Version 9 of the Australian Curriculum
Queensland Teachers' Journal, Vol 128 No 2, 31 March 2023, page no. 13
The QTU continues to advocate for centrally funded support to be provided to schools to enable them to undertake familiarisation with and implementation of Version 9 of the Australian Curriculum (V9AC).
In 2022 we advised the Department of Education (DoE) that a significant workload impost will occur if V9AC implementation is not fully funded, and that resources needed to be ready for schools to use by the start of 2023.
Queensland commenced a familiarisation process in 2023 (the schedule is outlined below), but we remain concerned that the support, resources, and funding needed for a smooth transition into the first year of implementation are lacking.
In September 2022, the QTU’s Professional Issues (PI) committee made several key recommendations for DoE to consider when designing the implementation process. Of utmost importance was the need to ensure that most of the redesigning of units was undertaken centrally, so that teachers can focus on the day-to-day/weekly plans without the need to reinvent the wheel at each school. In addition, we urged DoE to ensure that the V9AC Curriculum webpage and resources were ready to go and fully resourced with centrally provided TRS by the start of this year.
DoE indicated in early March that the webpage should be ready with new updated C2C units, guides to making judgements (GTMJs), and advice and info about assessment by the start of Term 2. We will be seeking access to these units in our next meeting. The department has said that the webpage will have:
- P-10 resources
- updated C2C units – the intent is not to completely re-write them but to provide a “to do” guide on how to modify current planning and how to adapt current units
- band and year level planning – with examples of units, e.g. maths will have four units developed for each year level
- multi-age units
- example assessments
- GTMJs.
“Unpacking the V9AC” documents, outlining content descriptors and achievement standards, have been developed by QCAA and will not be replicated by DoE. DoE will use Q-Learn/Teams to set up V9AC learning “communities”. An introduction to V9AC presentation was undertaken on the student free days.
The QCAA has developed courses to assist schools with the transition. These are being attended by heads of curriculum and others and will assist them to develop an action plan that will allow for a smooth transition.
As a consequence of our concerns about familiarisation and implementation support, QTU’s State Council moved the following resolution.
That Council calls upon DoE to:
- negotiate with the QTU as a matter of urgency the TRS resourcing and support needed to allow for a proper V9AC familiarisation and implementation process to occur across 2023-2025
- ensure that key curriculum documents needed to undertake the transition are developed centrally by DoE, aligned with QCAA materials, as soon as possible, to ensure schools are not replicating this work on a school-by-school basis
- communicate its V9AC implementation strategy and the support materials and resources and TRS available to schools, as a matter of urgency, so schools are aware of how to proceed
- provide TRS release to allow members to access the current V9AC presentation during school hours, rather than requiring this to be done outside of school hours
- negotiate with the QTU the matter of the roll-out of V9AC support in the regions.
QTU President Cresta Richardson will write to the Director-General (DG) to outline the above-mentioned concerns and to prioritise the completion of DoE’s V9AC website by Term 3. Members will be kept informed of developments.
The V9AC roll-out schedule negotiated between the QTU, other stakeholders and the QCAA is outlined below.
Implementation schedule of Version 9 of the Australian Curriculum | |
Primary/special schools implementation schedule | |
English and maths | 2023 familiarisation, 2024 implementation |
Science, tech and HPE | 2024 familiarisation, 2025 implementation |
Languages, the arts, and HASS | 2025 familiarisation, 2026 implementation |
Secondary implementation schedule: | |
2023-2025 The familiarisation schedule and implementation process will vary dependent upon what the school chooses to implement across 24/25/26. This must be negotiated via the LCC. |