Curriculum planning is not seen as the responsibility of an individual teacher, it is school-wide at PMPS. It is our responsibility to provide a high-quality learning for all students as they progress through their primary school education.
Our curriculum planning covers both skills and knowledge which include discipline based areas (English, Mathematics) as well as the general capabilities of critical and creative thinking, personal and social capability, intercultural understanding and ethical understanding.
Victorian Curriculum F–10
The Victorian Curriculum F–10 sets out what content every student should learn during their first eleven years of schooling. The curriculum is the common set of knowledge and skills required by students for life-long learning, social development and active and informed citizenship.
The Victorian Curriculum F–10 incorporates the Australian Curriculum and reflects Victorian priorities and standard. Further details on the structure and content of the Victorian Curriculum can be found here.
Learning Areas and Capabilities
The Victorian Curriculum F–10 includes both knowledge and skills. These are defined by learning areas and capabilities. This curriculum design assumes that knowledge and skills are transferable across the curriculum and therefore are not duplicated.
For example, where skills and knowledge such as asking questions, evaluating evidence and drawing conclusions are defined in Critical and Creative Thinking, these are not duplicated in other learning areas such as History or Health and Physical Education. It is expected that the skills and knowledge defined in the capabilities will be developed, practised, deployed and demonstrated by students in and through their learning across the curriculum.
Learning Areas
- English
- Health and Physical Education
- Languages
- Mathematics
- The Arts: Dance, Drama, Media Arts, Music, Visual Arts, Visual Communication and Design
- The Humanities: Civics and Citizenship, Economics and Business, Geography, History
- Science Technologies: Design and Technologies, Digital Technologies
Capabilities
- Critical and Creative Thinking
- Ethical
- Intercultural
- Personal and Social
Framework for Improving Student Outcomes
The Framework for Improving Student Outcomes (FISO) is the unifying framework for improvement in Victorian Government Schools.
The FISO uses school improvement and effectiveness research to help schools focus their efforts on key areas that are known to have the greatest impact on improved student outcomes.
The FISO is made up of three elements. Together, these complement and reinforce the capacity of schools to deliver the Education State reforms and improve outcomes for all students:
- the Improvement Model, including six high-impact Improvement Initiatives;
- the Improvement Measures;
- the Improvement Cycle.
The Improvement Model is made up of four state-wide priorities that are proven to have a strong bearing on the effectiveness of a school:
- excellence in teaching and learning
- professional leadership
- a positive climate for learning, and
- community engagement in learning.
DET Pedagogical Model
In 2018 the Department of Education and Training released the Pedagogical Model which was designed to reflect the current evidence base and departmental initiatives, including FISO and the Performance and development approach.
High Impact Teaching Strategies (HITS)
Evidence-based education is an approach where the methods used are based on significant and reliable evidence. It aims to apply the best available evidence, gained from scientific methods, to educational decision making.
A number of pedagogical strategies have been found to have a high impact on student learning. It is important that teachers use these strategies as a way to improve learning but also consider how they can be used in combination with each other. Professional learning is crucial to sustain authenticity, quality and consistency of practice.
The HITS (High Impact Teaching Strategies) are 10 instructional practices that reliably increase student learning wherever they are applied. They emerge from the findings of tens of thousands of studies of what has worked in classrooms across Australia and the world. International experts such as John Hattie, Dylan Wiliam and Robert Marzano have synthesised these studies and ranked hundreds of teaching strategies by the contribution they make to student learning.
The 10 HITS
- Setting Goals
- Structuring Lessons
- Explicit Teaching
- Worked Examples
- Collaborative Learning
- Multiple Exposures
- Questioning
- Feedback
- Metacognitive Strategies
- Differentiated teaching
