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Student Diversity

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General capabilities and cross-curriculum priorities

Using the general capabilities to personalise learning

It is important to consider that:

  • the general capabilities are an integral part of the Australian Curriculum
  • all of the general capabilities need to be developed in gifted and talented students if they are to learn to manage their own wellbeing, relate well to others, make informed decisions about their lives, become citizens who behave with ethical integrity, relate to and communicate across cultures, work for the common good, and act with responsibility at local, regional and global levels
  • the general capabilities are not an alternative curriculum to the learning areas but support access to and progress through the learning areas for gifted and talented students
  • the general capabilities do not provide the context for learning; teaching and learning programs are developed beginning with age-equivalent learning area content through which teachers may specifically target the development of capabilities in gifted and talented students
  • through a focus on the general capabilities, gifted and talented students can access teaching and learning programs drawn from age-equivalent learning area content that is relevant to their individual learning needs, while at the same time experiencing opportunities to add depth, complexity and richness to student learning in content elaborations
  • because gifted and talented students bring different abilities to their learning, some aspects of the general capabilities may be interpreted and enacted in different ways — for example, the capacity of gifted and talented students to more readily manipulate abstract ideas, make connections to an advanced degree, and find, solve and act on problems informs the Critical and Creative Thinking capability by drawing on their highly developed capacity for analysis, synthesis and evaluation
  • teachers can use the general capabilities learning continua to identify particular skills, behaviours and dispositions that a student needs to develop in relation to their individual learning needs and plan for opportunities to develop these across the curriculum.

Using the cross-curriculum priorities to personalise learning

It is important to consider that:

  • cross-curriculum priorities are embedded in all learning areas
  • the cross-curriculum priorities will have a strong but varying presence depending on their relevance to the learning areas
  • through a focus on the cross-curriculum priorities, gifted and talented students can access teaching and learning programs drawn from age-equivalent learning area content that is relevant to their individual learning needs, while at the same time experiencing opportunities to add depth, complexity and richness to student learning in content elaborations.
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