1. Intercultural Capability
Sharon Foster
Manager, Victorian Curriculum F-10

2. Agenda
Intercultural Capability in the Victorian Curriculum F-10 – understanding the intent and the structure
How to plan using the curriculum
FAQs

3. Victorian Curriculum – Design and Structure
Design and structure reaffirms:
the importance of discipline-based learning approach, where the disciplines are regarded as both enduring and dynamic
capabilities are a set of discrete knowledge and skills, not a statement of pedagogies and students benefit from explicit instruction
that knowledge and skills are transferrable across the curriculum and therefore are not duplicated.

4. Victorian Curriculum F–10 by 2017
Learning Areas
Capabilities
The Arts
Dance
Drama
Media Arts
Music
Visual Communication Design (7-10)
Visual Arts
English
Humanities
Civics and Citizenship
Economics and Business
Geography
History
Languages
Health and Physical Education
Mathematics
Science
Technologies
Design and Technologies
Digital Technologies *
Critical and creative thinking
Intercultural*
Ethical*
Personal and social
Used to answer the quiz questions
Q 1, 2, 3, 8 (marked with *)

5. Aims
Intercultural capability aims to develop knowledge, understandings and skills to enable students to:
demonstrate an awareness of and respect for cultural diversity within the community
reflect on how intercultural experiences influence attitudes, values and beliefs
recognise the importance of acceptance and appreciation of cultural diversity for a cohesive community.

6. Strand Structure
Cultural Practices
Cultural Diversity
Involves students in describing, observing and analysing characteristics of their own cultural identities and those of others. They compare their own knowledge and experiences with those of others, learning to recognise commonalities, acknowledging differences between their lives and seek to understand and engage in critical reflection about such differences. The ability to reflect on the meaning of intercultural experiences is an essential element in intercultural learning. Students use critical reflection to better understand the perspectives and actions of individuals and groups in specific situations and how these can be shaped by culture.
Involves students understanding the nature of cultural diversity. Students critically examine the concept of respect, challenges and opportunities created by cultural diversity and the way in which cultural diversity shapes and contributes to social cohesion.
Achievement standards
The first achievement standard at Foundation to Level 2 and then at Levels 4, 6, 8 and 10.

7. Achievement Standards
Content descriptions
Achievement Standards
Mandated curriculum

8. Key messages
Intercultural capability fosters skills that assist students to negotiate across barriers that may arise from differences. Students will examine, reflect on and challenge assumptions, stereotypes and prejudices and explore how intercultural experiences can influence and change attitudes and beliefs.
Intercultural capability is strongly connected to those areas of learning concerned with people and their societies, relationships and interactions.
Intercultural capability should be read together with the Personal and Social capability knowledge and skills related to empathy, openness, respect and conflict resolution.

9. Progression of learning

11. Languages Communicating Understanding
Strand
Communicating
Understanding
Using language for communicative purposes in interpreting, creating and exchanging meaning.
Analysing and understanding language and culture as resources for interpreting and shaping meaning in intercultural exchange.
Sub-strands
Socialising Interacting orally and in writing to exchange ideas, opinions, experiences, thoughts and feelings, and participating in planning, negotiating, deciding and taking action.
Systems of language Understanding language as a system that includes sound, writing, grammatical and textual conventions.
Informing Obtaining, processing, interpreting and conveying information through a range of oral, written and multimodal texts, developing and applying knowledge.
Language variation and change Understanding how languages vary in use (register, style, standard and non-standard varieties) and change over time and place.
Creating Engaging with imaginative experience by participating in, responding to and creating a range of texts, such as stories, songs, drama and music.
The role of language and culture Analysing and understanding the role of language and culture in the exchange of meaning.
Translating Moving between languages and cultures orally and in writing, recognising different interpretations and explaining these to others.
Reflecting Participating in intercultural exchange, questioning reactions and assumptions, and considering how interaction shapes communication and identity.

