1. Implementation of the Australian Curriculum in Victoria
This presentation is an amalgam of the presentations given by John Firth CELO of VCAA and the Vic rep at ACARA and Carol Grimstead from the Catholic Education Office.

2. What is the Australian curriculum?
LEARNING AREAS/ SUBJECT DISCIPLINES
GENERAL CAPABILITIES
CROSS-CURRICULUM PRIORITIES
English
Mathematics
Science
Health and Physical Education
LOTE
Humanities and Social Sciences (History, Geography, Civics and Citizenship, Business and Economics)
The Arts
Technologies (inc ICT)
Critical and creative thinking
Self-management, teamwork and social competence
Intercultural understanding
Ethical behaviour
Literacy
Numeracy
ICT
Aboriginal cultures and histories
Asia and Australia’s engagement with Asia
Sustainability
All states have agreed to ‘substantial implementation’ by 2013, i.e. 18 months from now.
The content and standards have been approved in these 4 areas, there will be a national approach to the achievement standards and *there will be further refinement of the content and standards* after teacher feedback in the trial schools. By October there will be finalisation of the standards.
(However, there is a problem with the phased roll-out of this curriculum. It’s hard to tell the full scope of the curriculum i.e. if there’s too much (crowded curriculum) when we don’t have all of it yet.)
The focus of the current trials is
Essential learning: has it been included?
Scope of content: too much?
Professional development and resources needed?

3. Key content differences
Subjects
Key features
English
Strands (Literature, Language, Literacy) as well as modes (Reading, Writing, Speaking and Listening)
Mathematics
3 content strands + 4 proficiency strands
History
More specificity of content
Science
New nomenclature (‘Science as a Human Endeavour’) and some re-ordering of content
The structure is year-by-year (mostly) with Strands as organisers. Elaborations are only suggested – you have to teach the strands but not the elaborations, they’re only illustrative.
General capabilities possibly won’t be assessed. There are many links to the existing VELS and states will choose whether to assess them or not.
Cross-curriculum priorities currently embedded may be separated.
The entire curriculum will be electronic and online. There will be no ‘book’.
(There are also links to the Early childhood framework)

4. How is it being phased? Learning areas Timeline English Phase 1
Mathematics
Science
Humanities and social sciences
History
Geography
Economics, Business, Civics and Citizenship
Phase 2
Phase 3
The Arts
Languages
Health and PE
Technologies
This phased approach is better than trying to introduce the whole lot at once (we’ve learned that from CSF and VELS) but it means we will have a hybrid curriculum for a while.
It’s also hard to tell the total scope of the curriculum if we don’t have all of it yet. First draft was too big and has been reduced, but we won’t be able to tell if the whole thing crowds the curriculum too much until we have all of it. As Phases 2 & 3 come in, there may be problems.
There is still some debate about whether ICT is a learning area or a capability. 4

5. Victorian timelines Phase 1
English, Mathematics, History and Science
Introductory professional development
‘opt-in’ trialling and validation
2011
Professional development
school-based planning and trialling
2012
Implementation of English, Maths, History and Science F - 10
2013
Implementation of English, Maths, History and Science Year 11
2014?
Implementation of English, Maths, History and Science Year 12
2015?
Vic Stage 1: implement English, Maths, History and Science within the current VELS structure (AusVELS)
Vic Stage 2: Revise VELS structure to reflect the full Aus curriculum.
At least till 2014 states will remain responsible for Y11 & Some drafts done, but F-10 has been a priority. Possible intro of national trade cadetships (some work done) and an Aus Baccalaureate (no work done yet).

