Exploration crew

To support the staff at KPS in understanding and adopting the Australian Curriculum, we established an exploration crew - the AC:E team in 2012. The team is comprised of five teachers, representative of all phases of learning, and our curriculum leader. 

The team meets twice a term to delve deeper into the curriculum, to develop and update school policies and to plan and teach lessons based on the Literature strand. After reflection and modification, these lessons and units of work are shared with the broader staff to trial in their classes. 

The AC:E team's achievements so far include; 

• Developing a school editing policy and punctuation pyramid
• Updating our whole school spelling scope and sequence 
• Constructing a text types overview from F-7
• Linking Geography and History to Literature based lessons
• The development of units of work based on ANZAC Day literature

The AC:E team are currently preparing to lead their collaborative teams in the planning of a Literature learning sequence tied to History, in preparation for next term. We will share these on the blog in the near future.

Doing the fieldwork

In any great adventure, the success at the end is greatly determined by the preparation at the starting line.

Already familiar with the ACARA website and the general layout of the Australian Curriculum (as a result of our Maths implementation) the staff at KPS began our English exploration by completing the first two hour module of training. Some of the knowledge and understandings the training provided us with are as follows;

• knowledge of the aims of the Australian Curriculum,
• understanding of the organisation of the curriculum; into year level statements, content descriptions, elaborations and achievement standards (and the purpose of these)
• and an introduction to the three strands of English. 

To assist staff in comprehending the three strands, Mel shared with us a wonderful analogy which she had heard during her training. The car analogy greatly helped us to understand what is covered within each strand and  demonstrated some of the interconnections between the strands.

Language can be likened to the car itself, the engine and the wheels. In English, this looks like the knowledge of the English language and how it works; punctuation, grammar, spelling, vocabulary...

Literacy can be likened to the physical act of driving, changing gears and indicating. In English, this looks like the ability to produce the English language; listening and speaking, purpose and audience, reading, comprehending, creating texts, editing...  

Literature can be likened to the enjoyment of the journey. In English, this looks like the appreciation and understanding of, response to, and the creation of literary texts.  

As part of the workshop, staff conducted a comparative audit, looking at current content and practice and seeing how this matched the Australian Curriculum. Teachers then completed an action learning task; looking at one 'regular' lesson through the lens of the AC:E to see which aspects of the content were being covered. This gave teachers the opportunity to reflect on the likely changes in knoweldge and pedagogy required for the journey ahead. 

Curriculum car poster



Heritage listing...or a bit of background.

Kalgoorlie Primary School have been implementing the Australian Curriculum since 2011. Our journey began with the introduction of Maths in 2011, Science, English and History in 2012 and now Geography in 2013.

Staff developed a comprehensive Maths scope and sequence based on the AC and effectively use this, and the curriculum itself, to plan and teach from F-7. Teachers actively review the implementation each term. The next step is to engage in the moderation of student work using the ACARA portfolios, to develop a better understanding of the achievement standards and ensure valid and consistent judgements are being made about student achievement. 

Having the great fortune of employing a Science specialist, the adoption of the Australian Curriculum (AC) in this learning area has been a comparably simpler task. Our Science specialist delivers the AC content to students and is an active participant in professional learning to continue the implementation.

Now to English...over the past two years, staff at KPS have participated in professional learning, development of new policies, adaptation of old ones, guided practice, audits of current practice, collaborative planning and continual professional dialogue about the English curriculum. The richness and complexity of the content has kept us busy, though we are excited about continuing our journey.

The implementation of the English, History and Geography learning areas is interwoven. This is because at KPS we believe in an integrated curriculum across the years of schooling. Our social sciences content is delivered through our English curriculum.

We would like to share our trials and successes in this area with you through our blog!