Macarthur Girls High School is committed to the implementation of the Australian Curriculum. The rationale for introducing an Australian Curriculum centres on improving thequality,equity and transparency of Australia's education system.
- Quality–an Australian Curriculum will contribute to the provision of a world-
class education in Australia by setting out theknowledge,skills and understandings
needed for life and work in the 21st century and by setting common high standards
of achievement across the country.
- Equity–an Australian Curriculum will provide a clear,shared understanding of
what young people should be taught and the quality of learning expected of them,
regardless of their circumstances,the type of school that they attend or the location
of their school.
Education plays critical role in shaping the lives of the nation's future citizens.To play this role effectively, the intellectual, personal, social and educational needs of young Australians must be addressed at a time when ideas about the goals of education are changing and will continue to evolve.
The overall structure of the curriculum is consistent across learning areas and includes the following elements:
• A rationale that explains the place and purpose of the learning area in the school curriculum
• Aims tha tidentify the major learning that students will be able to demonstrate as a result of learning from the curriculum
• An organisation section that provides an overview of how the curriculum in the learning area will be organised from Foundation to Year 12
• Content descriptions that specify what teachers are expected teach. These are accompanied by elaborations that illustrate the content descriptions
• Achievement standards that describe what students are typically able to understand and able to do,and which are accompanied bywork samples that illustrate the achievement standards through annotated student work
• General capabilities that describe a set of knowledge,skills,behaviours and dispositions
that can be developed and applied across subject-based content
• Cross-curriculum priorities that ensure the Australian Curriculum is relevant to the live sof students and addresses the contemporary issues they face.
For information about the Australian Curriculum visit http://www.acara.edu.au