The Australian Curriculum is moving from Version 8.4 to Version 9.0
26 April 2022 The Australian Curriculum Version 9.0 was approved by education ministers on 1 April 2022. It sets high expectations for what all students should know and be able to do, and supports improvement in Australia’s educational performance.
Implementation
States and territories implement the Australian Curriculum according to their own timelines and the Version 8.4 Australian Curriculum remains available on the Australian Curriculum website to support transition planning. Version 8.4 labels on that website make clear users are viewing the older Curriculum version while version 9.0 is clearly shown on the new website.
Timeline of the Australian Curriculum
In 2008, all governments agreed a national curriculum was needed to deliver an equitable, quality education for all young Australians and the national curriculum was developed over a number of years.
Over the years new learning areas and subjects were progressively added to the Australian Curriculum (F-10)
| 2008 | All governments agreed to a national curriculum |
| 2010 | Australian Curriculum released with English, Mathematics, Science and History Foundation to Year 10 (Version 1.0) |
| 2011-2012 | English, Mathematics, Science and History subjects updated (Versions 2.0 and 3.0) |
| 2012 | Addition of senior secondary (Years 11-12) curriculum in these four subject areas (Version 4.0) |
| 2013 | Geography added (Version 5.0) |
| 2014 | Health and Physical Education, Technologies, The Arts and some subjects in Humanities and Social Sciences added (Version 6.0) as well as some Languages (Version 7.0) |
| 2015 | All eight learning areas revised as an outcome of the 2014 Australian Government Review of the Australian Curriculum (Version 8.0) |
| | Ministers also agreed, following a separate review of ACARA in 2015, that the Australian Curriculum should be reviewed by ACARA every six years, with the first cycle to commence in 2020-2021. |
| 2015-2020 | Minor updates and editorial adjustments to the curriculum (Version 8.4, the current curriculum in use today) |
| 2020 | Ministers agreed the Terms of Reference for the current review of the Australian Curriculum |
| Post 2020 | Extensive consultation by ACARA on proposed revisions, including an open public consultation process during April-July 2021. |
| 1 April 2022 | Version 9.0 Australian Curriculum approved. |
Release of the National Report on Schooling in Australia 2020 and data portal
13 April 2022 The National Report on Schooling in Australia for 2020 has been released, along with new 2021 data on schooling on the interactive National Report on Schooling Data Portal.
The report release coincides with updated statistics on the data portal.
“The pandemic clearly had an impact on a number of key performance indicators for schooling, however it’s pleasing that the data indicates the education sector responded well,” ACARA CEO, David de Carvalho, said.
“Participation rates of young people in education or work recovered in 2021 from 2020 falls, with a spike, particularly in the proportion of 15–19-year-olds engaged in education, training or work.
“Student enrolment and staffing numbers are also encouraging, as is an increase in the total enrolments at all levels of teacher training for 2020.”
The National Report on Schooling in Australia revealed the impact of the COVID pandemic, particularly on the participation of young people in education or work and retention rates.
- The proportion of 15–19-year-olds fully engaged in education, training or work decreased significantly from 87.0% in 2019 to 85.4% in 2020, but then picked up to 90.3% in 2021.
- The number of 17–24-year-olds who left school and were fully engaged in education, training or work decreased significantly from 74.0% in 2019 to 69.3% in 2020, but then recovered to 73.9% in 2021.
- The percentage of 20–24-year-olds fully engaged in education, training or work decreased significantly from 75.5% in 2019 to 71.0% in 2020, but then rose to 73% in 2021.
- The apparent retention rates from Year 10 to Year 12 for all students dropped by 0.5 in 2021 to 81.6%. This may reflect the reduction in overall 2021 enrolments due to lower immigration. The rate also dropped by 1.0 to 60.5% for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students.
“Young people in the workplace were more affected than any other age group. This is reflected in the fall in employment and post-school education and training as a result of the pandemic, but it is encouraging to see some recovery in participation rates in 2021,” Mr de Carvalho said.
Data indicates that the school education sector overall responded well to the challenge of the COVID pandemic, with minimal impact to the measures and encouraging numbers for student enrolments and staffing.
- While the overall enrolment in government schools dipped slightly from 2020 (down 0.2%) due to slowed immigration over the past 2 years, both the Catholic and independent sector enrolments increased (up 1.1% and 3.6% respectively).
- There was a 2.4% increase in teachers and a 2.9% increase in staff numbers. As a result, there has been a slight decrease in the student to teacher ratio.
- Reduced immigration also resulted in a slight drop in the enrolment rate as a proportion of the population.
- Total enrolments at all levels of teacher training for 2020 has increased by 5.0%, reversing a downwards trend since 2014, and post-graduate enrolments increased 12.7% for 2020. The total number of completions of teacher training for 2020 has continued a downwards trend since 2014 (down 1.9% on 2019).
Australian Curriculum version 9.0 endorsed
01 April 2022 An Australian Curriculum that sets high expectations for what all students should know and be able to do, and supports improvement in Australia’s educational performance, has been endorsed by education ministers today.
"This updated curriculum is central element of the Australian education system that will help all students to become confident and creative individuals, successful learners, and active and informed community members. It was developed in partnership with teachers and curriculum experts from across all states and territories and school sectors and following extensive consultation”, said ACARA CEO, David de Carvalho.
“The Australian Curriculum reflects the priorities and expectations we hold for our young people, and this curriculum sets a new benchmark that Australians can be proud of.”
The new curriculum will be available on the new website in Term 2, 2022 and will be implemented by schools according to timelines set by their state and territory authorities.