Level 1
In the Victorian Essential Learning Standards Level 1 is broadly associated with the Preparatory Year of schooling.
Learners in their first year of schooling begin to develop social skills such as understanding classroom behaviour and making connections between school and home. Through curiosity and encouragement they take an interest in learning, begin to learn basic literacy and numeracy skills and develop some simple technical and coordination skills.
Key characteristics of students at this level include:
- building a sense of belonging
- understanding classroom values and practices
- making connections between school and home
- building positive behaviours
- engaging behaviourally, emotionally and cognitively
- developing curiosity and intrinsic motivation
- expressing ideas and feelings through a variety of artistic forms
- mastering technical skills
- developing physical capacities and an awareness of their own health needs.
Students have a sense of belonging and socialise in a way where they understand and accept the values and practices of the classroom, contributing ‘to the development of positive social relationships in a range of contexts’ (Interpersonal Development). This process is aided when students feel socially and emotionally secure and are supported by their peers, teachers and family.
As students develop a sense of belonging they will be more likely to follow the rules, participate in activities and appreciate opportunities, take turns and consider the feelings of others, focus their attention for extended periods, find satisfaction and enjoyment in learning, and have enough trust to take risks such as asking and answering questions, performing in front of groups and creating novel ideas during activities. This behaviour is supported by the development of simple organisational and listening skills, and a capacity to follow instructions.
Students will spend significant time mastering technical competence by discovering how, and for what purpose, objects and systems work, and by practising tasks that include the forming of letters and numbers. They ‘recognise how sounds are represented alphabetically and identify some sound–letter relationships’ (English: Reading), and ‘count the size of small sets using the numbers 0 to 20’ (Mathematics: Number). They also begin to develop the skills of keyboarding and navigating computer systems, drawing, measuring quantities and constructing models.
Students respond to novelty and this curiosity is the basis for asking questions and developing explanations for events. They make works of art that express and communicate ideas and feelings about themselves and their world, exploring and using ‘a variety of arts elements (on their own or in combination), skills, techniques and processes, media, materials, equipment and technologies in a range of arts forms’ (The Arts: Creating and making). At times they become deeply focused and will demonstrate the capacity to avoid distraction. They are introduced to concepts like time, space, safety, feelings, location and beauty by using their personal experience, texts and their environment as a starting point for learning.
With support from their teachers, students test ideas and beliefs, identify inaccuracies and make adjustments to improve. They learn about basic patterns by identifying similarities and differences, sorting and sequencing. They learn about processes by knowing how to organise their resources and time, by understanding rules and consequences, by making comparisons, and by discussing thoughts and ideas, as well as offering explanations.
They enrich their imaginations by playing games, making links between their own experiences and the ideas in texts, by discovering difference, by interpreting and appreciating the work of others, by exploring their senses, and by sharing and participating in group projects. They also engage in a variety of physical activities and gain an appreciation of basic health needs, including the performance of ‘basic motor skills and movement patterns, with or without equipment, in a range of environments’ (Health and Physical Education: Movement and physical activity).