6. Victorian approach - AusVELS
Continuity with/building on key aspects of VELS and common practice:
whole-school approaches to curriculum
responsiveness and innovation at school level within overall standards
developmental continuum
student centred
interdisciplinary skills
Commitment to a curriculum framework that enables and supports innovative practice developed against common standards
Provides:
a single, coherent curriculum framework and web portal for all Victorian schools and teachers;
A stable curriculum structure to incorporate further Australian Curriculum subjects (Geography, Languages, The Arts, Health and Physical Education, ICT and Design and Technology, and Business and Economics)
Maintains leading features of Victorian approach to curriculum
Enables inclusion of specific Victorian content/references in some curriculum areas (Mathematics/Science) and elaborations
Benefits: improved resources. AusVELS will provide links to the curriculum resources that will be developed to support the Australian Curriculum, including resources that will support the implementation of the three cross-curriculum priorities identified as part of the Australian Curriculum (Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander histories and cultures, Asia and Australia’s engagement with Asia and Sustainability).

7. Assessment and reporting
Opportunity for Victoria to evaluate and reassess current assessment and reporting practices
Current structure: Two year standards, semester progression points
Proposed Australian Curriculum structure: Hybrid: two year standards, single year standards, no progression points
For now everything remains unchanged in 2011 and 2012.

8. FAQ Will we have to report on History and Science in Prep?
For government schools, reporting and assessment requirements will remain unchanged in 2011 and 2012.
To avoid confusion, there will be consultation with parents and schools before any changes to assessment and reporting requirements.
ACARA is still discussing a common approach to A&R.
In English, the standards will be by mode (Reading, Writing, Speaking and Listening).
Victoria wants to avoid having two different systems of reporting during the transitional phase.

9. FAQ
Does the curriculum content set for a particular year level by the Australian Curriculum have to be taught to all students in that year level? What about multi-grade classrooms?
The Australian Curriculum sets out a nationally-agreed sequence of learning, both in terms of content and achievement standards.
However, teachers and schools retain the flexibility to tailor teaching and learning programs according to local circumstances while reporting against common standards.
The Year Level structure is meant to be a ‘pathway’ with key indicators.
The developmental nature of learning means that all classes have a wide range of achievement: the issue is, what CONTENT to teach in subjects like history. It looks as if we will be able to continue to use an odd/even year approach for CONTENT.
The current ‘refinement’ process will reduce CONTENT in the standards and there will be more about concept formation and skill development, so issues for composite classes may be resolved. Schools will be expected to make sensible decisions to suit the local context. (After all, one teacher schools have to teach all year levels.)

10. FAQ What about EAL students?
ACARA is developing teaching resources to support the teaching of EAL students & schools should continue to use the ESL scales for planning and assessment.
What about students with Additional Learning Needs?
Continue to use current Victorian approach of matching student with appropriate levels
Working Towards Level 1 of VELS to continue to be made available. ACARA is developing a similar resource.
EAL is the new acronym for ESL, it means English as an additional language.
ACARA is using a similar approach to Victoria’s for EAL and Disability students.

11. Why this approach?
Commitment to personalised learning – importance of assessment based on a developmental continuum
Strong culture of school-based curriculum development in Victoria
Consistent with other initiatives
Student at the centre of curriculum planning
Value of interdisciplinary learning
Commitment to a curriculum framework that enables and supports innovative practice developed against common standards

12. Approaches to implementation: School Curriculum and Assessment Planning
Presented by Carol Grimstead (Catholic Education Office)

13. Challenges
Managing the complexity of curriculum planning: 8 learning areas + PPSL, IL/key competencies/general capabilities.
Lessons from VELS implementation: not enough support for whole school rather than subject-based planning.
Building on contemporary research about effective schools and effective learning.
Building on good existing practice.
PPSL = Personal and Social learning, IL = Interpersonal learning
What we learned from introducing VELS simultaneously with the requirement to assess it, is that the rush to implement it compromised whole school curriculum planning.
There is (a bit more) time with this new curriculum and the task of school leaders is to make a pathway visible through the task of implementing it.

14. What does implementation mean?
Phase 1: Use of English, Mathematics, Science and History Australian Curriculum for curriculum planning, assessment and reporting within VELS or other existing curriculum framework. Phase 2: Use of other Australian Curriculum learning areas for curriculum planning, assessment and reporting within revised VELS structure or revised other existing curriculum framework.
To restate an earlier slide: Phase 1 is where we are now, due to begin teaching and assessing the 4 subjects in 2013, 18 months from now.

