VELS Level 6 - Years 9 and 10 at School

By Years 9 and 10 young people begin to focus more clearly on areas of particular interest to them and have some thoughts about where they may be heading after they finish school. This often involves testing ideas and getting a taste of the world outside the classroom. Students can have very busy lives.

In Years 9 and 10 all learning areas have standards. These are the same areas of learning as in Years 5 to 8. The table below shows areas in which standards are set for assessment and reporting in these years.

	Victorian Essential Learning Standards - Years 9 and 10
Physical, Personal and Social Learning Health and Physical Education Interpersonal Development Personal Learning Civics and Citizenship	Discipline-based Learning The Arts English The Humanities – Economics The Humanities – Geography The Humanities – History Languages Other Than English Mathematics Science	Interdisciplinary Learning Communication Design, Creativity and Technology Information and Communications Technology Thinking Processes

Young people start planning their directions for the final years of school. It is also a time when they concentrate on areas of learning where they know they are doing well. They focus on making sure that a number of areas of learning are well established as they weigh up their pathway options into Years 11 and 12 or the world of work.

These years are also about the balance of school, home, part-time work, sport and/or community activities, friendships and plans. In Year 10, students may have the option of undertaking Victorian Certificate of Education (VCE) units or commencing a Vocational Education and Training (VET) program. Others may decide to wait and start their VCE, VET or Victorian Certificate of Applied Learning (VCAL) studies in Year 11.

By the end of Year 10, students are clearer about the pathway they wish to take in the VCE or VCAL. They move into the senior secondary stages of schooling confident that they have the range of skills required for success.

Standards in Years 9 and 10 in particular areas of learning are illustrated in the following examples.

English

In English the standards are achieved through:

reading and analysing classical and contemporary texts that explore issues of personal and social significance
writing about complex ideas, themes and issues using accurate punctuation, a range of sentence structures and effective language techniques
effectively using the features of spoken language to deal with complex subject matter in a range of situations.

Mathematics

Mathematical skills are refined and include:

mental, written and technology assisted computation with natural, integer, rational and irrational numbers
applying functions, algebra and graphs to model situations and solve problems
using technology for sophisticated computations and constructions in day-today work
calculate and interpret summary statistics for samples from a population.

Helen’s learning experiences

Helen’s school is offering an integrated unit called ‘Make Us Laugh’. This unit brings together story, drama and health and physical education using the theme of comedy, performance and isues facing society.

The unit develops achievement in:

research and group work
writing, editing and presentations.

It is quite demanding and teaches many skills. Integrated approaches such as this and other learning opportunities give Helen a range of ways to display leadership.

Helen also shows an increasing interest in science where she explores a topic on the characteristics of a group of elements in the periodic table. She gains a better understanding of the big ideas of science and considers issues such as ecotourism and stem cell research.

Her interest in a range of areas influences her study selection in Year 10. It also has an influence on where she does work experience and what vocational education programs she explores. During this time Helen chooses a tailored pathway but makes sure that she keeps her options open.

Justin’s learning experiences

Justin is leaning towards the humanities and languages.

He examines local and global issues and researches information to argue points of view. Justin builds on others’ ideas, presents his ideas to others and defends his position in small groups and to the whole class.

Having shown real interest in Chinese since he took it up in Year 7, Justin:

has demonstrated a good understanding of grammar in Chinese
can read short selected texts with fluency
has confidence to read the text out loud
can communicate about himself and his world in Chinese.

His interest in economics has now started to show. He learns more about markets, government policy and economic growth. He has a good sense of what is meant by a cost-benefit analysis. He can use his knowledge of historical events to support his ability to investigate an economic problem like unemployment. He uses his information and communications technology skills to demonstrate his understanding and engage others.

National Assessment Program - Literacy And Numeracy (NAPLAN)

In Year 9 students participate in the national NAPLAN tests in Reading, Writing, Language Conventions and Numeracy. These national tests provide information on how students are progressing, support improvements in teaching and learning, and provides a framework to compare student performance around Australia. NAPLAN tests were introduced in 2008 and replaced the Victorian Achievement Improvement Monitor (AIM) tests.