General Capabilities in the Australian
Curriculum for Economics and Business
Bronwyn Hession and Lyn Kirkby
Economics and Business Educators NSW
From a curriculum design perspective,
establish the global and national
context and associated rationales for
the integration of general capabilities
into the school curriculum
 Analyse, at the ‘local’ scale, a case
study with specific examples of
student activities as vehicles for
targeting specific capabilities
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Explore the notion of Economics and
Business curriculum as the ‘natural
home’ for specific capabilities
 Respond to the implications for
practitioner action including further
research, evaluation and assessment
design.
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The General Capabilities in the Australian
Curriculum: an overview
The Global context: practice elsewhere, including
the ATC21S project
General capabilities in practice: a case study using
the Board of Studies NSW and the IB Middle Years
Programme perspectives
The ‘natural home’ proposition: which of the
general capabilities are ‘at home’ in Economics and
Business curriculum?
The ‘so what ?’question: implications for
practitioners and potential benefits for students.
An overview
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‘a key dimension of the Australian
curriculum’
Melbourne Declaration as the origin,
essential, twenty first century learning
build upon state and territory initiatives
encompass knowledge, skills, behaviours and
dispositions
operate across the whole curriculum
developed to inform the writing of the
Australian curriculum – will be revisited
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a bridge between the aspirational goals of the
Melbourne Declaration and the ‘on the ground’
discipline content in each learning area
an ‘investment’ in the curriculum – to ensure that
the knowledge and skills that students learn and
acquire have some currency and value in contexts
enabling opportunities to generate greater equity
and access , enhancing engagement by making
learning more relevant to the lives of students.
your view?
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‘An increase of 1% in a country’s literacy scores relative to the
international average is associated with an eventual 2.5% rise
in labour productivity and a 1.5% rise in GDP per head’.
(Public Investment in Skills, CD Howe Institute, Coulombe &
Tremblay, 2005)
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‘Major changes in the world …are placing new demands on
Australian education’. (Melbourne Declaration on Educational
Goals for Young Australians, MCEETYA December 2008)
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‘Making Australia’s Education System its Next Competitive
Advantage’ (Business Council of Australia Report, 2007)
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‘The new funding arrangements will…make real the
shared aspirations for Australian schooling … for
the cultural richness, competitiveness and
prosperity of the nation’. (Review of Funding for
Schooling Final Report, December 2011)
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‘Madam Deputy Speaker, we know that the best
way for Australians to make ends meet is to ensure
they can seize opportunities to work.’
(human capital theory, economic rationalism, utility of
education, education or training)
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Most education systems have their
own ‘version’ of general capabilities –
core skills, capacities, attributes
key competencies….
 Iowa has ‘Universal constructs:
Essential for 21st Century Success’
(productivity is one)
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a confident person who has a strong sense of right and
wrong, is adaptable and resilient, knows himself, is
discerning in judgment, thinks independently and critically,
and communicates effectively;
a self-directed learner who takes responsibility for his own
learning, who questions, reflects and perseveres in the
pursuit of learning;
an active contributor who is able to work effectively in teams,
exercises initiative, takes calculated risks, is innovative and
strives for excellence; and,
a concerned citizen who is rooted to Singapore, has a strong
civic consciousness, is informed, and takes an active role in
bettering the lives of others around him.
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Capabilities for living and lifelong learning
The New Zealand Curriculum identifies five
key competencies:
thinking
using language, symbols, and texts
managing self
relating to others
participating and contributing
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Assessment and Teaching of 21st Century Skills
Project
http://atc21s.org/
‘ATC21S is an international research effort aimed
at empowering students with the right skills to
succeed in the 21st-century workplace’
Sponsored by Cisco, Intel and Microsoft
Development of complex online tasks – ‘like social
media games’
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ATC21S is developing methods to assess skills that
will form the basis for 21st-century curricula, with
an emphasis on communication and collaboration,
problem-solving, citizenship, and digital fluency.
Ways of thinking. Creativity, critical thinking,
problem-solving, decision-making and learning
Ways of working. Communication and collaboration
Tools for working. Information and
communications technology (ICT) and information
literacy
Skills for living in the world. Citizenship, life and
career, and personal and social responsibility
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‘But PISA is set to change. With new technological
and other innovations changing the way we assess
students, we can now look beyond students' ability
to read, write or do math.
So called “soft skills” like collaboration and
communication have been notoriously difficult to
assess. But now the Assessment and Teaching of
21st Century Skills (ATC21S) project, which is
sponsored by Cisco, Microsoft and Intel is breaking
new ground in assessing these vital skills’.
(Source: Changing tests and the PM’s 2025 goal for schools The
Conversation http://theconversation.edu.au/, 21 September 2012)
How is learning theory reflected in the
General Capabilities?