15. What does implementation mean?
Personalised learning within guaranteed curriculum provision
Implementation means that all students are enable to:
Access the learning defined in these areas as the entitlement of every young Australian
Progress towards the achievement standards that represent their next level of individual achievement
Preparatory work that needs to be done includes acquiring resources to teach the content and in some cases professional development (This is especially true for the Priorities i.e. Asia and Australia’s Engagement with Asia and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander histories and cultures,). For example: in Foundation science one of the elaborations involves “learning how Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander concepts of time and weather patterns explain how things happen in the world around them” – some schools may not have suitable resources about this or know what these ATSI concepts are.

16. School curriculum and assessment plan: research base
Marzano’s five “areas of action”
McTighe’s model of “backwards design”
Hattie’s assessment “effect size”
Planning curriculum and assessment matters!
Research shows that students do better in schools that have rigorous planning for curriculum and assessment.

17. Does curriculum planning matter?
Robert Marzano’s analysis of school effectiveness research (2003):
a guaranteed and viable curriculum as the school level factor that has the most impact on student achievement.
Empirical evidence that a characteristic of underperforming schools is lack of curriculum documentation
Empirical evidence that what is not taught is not learnt – osmosis is not an effective teaching and learning strategy
Marzano’s work shows that it’s the process of thinking about the curriculum that results in high achievement in schools. Robust curriculum documents are the PRODUCT of good thinking about curriculum. Schools with good results don’t have programs set up on a whim that aren’t viable.
It’s important for whole school curriculum to allow for teacher creativity. It’s also important that schools develop mechanisms to achieve a better match between the written curriculum and the enacted curriculum i.e. What really happens. The days when we could make jokes about work programs being a ‘book of lies’ ought to be over.

18. Curriculum implementation
Marzano identifies five areas of action for the implementation of curriculum:  identify and communicate the content considered essential for all students  ensure the essential content can be addressed in the amount of time available for instruction  sequence and organise the essential content in such a way that students have ample opportunity to learn it  ensure that teachers address the essential content  protect the instructional time that is available
It’s the three starred items that we need to address in order to teach the new curriculum because the two ticked items are done for us by ACARA. We should use existing structures to start auditing what we are doing and make any necessary changes to meet the implementation timeline.
Time is our greatest resource. Complaints about the crowded curriculum are a common kneejerk reaction to new curricula yet often schools add programs in response to community issues when the responsibility lies elsewhere. A spate of drownings led to Water Wise and a spate of dog attacks led to the Responsible Pet Ownership program.
Also, we need to define what integrated curriculum looks like (and not let it get highjacked).

19. Hattie’s effect size research
An effect size of d = 1.0 indicates an increase of one standard deviation on an outcome… typically associated with advancing children’s achievement by two to three years
(Hattie 2009, p.7)
Feedback
Students’ prior cognitive ability 1.04
Instructional quality
Hattie’s Effect Size research shows that these three things make a difference. (Any statistic over 1.04 is especially well worth noting, i.e. the feedback).
Some teachers are still spending hours correcting work at home when the relationship between the corrections and the feedback isn’t clear.
Teachers should spend equal time planning assessment because although we have heaps of data, what matters is what we do with it.

20. Backwards planning ‘Backwards Design’ (McTighe and Wiggins) Identify
outcomes
Determine
evidence
Plan learning
experiences
This is a useful model for planning curriculum: look at what has to be achieved, work out what evidence of that achievement is, and then plan learning experiences to match.

21. Curriculum and Assessment Planning cycle
Whole school CAP
Cohort CAP
Individual student CAP
Assessment data analysis
We are all familiar with the existing cycle of curriculum and assessment cycle – because the introduction of VELS was too close to having to use it for assessment there was a need to move straight to assessing the individual student and to skip the process of whole school planning.

