Australian Curriculum: Languages Design, Development and Opportunities for Engagement

1. Australian Curriculum: Languages Design, Development and Opportunities for Engagement Suzanne Bradshaw Senior Project Officer, Languages National Symposium: Japanese Language Education 2012 Friday 2 November 2012

2. Outline of Presentation • ACARA • Design features of the Australian Curriculum • Curriculum development process • Update on the curriculum development process for Languages • Opportunities for engagement

3. ACARA • The Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority (ACARA) is a Commonwealth statutory authority responsible for the development of an Australian curriculum that supports 21st century learning for all Australian students. • ACARA’s work is carried out in collaboration with a wide range of stakeholders, including teachers, principals, students, academics, State and Territory education authorities, professional education associations, community groups and the general public.

4. Preparation for life Australian governments commit to working in collaboration to promote equity and excellence in Australian schooling with school sectors supporting all young Australians to become: • confident successful learners • and creative individuals • active and informed citizens.

5. Shape of the Australian Curriculum v3.0 Available at www.acara.edu.au

6. The Australian Curriculum • Sets out what all students are to be taught (content) and what students are typically able to understand and able to do (achievement standards) • affirms the central importance of discipline-based knowledge and skills as well as general capabilities and cross-curriculum priorities • acknowledges that classroom teachers are best placed to organise learning for students; they will make decisions about the pedagogical approach intended to achieve the best learning outcomes A curriculum for all young Australians A world-class curriculum for the 21st century

7. Curriculum Curriculum The Australian Curriculum details what students should learn (content descriptions) and describes the quality of learning expected (achievement standards) Organisation of learning / pedagogy Schools and teachers are best placed to decide how to organise learning, taking account of the needs and interests of students and school context Assessment The Australian Curriculum does not specify how teachers / schools / curriculum authorities will assess student learning

8. Dimensions of the Australian Curriculum Learning areas The Australian Curriculum is designed to ensure that students develop the knowledge, understanding and skills on which major disciplines are based; reflecting ways in which knowledge has and will continue to be developed and codified General capabilities In a world where knowledge is constantly growing and evolving students need to develop skills, behaviours and dispositions that apply across subject areas; equip students to be lifelong learners Cross-curriculum priorities Special attention to three contemporary issues

9. Learning areas • English • Mathematics • Science • Humanities and Social Sciences – History, Geography, Economics and Business, Civics and Citizenship • The Arts • Languages • Health and Physical Education • Technologies Dimensions of the Australian Curriculum • General capabilities • Literacy • Numeracy • Information and Communication Technology Capability • Critical and Creative Thinking • Ethical Behaviour • Personal and Social Capability • Intercultural Understanding • Cross-curriculum priorities • Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander histories and cultures • Asia and Australia’s engagement with Asia • Sustainability

10. The Learning Areas

11. General capabilities • General capabilites embedded in learning areas, identified by icons in content descriptions • Overview of general capabilities with description published at http://www.australiancurriculum.edu.au/GeneralCapabilities General capabilities

12. Cross-curriculum priorities • Three cross curriculum priorities • Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander histories and cultures • Asia and Australia’s engagement with Asia • Sustainability

13. Elements of the curriculum: F–10 Content descriptions • A core of knowledge, understanding and skills – what students will be taught Achievement standards • The expected standard or quality; challenging, but achievable – the quality of student learning as a result of what they are taught

14. Development of the learning areas F−10 Australian Curriculum development timelines

15. Online delivery

16. Digital curriculum and resources • The Australian Curriculum has been published online • ACARA works with Education Services Australia to publish draft material on the consultation portal and when approved the online curriculum • Australian Curriculum Connect project linking state/territory digital resources to support the teaching of the curriculum http://www.australiancurriculum.edu.au

19. More information … ACARA Website www.acara.edu.au Australian Curriculum Website http://www.australiancurriculum.edu.au/Home

20. Curriculum Development Process

21. Australian Curriculum development The Curriculum Development Process, outlines four stages in the development of the Australian Curriculum • Curriculum shaping • Curriculum writing • Preparation for implementation • Curriculum monitoring, evaluation and review

22. Australian Curriculum: LanguagesShaping Process

23. ACARA Associate Professor Angela Scarino Dr Jakelin Troy Shaping of the Languages Curriculum Broad consultation at key stages in curriculum development International and National Reviewers Languages advisory panel Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Languages Expert Group

24. Consultation –January – April 2011 • There were a total of 2150 responses to the online survey (1913 from individuals, 236 from organisations) • Main categories of respondents: parents (21.46%); students (18.83%); and secondary teachers of languages (16.35%) • State responses; notably NSW 34.5%; Vic 40.5%

