Course planning and syllabus design in language teaching
Australian curriculum maths
1. An Introduction to
The Australian Curriculum:
Mathematics
Denise Neal
Department of Education
2. Learning Intentions
• Develop a shared awareness of the structure and intent of
the Australian Curriculum: mathematics
• Develop a shared understanding of the requirements for
Tasmanian schools for 2011/ 2012
• Build awareness of the key resources to support your
work as curriculum leaders
• Ask questions to guide future planning for your school
Department of Education
3. Success criteria
• Increased your individual and shared understanding
of the structure and intent of the Australian
curriculum: mathematics
• Considered your school context in relation to the
implementation plan for Tasmanian schools and
your school improvement plan
• Know how to access resources to support your
work as a school mathematics leader
• Asked more questions than you have answers!
Department of Education
4. In order to achieve improved outcomes
for all students, it is necessary to align
curriculum, pedagogies and assessment
(Lingard et al, 2003). When we have a
shared understanding of intended
student outcomes, we can shape what
curriculum could or should look like.
Department of Education
5. Curriculum,
pedagogy and assessment
Source: Churchill et al 2010
6. What to teach vs How to teach
• The Australian Curriculum will make clear what
we want all young Australians to learn.
• Classroom teachers are best placed to make
decisions about how to organise learning for their
students and the pedagogical approach/es
required.
Department of Education
8. Development of the Learning Areas
Learning areas Timeline
English 2008-2010
Mathematics 2008-2010
Science 2008-2010
Humanities and social sciences
•History 2008-2010
•Geography 2010-2012
2011-2013
•Economics, Business, Civics and citizenship
The arts 2010-2012
Languages 2010-2012
Health and physical education 2011-2013
Design and the technologies 2011-2013
Department of Education
8
9. What is being developed?
• A K-12 curriculum
• Connects with and builds on Early Years Learning
Framework (Birth-5)
• Guided by the Melbourne Declaration on Educational
Goals for Young Australians (December 2008)
Department of Education
10. What will be provided?
• Curriculum content that specifies what teachers
are expected to teach for each year level with
additional description or examples (content
elaborations)
• Achievement standards describing quality of
learning
• Advice on how student achievement will be
reported.
Department of Education
11. General Capabilities
• The Shape of the Australian Curriculum
identifies seven general capabilities to be
addressed in the Australian curriculum
Department of Education
12. General Capabilities
• Literacy • Intercultural understanding
• Numeracy • Ethical Behaviour
• ICT • Personal and social
• Critical and creative competence
thinking
Not all capabilities are considered inherent to all subjects
Department of Education
13. Cross Curriculum Priorities
• Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander
histories and cultures: to ensure that all young
Australians have the opportunity to learn about,
acknowledge and respect the history and culture of
Aboriginal people and Torres Strait Islanders
• Sustainability
• Asia and Australia’s engagement with Asia.
Department of Education
14. Shape of the Australian Curriculum:
Mathematics, 2009
• http://www.acara.edu.au/verve/
_resources/Australian_Curricul
um_-_Maths.pdf
Department of Education
15. Clarity
• Documents should communicate succinctly the important ideas of
the curriculum. Hattie and Timperley (2007) reviewed a wide
range of studies and found that teacher feedback to students is a
key determinant of effective learning and that good feedback
involves making explicit to students what they should be doing,
how they are performing, and what is the next phase in their
learning. Teachers do this while they are interacting with
students, and so need to know the purpose of the current
student activity, the expected standards for performance, and
subsequent learning goals. A clearly, succinctly written curriculum
will assist in this.
Department of Education
16. Depth vs breadth
• The curriculum should enable teachers to extend students in more depth
in key topics, and one of the challenges will be to identify which are those
more important topics. Fractions and decimals are examples of those
more important topics, as are the principles of measurement. Long
division is an example of a topic which could be given less emphasis. As an
example of how advanced students might be extended in a basic topic,
like perimeter and area of regular and irregular shapes, such students
could be posed a question like: ‘Can you describe some shapes that have
the same number of perimeter units as area units?’ This creates
opportunities for examination of a range of shapes, for use of algebraic
methods, and even the historical dimension of this problem.
