Overview
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Read a short glossary of key terms related to implementing the Victorian Curriculum F–10.
► For definitions of curriculum-specific terms (e.g. Geography terms), explore the curriculum area glossaries in the Resource Hub.
Table: Key terms related to implementing the Victorian Curriculum F–10
| Term | Explanation |
|---|---|
| achievement standard | Statements that describe what students are typically able to understand and do on completion of a curriculum level or band. Achievement standards are the basis for assessing and reporting student achievement. A single sentence or group of sentences from an achievement standard is known as an achievement standard extract. |
| capabilities | The 4 capabilities are Critical and Creative Thinking, Ethical Capability, Intercultural Capability, and Personal and Social Capability. |
| content description | Specific and discrete information that identifies the content teachers are expected to teach and students are expected to learn. |
| cross-curriculum priorities | The 3 cross-curriculum priorities are Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Histories and Cultures, Asia and Australia’s Engagement with Asia, and Sustainability. |
| curriculum | The core set of knowledge and skills that students will have the opportunity to learn as a result of their schooling, arranged as a set of progressions that define increasingly complex knowledge, skills and concepts. The Victorian Curriculum F–10 is the mandated curriculum for Victorian government and Catholic schools and can be used by Victorian independent schools as an approved curriculum. |
| curriculum areas | The 8 learning areas (and their disciplines) and the 4 capabilities. |
| curriculum area map | A VCAA planning template used to identify where achievement standards and content descriptions are explicitly addressed at a curriculum level. |
| curriculum area plan | A VCAA planning template used to plan the development and sequence of related topics across year levels (for example, Prep to Year 6), helping teachers and leaders to identify curriculum focus, time allocation and content coverage at a whole-school level. |
| elaborations | Non-mandated, advisory examples that demonstrate how the curriculum may be transformed into a learning activity or opportunity. |
| foundational skills | The 3 foundational skills are Digital Literacy, Literacy and Numeracy. |
| learning areas |
The 8 learning areas are:
|
| level/band description | Statements that provide an overview of the achievement standard and content descriptions within a curriculum level or band. |
| strands | Key organising elements within each curriculum area. |
| sub-strands | Supplementary organising elements within some curriculum areas. |
| teaching and learning unit | A guide to the delivery of a series of lessons on a topic or theme that maps to the Victorian Curriculum F–10 content descriptions and relevant achievement standard(s) (e.g. Year 7 History Ancient Egypt unit). |
| whole-school curriculum overview | A curriculum implementation plan for an individual school, created by school leadership, covering the teaching of every learning area and discipline (along with every capability and cross-curriculum priority) across the school for a given period (e.g. 2 years, one year, a school term). |
| year-level plan | A curriculum implementation plan by year level that includes all areas of the curriculum. |