25. Japanese Responses • 115 responses from individuals, 47 responses from organisations • Main categories of respondents: secondary teachers of Japanese (40.8%); teachers of Japanese teaching across primary and secondary (13.9%); students (9.57%); • Sectors: Independent schools (42.55%); Government Department schools (10.64%); Catholic Education Schools ( 8.51%) • State responses; notably NSW 41.98%; Vic 20.99 %

26. Key Strengths • The strong positioning of languages within school education • The development of language-specific curricula • Recognition of the diversity of language learners and pathways • The strong positioning of Aboriginal Languages and Torres Strait Islander Languages • The rationale for learning languages • Key concepts and understandings in learning languages

27. Key Issues • Staging of Language-specific curricula development • Indicative hours • Implementation and policy issues

28. Beyond curriculum development – policy and implementation matters

29. Policy and Implementation Issues • The need for a national languages policy • The availability of qualified teachers as well as the provision of high quality teaching and appropriate resources, including digital resources, to enhance face-to-face teaching. • Professional development of existing teachers to implement new concepts in the proposed curriculum. • Management of the multiple pathways within schools as well as the continuity of language learning across primary and secondary schools. • Incentives for learning languages and ‘eligibility requirements’ for entry into languages courses at the senior secondary level.

30. Language -specific curriculum development process

31. Considerations for determining which languages and which pathways will be the subject of curriculum development • Coverage of the maximum number of students • Australian Government priorities for language learning • Languages most widely spoken by particular communities in Australia • Community support, particularly through ethnic and community schools • Languages of global importance • Immigration and international students • Economic significance.

32. Languages to be considered for development as part of the Australian Curriculum F-10 • Arabic, Auslan, Chinese, Classical languages, French, German, Hindi, Indonesian, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Modern Greek, Spanish, Turkish and Vietnamese. The Shape of the Australian Curriculum: Languages paper paragraph 110

33. Board Decisions October 2011 • The ACARA Board approved initial work on the Chinese and Italian curricula F-10 and the development of a Framework for Aboriginal Languages and Torres Strait Islander Languages

34. Languages for development by end of 2013 • Arabic • Chinese • French • German • Indonesian • Italian • Japanese • Korean • Modern Greek • Spanish • Vietnamese

35. Pathways The ACARA Board has agreed to develop: • For Chinese, pathways are being developed for three learner groups, second language learner, background language learner and first language learner • that for the majority of specific languages one curriculum pathway will be developed for each language in Years F-10 by the end of 2013, pitched to the dominant cohort of learners for that language in the current Australian context. • For Aboriginal languages and Torres Strait Islander languages, a framework is being developed that provides different learner pathways that also take account of the varied states of the language(s) involved.

36. Senior secondary curriculum development • ACARA will provide advice to the Ministerial Council in December 2012 on the scope of senior secondary curriculum development (beyond English, Mathematics, Science, History and Geography)

37. Australian Curriculum: LanguagesWriting Process

38. Australian Curriculum: LanguagesWriting Process

39. The Shape of the Australian Curriculum: Languages

40. The procedures and guidelines document

41. Procedures and Guidelines document • A support document intended to provide more detailed advice for writers to complement the Languages Shape paper and the Curriculum Design Paper (v3.0) • Aims to provide the degree of specification necessary to ensure appropriate consistency in writing across the scope of Languages curriculum being developed by ACARA.

42. Procedures and Guidelines • Introduction • Structure and design specifications for developing the Languages Curriculum • Developing a language-specific curriculum-process • Resources and exemplification

43. ACARA Writing Teams Curriculum WritingPhase Broad consultation at key stages in curriculum development International and National Reviewers Languages Advisory Panel Languages National Panel Language-specific Curriculum Experts

44. Register of Writers and Advisory Panel Members • Overarching Languages Advisory Group and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Languages Advisory Group has been appointed • ACARA appointed language-specific writers and language-specific experts in September. • A register of curriculum writers and language-specific experts has been developed

45. Consultation processes • State/territory consultation forums (teachers, academics, authorities, associations) • National panel meetings (2 representatives from each state and territory and national professional teacher associations; DEEWR rep) • Meetings with state and territory authorities and major professional associations • Web surveys and written submissions • Trial schools and teachers participation • Critical readers and reviewers

46. Timelines

48. Stage 1 curriculum development F-10:Chinese and Italian

49. Stage 1 curriculum development F-10: Framework for Aboriginal Languages and Torres Strait Islander Languages

50. Stage 2 curriculum development F-10:Arabic, French, German, Indonesian, Japanese, Korean, Modern Greek, Spanish and Vietnamese