DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION AND CHILDREN’S SERVICES
Implementing Australian Curriculum T-9
May 2013
Term 2 update
Australian Curriculum: Science and History
As all NT schools are due to commence implementation of the Australian Curriculum
Science and History by the beginning of Semester 2 2013 at the latest, it is envisaged that
school professional learning plans are in place to develop teachers’ understandings and
knowledge of these learning areas. An extensive range of
resources, teaching materials and professional learning courses are
available now on Learning Links to support teachers in their
teaching of Science and History. Over the next few weeks multiple
year level materials (year level plans and exemplar unit plans) for
History and Science will be uploaded.
To assist teachers in implementing Science, the Academy of
Science curriculum materials, Science by Doing, for Years 7 to 10
will be available online to all educators from July 2013. For further
information: www.science.org.au/sciencebydoing
Professional learning notes for planning, teaching and assessing
the Australian Curriculum have been developed for Science and
History and will assist school curriculum leaders to access relevant support material on
Learning Links to facilitate professional learning within their schools. These notes can also
be used by individual teachers to build their capacity to implement the Australian
Curriculum: Science and History effectively.
Curriculum, assessment and reporting policy review
The draft Northern Territory Board of Studies Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Policy
and Guidelines T-9 is now available for consultation. All school leaders and teachers are
asked to review and use the draft policy and guidelines and provide feedback on the
usability by the end of this term. The Policy and Guidelines and survey can be accessed
from http://www.education.nt.gov.au/teachers-educators/curriculum-ntbos/ntbos.
New handwriting resource
The new Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Policy and Guidelines explicitly refer to the
use of Victorian Modern Cursive Script as the handwriting
style for NT schools. Handwriting is a content descriptor in
the Australian Curriculum: English.
Formal handwriting lessons need
to be developmentally sequenced
across the year levels and require
consistent use of letter formation.
A laminated set of handwriting
resources have been developed
and will be sent to all schools.
Additional sets can be downloaded
via a search on: Learning Links
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Australian Curriculum learning area development
Consultation forums for Languages (Chinese and Italian), Health and PE and Technologies
have been conducted since the Term One update. Whilst some schools have been trialling
the draft curricula, formal NT responses for each of the draft curricula have been submitted
to ACARA.
The draft Foundation to Year 10 Australian Curriculum: Languages is being released for
public consultation during May and will be available until 25 July 2013. The schedule for
consultation release is as follows:
13 May 2013 – French, Indonesian and Korean
20 May 2013 – Modern Greek, Spanish, Vietnamese, draft Framework for Aboriginal
Languages
and Torres Strait Islander Languages
27 May 2013 – Arabic, German, Japanese
The draft materials will be published on the Australian Curriculum consultation website
(www.australiancurriculum.edu.au/consultation) which is designed to enable users to
register and provide feedback through an online survey.
The latest opportunities for consultation are:

Economics and Business

Civics and Citizenship.
It is particularly important that primary school teachers are represented in the consultation
so that we can be assured these curricula are age-appropriate in the content. Consultation
forums for these two Learning Areas are being held on 6 and 13 June with expressions of
interest to participate in the forums posted on What’s New on Learning Links.
ACARA’s Humanities and Social Sciences encompasses the learning areas of History,
Civics and Citizenship, Geography, and Economics and Business. As each of these
learning areas are implemented in the NT, the relevant strand or element in the Northern
Territory Curriculum Framework (NTCF) Studies of Society and the Environment (SOSE)
will be removed e.g. Geography replaces Environments.
The Geography curriculum is now approved by Ministers and published online as of
Monday May 20th 2013. We encourage teachers to commence familiarising themselves with
the new curriculum. Getting Started advice for Geography will be available soon on
Learning Links.
Australian Curriculum implementation in the Northern Territory
The ongoing publication of new Australian Curriculum (AC) learning areas and subjects
requires ongoing adjustments to what teachers are required to teach, assess and report on.
As each new AC learning area becomes mandated for use in the NT, the relevant
achievement standard will replace the NT standards.
Advice regarding the NT implementation timeline for the remaining Australian Curriculum
learning areas and subjects e.g. Geography, The Arts etc. will shortly be released from the
NT Board of Studies.
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Any new announcements will be posted on the What’s new? column in Learning Links,
including alerts about new uploaded materials.
For further queries contact:
Directorate Managers, Teaching and Learning
Katherine/Darwin regions:
Sharni Wilson sharni.wilson@nt.gov.au
Palmerston/Arnhem regions:
Learne Dunne learne.dunne@nt.gov.au
Central Australia:
Margie Kesby margie.kesby@nt.gov.au
Learning Links:
http://ed.ntschools.net/ll/Pages/default.aspxhttp://ed.ntschools.net/ll/Pages/default.aspx)
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