Using the three dimensions of the Australian Curriculum


The three dimensions (learning areas, general capabilities and cross-curriculum priorities) provide teachers with the flexibility to cater for student diversity through personalised learning. Teachers can meet individual learning needs by incorporating explicit teaching of the general capabilities and/or cross-curriculum priorities through learning area content. The following animation demonstrates how the three dimensions interrelate.

The general capabilities and/or cross-curriculum priorities can support access to and progress through the learning area content. A focus on one or more of the capabilities and/or priorities can assist students with diverse needs as they learn to manage their own wellbeing, relate to others, make informed decisions about their lives, become citizens who behave with ethical integrity, relate to and communicate across cultures, work for the common good, and act with responsibility at local, regional and global levels.

Using the three dimensions of the Australian Curriculum, teachers can support students’ diverse needs by:

  • aligning individual learning goals with age-equivalent learning area content
  • providing opportunities for students to work at greater breadth and in more depth by using one or more of the cross-curriculum priorities to focus on a local, regional and/or global issue; or one or more of the general capabilities such as critical and creative thinking or ethical understanding
  • providing opportunities for students’ programs to focus on individual needs such as personal and social independence
  • providing students with opportunities to explore personal interests through engagement with issues such as environmental sustainability, cultural competence and/ or global citizenship
  • providing content that reflects a variety of cultures, environments and settings.

Using the three dimensions of the Australian Curriculum, teachers can:

  • draw on the general capabilities and cross-curriculum priorities to ensure that the substantial assets of students with diverse needs (strengths, goals and interests) are used in the delivery of Australian Curriculum content to enrich the learning of all students
  • systematically plan and teach age-equivalent content drawn from learning area content
  • align individual learning goals with age-equivalent learning area content
  • provide opportunities for students to work at greater breadth and in more depth
  • offer multiple points of entry and exit in tasks
  • use assistive and augmentative technology for students to engage with content
  • provide alternative representations of resources
  • stock the classroom with a range of quality resources to engage learners of different abilities
  • adjust the learning focus using one or more of the general capabilities
  • provide opportunities for students’ programs to focus on needs such as personal and social independence
  • add depth to learning area content using one or more of the cross-curriculum priorities by focussing on local, regional and/or global perspectives
  • motivate students through engagement with personal interests such as the environmental sustainability, cultural competence and/ or global citizenship
  • provide materials that reflect a variety of cultures, environments and settings such as those experienced by students from non-English-speaking environments.

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