22. An opportunity for multi-level curriculum renewal
Whole school planning If yes, go to 2
Student cohort planning If yes, go to 3
3. Individual student planning
So, planning for implementation means looking at our whole school planning to see if it’s up to the mark.
For librarians it means reviewing the resources that are needed to implement new content or content now pitched at a different level.

23. Whole school curriculum planning
Whole school planning
Does our school have a clearly stated vision of the goal of our curriculum?
Is the overall organisation of the curriculum (for example: by year level, core and elective, multi-age classes, vertical streaming) clearly documented?
Is the overall structure of the curriculum within that organisation (for example: by theme, subject, integrated topic, specialist subjects) clearly documented with associated time allocations?
Does that structure enable the delivery of the content and skills defined by the Australian Curriculum learning areas of English, Mathematics, Science and History?

24. Summary of key differences between AC English and VELS English
New emphasis on
selecting literary texts, from F - 10, whose primary purpose is aesthetic.
teaching texts from and about Asia, and texts from the oral narrative traditions of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.
the study of literary texts in primary schools (new Literature strand)
more explicit references to the types of texts students should read (for instance, ballad, limerick, haiku, tanka, verse novels).
more explicit about comprehension, production & design of texts with images/moving images, and audio.
more explicit common meta-language for describing the features and functions of language, including terms drawn from functional grammar i.e. we will have to teach and use their terms. (Language strand )
The Literature strand introduces more emphasis on the study of literary texts in primary schools, on the comparison of literary texts, and on students’ own creation of literary texts.
There are aspects of this that we have not had to plan for before.

25. Summary of key differences between AC Maths and VELS Maths
Coverage of whole numbers is very similar. AC Maths introduces division with remainder at Year 5, (Level 3 in VELS Maths), and emphasises money problems involving profit and loss and best buys.
Coverage of fractions and decimals is very similar. The AC Mathsincludes counting with unit fractions using a number line at Year 4. VELS Maths includes comparing, adding and subtracting simple common fractions with the assistance of physical models at Level 3, and multiplication of fractions at Level 4.
AC Mathematics introduces the use of the Cartesian plane and coordinates in all four quadrants at Year 6, earlier than in VELS Maths where it is introduced at Level 5. VELS Maths includes simple networks from Level 2, and tessellations from Level 3, which are not included in AC Maths. VELS Maths has a more explicit emphasis on sets.

26. Summary of key differences between AC Science and VELS
Considerable continuity between Australian Curriculum Science (AC Science) and VELS Science. AC Science has three interrelated strands: Science Understanding, Science as a Human Endeavour and Science Inquiry Skills. (cf. Science knowledge and understanding and Science at work but with an increased emphasis on scientific inquiry). AC Science sets out Achievement Standards for each year beginning at the Foundation year (F). Standards in VELS Science commence at Level 3. Concepts are more or less the same but some concepts are introduced earlier or later in AC Science so there are differences in the level of complexity in the treatment of these concepts.

27. Summary of key differences between AC Science and VELS:
The Science Understanding strand has four sub-strands: Biological sciences; Chemical sciences; Earth and space sciences; and Physical sciences. The Science Inquiry Skills strand has five sub-strands: Questioning and predicting; Planning and conducting; Processing and analysing data and information; Evaluating; and Communicating The Science as a Human Endeavour strand has two sub-strands: Nature and development of science; and Use and influence of science Content in the Science Understanding strand is organised in year level bands, but Science as a Human Endeavour and Science Inquiry Skills strands are described in two-year bands, following the Foundation year Six overarching ideas: Patterns; Order and organisation; Form and function; Stability and change; Scale and measurement; Matter and energy; and Systems.
The order and detail in which the Content Descriptions are organised into teaching/learning programs are decisions to be made at the school level.

