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Student Diversity

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Meeting diverse learning needs

The online format of the Australian Curriculum provides flexibility in how the curriculum can be viewed: by learning area, by multiple year levels or by year level across learning areas. The curriculum may also be filtered to show where general capabilities and cross-curriculum priorities are embedded in learning area content. While the general capabilities and cross-curriculum priorities are embedded in learning area content descriptions, they can also be viewed separately.

The relationship between the three dimensions (learning areas, general capabilities and cross-curriculum priorities) provides teachers with flexibility to cater for student diversity through personalised learning. Teachers can help meet individual learning needs by incorporating specific teaching of the general capabilities or cross-curriculum priorities through the learning area content (for example, teaching targeted literacy skills through a history lesson, providing opportunities to explore sustainability in a science lesson, or scaffolding language specific to mathematics). This process is illustrated in the Student diversity guided tour and in more detail through the Illustrations of personalised learning.

The following flowchart has been developed to illustrate the process for using the three-dimensional design of the Australian Curriculum to meet the learning needs of all students. The process applies to all students, regardless of their circumstances, progress in learning or the type or location of school they attend. The process reinforces every student’s entitlement to rigorous, relevant and engaging learning experiences across all areas of the curriculum and ensures that all students have the same opportunities and choices in their education.

More detail in relation to applying this process can be found under the sections Students with disability; Gifted and talented students; Students for whom English is an additional language or dialect and Illustrations of Personalised Learning.

Using the Australian Curriculum to meet the learning needs of all students

Teachers refer to the Australian Curriculum learning area content that aligns with their students’ chronological age as the starting point in planning teaching and learning programs.

Teachers take account of the range of their students’ current levels of learning, strengths, goals and interests, and personalise learning where necessary through adjustments to the teaching and learning program, according to individual learning need, by:

  • drawing from learning area content at different levels along the Foundation to Year 10 sequence to personalise age-equivalent learning area content
  • using the general capabilities and/or cross-curriculum priorities to adjust the learning focus of the age-equivalent learning area content
  • aligning individual learning goals with age-equivalent learning area content

Teachers assess students’ progress through the Australian Curriculum in relation to achievement standards. Some students’ progress will be assessed in relation to their individual learning goals. Approaches to assessment and reporting will differ across the states and territories.

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