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Knowledge arises from actions and people actively
acquire knowledge for themselves (Flavell, 163: 82, in
Millar, 2007)
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Succession of new structures in the brain result
from active construction of knowledge and learning
(Inhelder & Piaget, 1958: 338, in Millar, 2007)
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Disequilibrium between mind and environment
motivates cognitive development (Piaget, 1977: 13, in Millar,
2007)
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Saw communication as important in learning
(Inhelder
& Piaget, 1958: 338, in Millar, 2007)
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Importance of metacognition- process by which
individuals move to a higher stage of cognition
(Piaget, 1971: 320, Flavel, 1963: 263, In Millar, 2007)
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Influence most significant since the 1960s (Millar, 2007)
Stressed role of language and social interaction in
the construction of knowledge (Vygotsky, 2004: 437, in Millar,
2007)
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Significant contribution to constructivist
approaches to teaching and learning (Millar, 2007)
Learning and cognitive development linked to active
participation of the learner- talking and writing
facilitate learning (Kuhn & Hand, 1996: 123; Barnes & Todd, 1977:
15, in Millar, 2007)
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Zone of Proximal Development: just beyond the
individual’s intellectual comfort zone. Required for
cognitive development (Vygotsky, 1978; 84, in Millar, 2007)
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Interconnected
Sequenced across continua
◦ Linked to changes in conceptual capacity of
learners
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Recognition each student’s pace of
development, ‘prior experience, sense of self
in the world and cognitive capacity’ (ACARA, 2012)
Operate across the whole curriculum
◦ Need to be contextualised in subject areas
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Constructivist frame
◦ Connected to prior learning
◦ Importance of context, e.g. culture
Making links in a case study context
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Monte Sant’ Angelo Mercy College
◦ Catholic Independent Girls School in North Sydney
◦ Delivers NSW Board of Studies curriculum and
International Baccalaureate Middle Years
Programme curriculum in years 7-10
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BOS and IB together already reflect significant
aspects of the General Capabilities
We will look at
◦ NSW BOS Commerce Syllabus
◦ IB Middle Years Programme Learner Profile and
Areas of Interaction
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Literacy
Numeracy
ICT
Critical and creative
thinking
Personal and social
capability
Ethical behaviour
Intercultural
understanding
General Capabilities
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IB learners strive to be:
◦ Inquirers
◦ Knowledgeable
◦ Thinkers
◦ Communicators
◦ Principled
◦ Open-minded
◦ Caring
◦ Risk-takers
◦ Balanced
◦ Reflective
IB Learner Profile
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The IB MYP Areas of Interaction can also be
related to the General Capabilities
They are:
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Approaches to Learning
Community and Service
Health and Social Education
Environments
Human Ingenuity
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Organisation
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◦ Time management, self
management
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Collaboration
◦ Self-awareness and selfevaluation
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Communication Literacy
◦ Literacy, being informed,
informing others
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Information Literacy
◦ Accessing, selecting and
organising information,
referencing
Thinking
◦ Generating ideas,
planning & inquiring,
applying knowledge &
concepts, identifying
problems & creating
solutions
◦ Working in groups,
accepting others, personal
challenges
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Reflection
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Transfer
◦ Making connections,
inquiring in different
contexts
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Community and service
◦ How do we live in relation to others? How can I
contribute to the community? How can I help
others?
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Human ingenuity
◦ Why and how do we create? What are the
consequences?
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Environments
◦ Where do we live? What resources do we have or
need? What are my responsibilities?
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Health and social education
◦ How do I think and act? How am I changing? How
can I look after myself and others?
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The K-10 Curriculum Framework
Rationale
Objectives
◦ Knowledge, understanding and skills
◦ Values and attitudes
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Outcomes
Cross-curriculum content- significant overlap
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ICT
Work, Employment and Enterprise
Aboriginal and Indigenous
Civics and Citizenship
Difference and Diversity
Environment
Gender
Key Competencies (there are 7…)
Literacy
Multicultural
Numeracy
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Refer to the handout that summarises BOS
and MYP against the General Capabilities
◦ Consider your own context
◦ What could you add if you are in NSW?
◦ Other jurisdictions? How much cross over for you?
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Add comments in the blank boxes
…and the National Professional Standards for
Teachers
◦ Of what significance the National Professional
Standards for Teachers?
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Handout includes 4 tasks
Overview sheet links tasks to the general
capabilities
Activity: How might you use these tasks in
your context?
Which of the General Capabilities find their
natural home in Economics and Business
Education?
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The inclusion of Economics and Business
curriculum in the Australian curriculum is
evidence of national consensus about the
entitlement of every student to quality
learning in this curriculum area.
Economics and Business curriculum has a
unique and powerful contribution to make to
the realisation of the goals articulated in the
Melbourne Declaration.
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Economics and Business education is a
natural home for these general capabilities :
Critical and creative thinking – e.g.enterprise
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Personal and social capability – e.g.consumer
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Ethical behaviour – e.g. business conduct and
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and entrepreneurship
and financial literacy
the operation of governments
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1. Claiming the territory – different battles in
different jurisdictions?
2. Assessment and reporting (driving the
curriculum?)
3. Programming – to embed or extract?
4. Opportunity cost of primacy of the
capabilities?
ACARA. (2012). Draft Shape of the Australian Curriculum: Economics and
Business
ACARA. (2012). General Capabilities in the Australian Curriculum
Board of Studies NSW. (2003). Commerce Years 7-10 Syllabus
Business Educators’ Australasia Inc (2008). Business Education in the Australian
Curriculum
Millar, S. (2007). How Role Play Addresses the Difficulties Students Perceive
when Writing Reflectively about the Concepts They are Learning in Science.
Unpublished M Ed (Hons) Thesis, University of Western Sydney
Websites:
http://www.ibo.org/myp/curriculum/interaction/
http://atc21s.org/
http://theconversation.edu.au/
http://www.mceecdya.edu.au/mceecdya/melbourne_declaration,25979.html
Thank you !