Department of Education
17. Pedagogy
7.1 The preceding discussion on the content and organisation of a national
mathematics curriculum is based on some pedagogical assumptions, which include
that:
• it is preferable for students to study fewer aspects in more depth rather than
studying more aspects superficially
• challenging problems can be posed using basic content, and content acceleration
may not be the best way to extend the best students
• effective sets of ideas with goals for key phases specified are preferable to
disconnected experiences, even though they may be rich ones
• teachers can make informed classroom decisions interactively if they are aware of
the development of key ideas, and a clear succinct description will assist in this
• effective use of digital technologies can enhance the relevance of the content and
processes for learning
• teachers can make mathematics inclusive by using engaging experiences that can
be differentiated both for students experiencing difficulty and those who can
complete the tasks easily.
Shape paper, p.14
Department of Education
18. Key messages:
• Three content strands:
▫ Number and algebra
▫ Geometry and measurement
▫ Statistics and probability
• Four proficiency strands:
▫ Understanding
▫ Fluency
▫ Problem solving
▫ Reasoning
Department of Education
19. The four proficiency strands in the Australian mathematics curriculum are:
Understanding, which includes building robust knowledge of adaptable and
transferable mathematical concepts, the making of connections between
related concepts, the confidence to use the familiar to develop new ideas, and
the ‘why’ as well as the ‘how’ of mathematics.
Fluency, which includes skill in choosing appropriate procedures, carrying out
procedures flexibly, accurately, efficiently and appropriately, and recalling
factual knowledge and concepts readily.
Problem solving, which includes the ability to make choices,
interpret, formulate, model and investigate problem situations, and
communicate solutions effectively.
Reasoning, which includes the capacity for logical thought and actions, such
as analysing, proving, evaluating, explaining, inferring, justifying, and generalising
Department of Education
20. Changes since
the May 2010
Version:
• sub-strands added
• some content removed
or moved up or down
grade levels
• please shred any copies
of May 2010 version and
ensure staff are working
with December 2010
version!
Department of Education
21. Peter Sullivan: Lead Writer
http://www.australiancurriculu
m.edu.au/Mathematics/Introdu
ction
Department of Education
22. Let’s look at the curriculum!
Department of Education
23. Rationale, Aims and Organisation
• Why this learning area is an important
part of the curriculum
• What the broad goals of this learning area
are
• How the curriculum is organised in this
learning area
Department of Education
24. Content Descriptions
• What students will be taught
• Specified for every learning area by year of
schooling
• Includes: discipline knowledge, skills and
understandings; and general capabilities and
cross curriculum dimensions
• Supported with examples (elaborations)
Department of Education
25. Achievement Standards
• The quality of learning expected of students
who are taught the content
• Specified for each learning area by year of
schooling
• Students reaching the standard are well able to
progress to the next level
• Illustrated with work samples
Department of Education
26. Task
• Share with a partner three key messages
you need to have to be informed when
leading your school’s exploration of
mathematics within the Australian
Curriculum
Department of Education
27. Timeline –phase 1
• 2011 – a preparation year for phase one areas –
English, mathematics and science. An awareness-
raising of history.
• 2012 – full implementation of English, mathematics
and science.
• 2013 – full implementation of history.
http://www.education.tas.gov.au/curriculum/australian
Department of Education
28. Stages of Implementation
• Preparation stage - awareness raising,
familiarisation and developing
understanding
• Implementation stage – include planning,
teaching, assessing and reporting using the
Australian Curriculum.
Department of Education
29. Timeline Advantages
• Meets our national agreements to show
substantial implementation in all phase one
areas by the end of 2013.
