Board of Studies NSW
The website for the Board of Studies NSW contains up to date information about NSW implementation of the Australian Curriculum.
<

41. Your feedback is important
After your discussions and analysis of the geography curriculum your feedback would be appreciated. Send your feedback directly to: Anne Southwell Phone
Please use the Curriculum Support online survey or send your feedback to
Anne Southwell
Senior Curriculum Support Officer, K-12 Geography and Economics
Languages, HSIE and Health, PE
NSW Curriculum and Learning Innovation Centre
3A Smalls Road Ryde, 2112
T: (02) F: (02)