28. pushes and pulls use of Earth’s resources
Australian Science Curriculum Content – additional or relocated
VELS Content – reduced or relocated
Australian Curriculum Content – additional or relocated
Years F–2
Levels 1–2
Years 3–6
Levels 3–4
pushes and pulls
use of Earth’s resources
compare observations with predictions
insect life cycles
make generalisations
fair testing
shadows
conservation of Earth’s resources
properties of natural and manufactured materials
life cycles
properties of natural and processed materials
contribution to science by people from a range of cultures
suggest improvements to investigation methods
pushes, pulls and motion in terms of forces
food chains
Earth/moon system
design and build simple models to explain scientific concepts
organ systems in the human body
role of chemical change in the production of materials
layers within and surrounding Earth
We probably need to do some revision of the science boxes which are a key component of our science curriculum.

29. Summary of key differences between AC History and VELS:
Similar content and sequence: begins with family and community history leading to Australian history in the later primary years
Both emphasise the teaching and learning of history in an inquiry frame and have a developmental sequence of learning with an increasing emphasis on analysis and interpretation, and the use of evidence to support historical argument.
AC History has the following structure and characteristics:
Each year level description provides a series of key inquiry questions which frame the learning for that year.
Content: Historical Knowledge and Understanding has specific content for each year level from F–10. Historical Skills are written in two-year bands, apart from F–2 which is written in a three-year band.
The Achievement Standards for History are written for each year. They focus on skills and understanding rather then knowledge content.
The order and detail in which the Content Descriptions are organised into teaching/learning programs are decisions to be made at the school level and we will need to make some whole school decisions about how to manage the content for composite classes.

30. Summary of key differences between AC History and VELS:
In Levels 1 & 2 VELS, the historical content and skills are in the Humanities Learning Focus statements. AC History has a year by year sequence of Historical Knowledge and Understanding with a single band of Historical Skills which are to be developed over the first three years of schooling. The focus of F–2 History is on family and community history, but AC History also includes a specific study of an historical site of cultural or spiritual significance at Year 2.
In Level 3 VELS, History is part of Humanities & standards for combine History & Geography. Standards for History begin at Level 4. AC History has a year by year sequence of Historical Knowledge and Understanding with Historical Skills in 2-year bands for Years 3–4 and Years 5–6.
Each Year Level has specific thematic content AND time frames.
Year 4: pre-European history to European Settlement in 1788.
Year 5: Colonial history in the 1800s and
Year 6: Federation and the twentieth century AND
A specific focus for Years 5 and 6 is on the peoples who became part of the Australian nation through migration and experiences of citizenship.

31. Cohort curriculum planning
2. Cohort planning
Has a particular learning focus for this cohort been identified? (e.g. literacy and school engagement in P; local environment in Year 4; community engagement in Year 6). If so, is it clearly defined?
Are the specific components of learning areas for this cohort clearly documented, together with associated time allocations?
Are the learning contexts (eg. unit topics, integrated units of work) and associated resources through which the components are provided clearly documented?
Is an expected sequence of learning for each component of the learning areas clearly documented?
Is there a planned program of assessment for learning?
This need to review planning will apply to primary librarians who teach across a variety of subject areas, not just English literature.

32. Individual student planning
Have the reporting mechanisms and/or assessment tasks that will identify the students’ current and future levels of achievement been identified?
Is the way the curriculum will be differentiated for students working at differing levels documented?
This will apply to primary teacher librarians who are involved in assessment and reporting to parents.

33. the what the how Curriculum and Assessment Planning Pedagogy
What about pedagogy?
Curriculum and Assessment Planning
the what
Pedagogy
the how
PoLT still matters and so does e5.
Engage
Explore
Explain
Elaborate
Evaluate

34. Conclusion
Implementation of Australian Curriculum an opportunity to build on and extend current curriculum reform
Schools can use the implementation of Australian Curriculum for both incremental change and substantial curriculum renewal

35. Does all this matter? Content matters
Empirical data (national Civics tests, SAP HPE data) shows that student learning achievement is directly correlated to what they have been taught
Learning by osmosis is not a universal phenomenon