• Provides additional time for
implementation of history with the
potential to align it with geography.
Department of Education
30. Assessment & reporting 2011
• Maintain existing assessment and reporting
arrangements
• Avoids a dual system during implementation and
potential confusion for teachers and the
community
• EPS will map current standards against the
Australian curriculum standards
• Central reporting expectations will continue.
Department of Education
31. Support: professional learning
• Through the Learning Services.
• Partnerships with professional associations,
other sectors and UTAS through the
Teacher Learning Centre.
• Additional curriculum officers.
Department of Education
32. Support: resources
• Bridging documents – what’s the same?
what’s new? http://ecentre.education.tas.gov.au/txtlstvw.aspx?
LstID=c8782e41-f0f3-4f3d-b8c9-67b194f64e0d
• Intros – general and subject specific
• Information sheets for teachers & parents
• Access to online resources
• Newsletter updates
Department of Education
33. Support/resources
http://ecentre.education.tas.gov.au/C6/Curriculum%20Centre/default.aspx
Department of Education
34. Where to find out more / provide
feedback
• http://www.australiancurriculum.edu.au/H
ome
Department of Education
35. Task
What do you need to do tomorrow, next
week and throughout this year to support
others in building capacity to introduce this
curriculum in 2012?
Department of Education
Hinweis der Redaktion
While the curriculum will make clear to teachers a scope and sequence for what should be taught and what achievement standards are expected of students, classroom teachers will make decisions about how best to organise learning, the contexts for learning and the depth of learning that will be pursued to ensure effective learning outcomes for each child in their class.
2008-2010 saw the development of the Foundation to Year 10 Australian Curriculum for English, mathematics, science and history. Senior secondary curriculum in these learning areas continues to be developed in 2011. 2010 – 2012 Foundation to Year 12 Australian Curriculum for geography, languages and the arts are planned for development. 2010-2013 will see the development of the Foundation to Year 12 Australian Curriculum including a focus on health and physical education, information and communication technology, design and technology, economics, business and civics and citizenship. Each phase of development involves comprehensive consultation, review and revision processes. Once approved by the ACARA Board, the curriculum is then presented to the Australian education ministers for final endorsement prior to publication. ACARA’s Curriculum Development Process paper describes the process that is being used to develop the Australian Curriculum. It is available at www.acara.edu.au Learning areas currently not included in the Australian Curriculum will continue to be the responsibility of state and territory education authorities.
The Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority (ACARA) is responsible for the development of the Australian curriculum for specified areas
Classroom teachers will make decisions about the pedagogical approach.
Interwoven in all curriculum areas
Not contained in the Mathematics curriculum.
The Rationale describes the nature of the learning area in general terms and provides an outline of how learning in this area relates to the contemporary world and current practice. It explains the place and purpose of the learning area in the school curriculum and explains how it contributes to meeting the goals in the national declaration. The rationale provides teachers with a clear sense of the place of the learning area within the whole school curriculum. The Aims of the learning area identify the major learning that students will be able to demonstrate as a result of learning from the curriculum. The Organisation section provides an overview of how the curriculum is organised in a particular learning area. The curriculum across K–12 will be developed in a way that supports and coherently presents the continuity of learning, but which also provides for changing emphases across the K–12 range.
Content descriptions specify what teachers are expected to teach. They include knowledge, skills and understanding for each learning area and are described for each year level. The content descriptions will provide a scope and sequence to assist teaching and learning. Within this scope and sequence, teachers will continue to apply their professional judgment regarding what to cover and how to best cater for individual learning needs and interests.
Achievement standards will describe the quality of learning students should demonstrate in relation to the content for each year of schooling. The achievement standards will focus on students’: - depth of understanding - extent of knowledge - sophistication of skills. Student work samples will illustrate the achievement standards. For K-10, the achievement of the described standard will mean that a student is well able to progress to the next level of learning.