Curriculum Overview
The Australian Curriculum is designed to help all young Australians become successful learners, confident and creative individuals, and active and informed citizens. Presented as a developmental sequence of learning from Foundation (Prep) - Year 10, the Australian Curriculum describes what is to be taught and the quality of learning expected of young people as they progress through school.
The three-dimensional design of the Australian Curriculum recognises the importance of disciplinary knowledge, skills and understanding alongside general capabilities and cross-curriculum priorities.
Disciplinary knowledge, skills and understanding are described in the eight learning areas of the Australian Curriculum: English, Mathematics, Science, Health and Physical Education, Humanities and Social Sciences, The Arts, Technologies and Languages. The latter four learning areas have been written to include multiple subjects, reflecting custom and practice in the discipline. In each learning area or subject, content descriptions specify what young people will learn, and achievement standards describe the depth of understanding and the sophistication of knowledge and skill expected of students at the end of each year level or band of years.
Our pedagogy
All teachers work hard to provide learning experiences that ensure that every day in every classroom, every student is achieving.
At Belgian Gardens State School teachers meet with the principal and leadership team every 4 weeks through the student achievement meeting process. Improved student outcomes are achievable as our teachers are guided and supported to be effective teachers who systematically plan, use evidence to inform their practice and employ a range of teaching strategies and methods.
So how do teachers improve student learning outcomes?
The principle of starting from where the student is the most relevant and important. Effective teachers place the student at the heart of their practice. Successful schools place the student at the heart of their learning environment.
Learning involves students in making sense of the world. It is not simply about absorbing information but it is an active process of constructing meaning.
The five dimensions of teaching and learning form the basis of the Belgian Gardens State School pedagogical framework and underpins every teacher’s professional practice.
At its centre are students. Each dimension links to and supports the others. No one dimension exists in isolation.
There is no fixed starting point — most teachers begin by considering the mandated curriculum while taking into account what students already know and the best teaching strategies to support learning.
Teaching not only involves selecting the curriculum for students but also entails assessing and evaluating students’ understanding of what they have learned. Attending to these teaching and learning dimensions becomes an iterative process as teachers ask questions, evaluate the evidence and think about what, when and how to teach for effective learning for all students. Ultimately, working in the dimensions of teaching and learning becomes an organisational routine.