Introduction
ACARA is committed to the development of a high-quality curriculum for all Australian students, one that promotes excellence and equity in education.
The Australian Curriculum provides opportunities for teachers to develop inclusive teaching and learning programs that build on students’ interests, strengths, goals and learning needs to support all students to achieve their potential. The diversity of students, including students with disability, those who are gifted and talented and those for whom English is an additional language or dialect, can present both extraordinary promise and potential challenges for schools. ACARA is committed to providing a curriculum that supports all students to achieve their full potential. Students may have one or more of the elements of student diversity represented on this page.
An Australian Curriculum for all students
The Alice Springs (Mparntwe) Education Declaration (Education Council, 2019) affirms the goals of the Melbourne Declaration (2008). The Melbourne Declaration’s goals provide the policy framework for the Australian Curriculum, to promote excellence and equity and enable successful learning opportunities for all students.
The ways in which the Australian Curriculum addresses these goals are detailed in The Shape of the Australian Curriculum Version 4 (ACARA, 2012). The propositions that continue to shape the development of the Australian Curriculum establish expectations that the Australian Curriculum is appropriate for all students. These propositions include:
- that each student can learn and that the needs of every student are important
- that each student is entitled to knowledge, understanding and skills that provide a foundation for successful and lifelong learning and participation in the Australian community
- that high expectations should be set for each student, as teachers account for the current level of learning of individual students and the different rates at which students develop
- that the needs and interests of students will vary, and that schools and teachers will plan from the curriculum in ways that respond to those needs and interests.
