Western Australia has one curriculum for Pre-primary to Year 10 and another for Years 11 and 12. Both curriculums have been adopted and adapted from the Australian Curriculum.
Schools use the Western Australian curriculum for Pre-primary to Year 10 to:
- plan student learning programs
- assess student progress
- report student achievement to parents.
The Western Australian curriculum outlines the content for students to be taught each year. Achievement standards describe expected student performance in relation to the curriculum content for each year level.
The curriculum is organised into eight learning areas. Each learning area contains a year-level syllabus.
The Eight Learning Areas
- English
- Health and Physical Education
- Humanities and Social Sciences
- Languages
- Mathematics
- Science
- Technologies
- The Arts
Kindergarten Curriculum
Kindergarten is not a compulsory year of schooling in Western Australia.
Planning for children in the Kindergarten year is supported by the Kindergarten Curriculum Guidelines (the Guidelines).
The Guidelines are part of the Western Australian Curriculum and Assessment Outline and draw on the Australian Government’s Early Years Learning Framework (the Framework). They build on the following five learning development areas from the Framework.
Curriculum for students with disability or additional learning needs
Many students with disability and additional learning needs are able to access the Western Australian curriculum for Pre-primary to Year 10 without modification of the curriculum and assessment.
In creating an individual education plan for a student with a disability or additional needs, teachers utilise the Western Australian curriculum for Kindergarten to Year 10. Schools negotiate any variation to the Western Australian curriculum with the student and her/his parents/carers, and document the decisions made.
Teachers may also draw on Abilities Based Learning Education, Western Australia (ABLEWA) Stages A to D in designing teaching and learning programs for students with disability and additional needs. ABLEWA is a program that uses curriculum materials and an assessment tool (ABLES) that enhances the resources available to teachers to support the teaching and learning of students with disability and additional learning needs.
The ABLEWA curriculum maps to the Western Australian curriculum for Pre-primary to Year 10 and provides specific content across four stages of difficulty prior to the Pre-primary curriculum content.
Curriculum for students with English as an Additional Language or Dialect
The Western Australian curriculum uses Standard Australian English (SAE) which is the variety of spoken and written English used formally in Australian schools. Students whose first language is a language or dialect other than SAE may require additional support to assist them to develop proficiency in SAE.
EAL/D students are generally placed in Western Australian schools at the year level appropriate for their age. The cognitive development and life experiences of EAL/D students may not match their English language proficiency. In such cases, EAL/D students may require additional support to access the Western Australian curriculum.
Part of the process to personalise learning for EAL/D students involves consultation with the student and parent/caregiver. Teachers and schools may need to enlist the support of Teacher’s Assistants, Aboriginal and Islander Education Officers (AIEOs) or interpreters to support communication with EAL/D families, caregivers and communities.