To support the new Queensland Certificate of Education (QCE) system, the Queensland Curriculum and Assessment Authority (QCAA) redeveloped and revised its senior syllabuses to align with the Australian Curriculum and reflect the new assessment model.
Literature reviews
The QCAA engaged academics to undertake literature reviews for each learning area. This was the first stage of the syllabus redevelopment process.
The literature reviews provided an overview of current research focusing on:
- emerging national and international trends in the discipline, including advances in assessment and contemporary pedagogical approaches
- how these trends might be reflected in syllabuses
- comparisons of QCAA syllabuses with syllabuses from other Australian and international jurisdictions and Vocational Education and Training (VET) qualifications
- connections with the Foundation (Prep) to Year 12 Australian Curriculum
- the role of identified skills for 21st century learners in senior secondary curriculum.
Some learning areas also have addendums. These provide further information about issues that were raised in the literature review. The literature reviews and addendums are listed below:
- Business and Economics (PDF, 378.1 KB)
- English (PDF, 186.2 KB)
- Health and Physical Education (PDF, 269.6 KB)
- Humanities and Social Sciences (PDF, 268.7 KB)
- Mathematics (PDF, 855.7 KB)
- Languages (PDF, 290.8 KB)
- Science (PDF, 214.6 KB)
- Technologies (PDF, 400.3 KB)
- The Arts (PDF, 268.3 KB)
Applied syllabuses
The QCAA developed Applied syllabuses for the new QCE system from Subject Area Syllabuses (SASs).
- Last updated:
- 20 July 2026
