fyi : back issues
Summer 2004 - Thinking Curriculum
At last: A curriculum framework that supports an inquiry approach
Mary Manning
A great deal of research and discussion has taken place around the issues of student engagement and connectedness in the early and middle years of schooling, as well as independent learning and thinking throughout P-10. Further to this, the Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority (VCAA) has examined best practice in Victorian schools and researched national and international trends in curriculum, finding that: “The broad endpoint sought by many of the current reform initiatives is the provision of an educational experience that prepares students to actively participate in and contribute to the current and emerging economy, and to effectively respond to and engage constructively with rapid social and cultural change” (VCAA, 2003). In other words, in shaping the Victorian Essential Learning Standards (VELS), the question is asked: What do students need to know and be able to do to succeed in the future?
It’s about lifelong learning!
The VCAA (2004a) contends that: “Students need to develop a set of knowledge, skills and behaviours which will prepare them for success in a world which is complex, rapidly changing, rich in information and communications technology, demanding high-order knowledge and understanding, and increasingly global in its outlook and influences”. A curriculum designed to meet these needs implies a range of generic or essential skills that apply across all disciplines and strands, including:
• literacy and communication skills
• information and ICT skills
• thinking skills such as inquiry, reasoning, problem-solving and evaluation.
It also implies organisational and employability skills, such as the ability to work in teams and develop independence. In other words, it clearly implies the development of skills and attributes that promote lifelong learning and could loosely be termed ‘information literacy’.
Breaking this down further, the adoption of such a curriculum framework also means that our approach to information literacy and lifelong learning skills must centre on strategies that encourage student engagement through authentic or real-life situations or problem-solving. An inquiry-based or constructivist learning environment that empowers students to take responsibility for their own learning will provide opportunities to achieve the goals set down in the VELS. The integration of ICT is also a major factor in the creation of a learning environment where students feel both engaged and challenged. The newly announced Victorian Essential Learning Standards, however, are even more explicit. The new structure consists of three intertwined and equal strands:
• physical, personal and social learning
• discipline-based learning
• interdisciplinary learning.
Within each of these strands of learning, the essential knowledge, skills and behaviours are organised into domains with further divisions into dimensions. (See http://vels.vcaa.edu.au for a more detailed description of the VELS.)
Opportunities for a focus on the library
Opportunities for the role of the school library and the teacher-librarian abound within this curriculum structure. The personal learning domain, ICT domain, and thinking domain immediately spring to mind – let alone the whole approach acknowledging the equal importance of interdisciplinary and discipline-based learning.
Because reporting to parents will be based around the strands and domains, it means that schools will “be able to give greater recognition to the skills which are part of the Interdisciplinary Learning strand and to personal learning which is part of the Physical, Personal and Social Learning strand” (VCAA 2004a, p. 3). This does not mean that schools will have to allocate specific time to teach ‘thinking’ or ‘problem-solving’, but will be able to structure and design their curriculum to respond to these standards.
What a wonderful opportunity this presents for teacher-librarians to lead the curriculum reform at their own school and raise those issues that have always been clear to teacher-librarians and are now recognised by the VELS as vital for the implementation of essential learnings.
2005: A year of validation and action for teacher-librarians
How should teacher-librarians take advantage of this curriculum direction? During the validation year, teacher-librarians should:
• familiarise themselves with the Victorian Essential Learning Standards
• identify opportunities for the school library to lead the way in changing approaches to learning and inquiry across the school
• be involved in the whole-school audit of existing curriculum programs
• work with the curriculum leadership team to prepare a plan for 2006 and beyond that reflects the new approach
• work with classroom teachers and explore ways of using the new learning standards
• revisit units of work and research assignments to ensure that they reflect the new approach.
The Victorian Essential Learning Standards is a curriculum approach that acknowledges the cross- curricula skills and learning processes so long identified and understood by the teacher-librarian. This reform is an opportunity too good to miss – we must take the initiative and lead the way!
References
Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority 2003, Curriculum Victoria: Foundations for the Future – Summary Report of an Analysis of National and International Curriculum and Standards Documents for the Compulsory Years, VCAA, Melbourne.
Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority 2004a, Introducing the Victorian Essential Learning Standards, VCAA, Melbourne.
Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority 2004b, Victorian Essential Learning Standards, VCAA, viewed 20 December 2004, http://vels.vcaa.vic.edu.au/.