12. Dealing with a new curriculum
Intercultural capability is a new curriculum
Teachers and students need to learn the terminology in the curriculum. It provides students with the vocabulary to describe their learning
As this is a new curriculum, older students may need to begin their learning at lower levels. This will provide the necessary scaffolding and ultimately support progression of learning

13. The importance of the glossary

14. How to implement the capabilities
The Victorian Curriculum F–10 includes capabilities, which are a set of discrete knowledge and skills that can and should be taught explicitly.
It is expected that the skills and knowledge defined in the capabilities will be developed, practised, deployed and demonstrated by students in and through their learning across the curriculum.

15. How and where to teach this?
Level 5-6
Content description
Explain how intercultural experiences can influence beliefs and behaviours, including developing a critical perspective on and respect for their own and others cultures
Achievement standard (part of):
... students demonstrate an understanding how beliefs and practices can be influenced by culture and explain how intercultural experiences can influence beliefs and behaviours.
Possibilities –
Where will it be:
introduced/developed
practised
deployed
demonstrated

16. How and where to teach this?
Introduced/
developed
Practised
Deployed
Demonstrated
English
Maths
The Arts
History
Geography
Civics and Citizenship
Economics and Business
Languages
Health and Physical Education
Science
Digital Technologies
Design and Technologies

17. Deep familiarity to support curriculum planning
How deeply familiar are teachers with the terrain through which learners are progressing (the curriculum continuum)?
How are teaching and learning activities sequenced?
Is it explicit what is being looked for and valued as evidence of successful learning?
What feedback will be provided to students and parents in forms that make clear progress along the continuum?

18. Planning for progression in learning
Content description
Explain how intercultural experiences can influence beliefs and behaviours, including developing a critical perspective on and respect for their own and others cultures
What will you teach to progress the student’s learning?
Examine how various cultural groups are represented, by whom they are represented, and comment on the purpose and effect of these representations
Achievement standard
By the end of Level 6, students demonstrate an understanding how beliefs and practices can be influenced by culture and explain how intercultural experiences can influence beliefs and behaviours.
What will the students be able to demonstrate as they are progressing towards the standards?
By the end of Level 8, students explain how cultural practices may change over time in a range of contexts. They understand how cultural groups can be represented, and comment on the effects of these representations.

19. Curriculum mapping Why?
Mapping identifies the extent of curriculum coverage in units of work and clearly links teaching, learning and assessment while working with the curriculum continuum.
How?
Mapping templates support teachers to identify where content descriptions and achievement standards are being explicitly addressed within the school’s teaching and learning program.

21. Step 2 – Analysing the findings
Prompts for the analysis process:
Are all content descriptions equal? Do you think they all take the same amount of time to teach?
Is anything being over taught?
Is anything being missed completely or given insufficient attention?
Is there sufficient “time on task”? Are you allowing enough time to develop knowledge ,understanding and skills that are included in the curriculum and thus enable students to progress along the continuum?
Does the unit/sequence of lessons cater for a range of students abilities? Does the unit/sequence of lessons provide access and challenge for all students in the cohort?
Is it easier to teach in depth or more broadly?
Is there a logical sequence?

22. Whole-school curriculum planning
Is not the responsibility of the individual teacher – it is a team effort
Recognises that we are educating the whole child across many years of schooling - curriculum is designed as a continuum of learning
Without the “what” students should learn, pedagogy is a process without purpose
Deep familiarity with the curriculum is essential

23. Importance of curriculum planning

24. Curriculum planning considerations
Curriculum planning can be based on two-year cycles rather than a yearly cycle. What are the implications for your school?
Do you have an agreed approach to documentation?
What would be a realistic timeframe to prepare and review the relevant documentation?

25. FAQ
What is the relationship between the Personal and Social capability and the Intercultural capability?
What is the relationship between the Languages curriculum and the Intercultural capability?
Is the school environment important for effective intercultural learning?

26. Location / Contact details
VCAA websites
Victorian Curriculum F-10
Victorian Curriculum F-10 Resources and Support
Curriculum Planning Resources:
Queries
Sharon Foster – –