Rationale
- The Victorian Essential Learning Standards in context
- The guiding rationale
- A triple helix approach
- Downloads
The Victorian Essential Learning Standards in context
In releasing the Blueprint for Government Schools in November 2003, the Minister for Education and Training, Lynne Kosky MP, asked the Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority (VCAA) to develop a new framework of essential learning for all Victorian schools that would both reinforce standards and promote flexibility at the school level.
In April 2004 the VCAA released the Victorian Curriculum Reform 2004: Consultation Paper which outlined the proposed new approach and invited responses from stakeholders and schools. The consultation process involved a series of regional seminars with more than 800 curriculum leaders, over 30 consultations with principals and other key stakeholders, focus groups with randomly selected parents and the capacity for individuals to respond to an online questionnaire. Over 1200 responses to the consultation paper were received.
The Victorian Essential Learning Standards are based on the initial consultation paper and the consultation responses received, and are designed to ensure that students finish their compulsory years of schooling equipped with the knowledge, skills and personal qualities needed for further education, work and life. The Essential Learning Standards are complemented by other significant work initiated through the Blueprint such as the Curriculum Planning Guidelines; Principles of Learning and Teaching P-12; Assessment and Reporting Advice; and the Knowledge Bank.
The new curriculum is a framework of essential learning in two ways. First, it is based on the premise that there are three components of any curriculum which are necessary to enable students to meet the demands of our modern, globalised world. These components are:
- the processes of physical, personal and social development and growth
- the branches of learning reflected in the traditional disciplines and
- the interdisciplinary capacities needed for effective functioning within and beyond school.
Second, the Essential Learning Standards clarify the core elements of each component which students need to acquire if they are to succeed in further education, work and life. For this reason standards are set for student achievement in each component at different stages of learning.
By focusing on what is essential in these terms, the new Standards aim to reduce the curriculum requirements of schools, enabling them to build rich and engaging programs that not only deliver the essential learning outcomes, but reflect and build on student interests and needs.
The Essential Learning Standards are also underpinned by a clear set of principles based on educational research and a set of values reflecting work that has been undertaken nationally and a broad conception of what the community expects of its schools.
The guiding rationale
In our rapidly changing and globalised world, with the pervasive influence of high speed, interactive information and communications technology (ICT), knowledge is a major resource. This is evident in the trend towards more highly skilled jobs, both in older industries such as agriculture and manufacturing and in the rapidly growing service industries. This is accompanied by the realisation that students can no longer prepare for one career in life and therefore need to develop a commitment to life-long learning in all occupations and facets of life, and a capacity to manage change.
There is, in this context, an emerging consensus within the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), of which Australia is a member, that modern schooling should provide all students with:
- a core educational experience in the major discipline areas of the Arts, English and Languages Other Than English, The Humanities, Mathematics, Science and
-
the knowledge, skills and behaviours to participate fully and effectively in
the community as
- responsible individuals capable of relating with family, friends and colleagues
- flexible, adaptable people who take responsibility for their own actions and growth and continue to learn throughout life
- community members with the capacity to contribute socially, economically and culturally to the society in which we live
- informed citizens with the capacity to understand and contribute to sustainable living and positive civil and community relations at a local, national and global level.
Put simply, this means that all students should leave school with the capacity to:
- manage themselves as individuals and in relation to others
- understand the world in which they live and
- act effectively in that world.
To achieve these goals, the new Victorian Essential Learning Standards are structured around knowledge, skills and behaviours all students should acquire and develop in the three interrelated components of:
- the process of physical, personal and social growth that enables students to function effectively in society
- the commonly accepted traditional bodies of knowledge (disciplines) that are central to any curriculum framework and enable students to make sense of the world and
- the broader interdisciplinary capacities that enable students to enjoy a productive social and economic future.
The Standards describe what is essential for all students to achieve during the compulsory years of school from Years Prep to 10. Schools will use the Standards as a framework to construct rich curriculum contexts which not only ensure these essential outcomes are achieved, but also develop students' engagement and capacities in innovative, exciting ways that reflect the resources and expertise available, and the particular needs and interests of the school community.
The Essential Learning Standards are also underpinned by the growing evidence base on how people learn and the implications this has for the approach at different stages of learning. Of particular importance is the way in which students progress from being novice to more expert learners as they move through school. Research findings suggest the development of such learning proficiency involves:
- noticing features and meaningful patterns of information
- acquiring relevant content knowledge that is organised in ways which reflect a deep understanding of the subject matter
- applying the knowledge in ways appropriate to context, rather than just exercising one's memory
- retrieving important aspects of knowledge with a degree of automaticity and
- approaching new situations in flexible ways.
The Essential Learning Standards consciously seek to reduce the crowding of the curriculum to give students time to explore the underlying concepts of tasks and problems they are set, to process information they gather or receive, and to make connections to other information they already possess. By focusing on what is essential, the Essential Learning Standards also enable schools to more effectively ensure that all students succeed; for example, by focusing particularly on literacy and/or numeracy in the early years of school in cases where these foundational capacities may not have been achieved.
Behind this research is an awareness that students are most successful when they are mindful of themselves as learners and thinkers, who accept increasing responsibility for their own learning and growth appropriate to their stage of development. This is why the Essential Learning Standards address interdisciplinary along with physical, personal and social capacities, as much as the discipline understanding with which they interact.
By combining the three learning components outlined above, and giving schools the opportunity to determine how best to implement these as teaching and learning programs, the Victorian Essential Learning Standards provide a comprehensive curriculum response to the challenges of today's globalised knowledge economy, consistent with research findings on how students learn.
A 'triple helix' approach
In some senses, the language of 'pillars' adopted in the consultation paper does not really capture the change. While each pillar in a structure may be required to ensure it stands up, each pillar can equally stand on its own.
The essence of the new Essential Learning Standards is not just that all three components are required to prepare students for the future but that their interaction matters as well. It is the integrated focus on knowledge, skills and behaviours in the process of physical, personal and social growth, in the disciplines and across the curriculum that develops deep understanding in learners which can be transferred to new and different circumstances.
With the Curriculum and Standards Framework (CSF) it was possible, though not encouraged, for teachers to implement particular key learning area documents without reference to other key learning areas. The new Victorian Essential Learning Standards, with the three equally privileged and interrelated strands, can only be implemented through a whole school response.
Perhaps a better metaphor to understand the approach can, therefore, be gained from the familiar interweaving helix diagram used to illustrate the structure of human DNA.
The new Essential Learning Standards can be viewed as a form of triple helix whereby three, mutually dependent, intertwining strands contribute both individually and in combination to ensuring that students finish their compulsory years of schooling equipped with the knowledge, skills and behaviours essential for further education, work and life.
Downloads
Blueprint
for Government Schools (PDF - 1024KB)
Victorian
Curriculum Reform 2004: Consultation Paper (1019KB)
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