Welcome to this presentation on Understanding the Aboriginal and
Torres Strait Islander histories and cultures cross-curriculum priority for Prep to Year 10.
The QCAA acknowledges the Traditional Owners and Traditional Custodians of the lands on
which we meet today. We pay our respects to their Elders and their descendants,
who continue cultural and spiritual connections to Country, and we extend that respect to Aboriginal
people and Torres Strait Islander people here today. I also acknowledge that we have a number
of people joining us from other regions of Queensland. I would also like to acknowledge
the Traditional Custodians and Owners of those regions and pay my respects to their Elders and
their descendants. We thank them for sharing their cultures and spiritualities and recognise
the important contribution of this knowledge to our understanding of this place we call home.
Before we begin, take a moment to pause the recording and reflect on how you currently
embed the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander histories and cultures cross-curriculum priority
in your planning. As we move through the presentation, you might want to reflect
on your current curriculum programs to identify strengths, limitations and opportunities and make
decisions about your actions moving forward. The goal for the session is to reflect upon the
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander histories and cultures cross-curriculum priority that will,
from this point forward, be referred to as the priority, and consider ways to enrich the
content of learning areas, and resources that may support planning. You will know if you are
successful if you can identify: • the conceptual framework
and aspects of the priority • where to find possible connections
between the priority and the learning areas and • resources to support your planning.
We hope the session will validate some of the strategies you are using and spark further
reflection as you continue planning with Version 9.0 of the Australian Curriculum.
In this session, we will use terminology that relates to the priority. The terms
you see on screen will be, at times, used interchangeably and reflect the intent
of using respectful and culturally responsive language. The Australian Curriculum Version 9.0
acknowledges that it uses the term First Nations Australians but recognises that there are terms
preferred in particular areas and locations. We will begin by building a shared understanding
of the priority and how it is structured, followed by identifying connections between the priority
and the Australian Curriculum Version 9.0 learning areas. Finally we will reflect
on the resources that are available to deepen our understanding of the priority and support
planning to embed the priority authentically. Let’s begin by looking at where the priority
sits as part of the Australian Curriculum Version 9.0 and build a shared understanding
of the priority and how it is structured. As we focus on the priority, and all three
cross-curriculum priorities for that matter, it’s important to consider and reflect on the goals of
education in Australia, as expressed in the Alice Springs (Mparntwe) Education Declaration, 2019.
The vision is ‘for a world class education system that encourages and supports
every student to be the very best they can be, no matter where they live or what kind of
learning challenges they may face’. With this in mind, the Declaration sets out two distinct, but
interrelated goals, as can be seen on screen. The three-dimensional nature of the Australian
curriculum — its learning areas, general capabilities and cross-curriculum priorities — set
out essential knowledge, understanding and skills all young Australians need so they will be able
to learn, contribute to and shape their world now and in the future. The cross-curriculum
priorities support the Australian Curriculum to be a relevant, contemporary and engaging
curriculum that reflects national, regional and global contexts. The priorities provide
opportunities to enrich the content of learning areas where appropriate, allowing students to
engage with and better understand their world. Cross-curriculum priorities are incorporated
in learning area content in ways that are appropriate and authentic; they are not separate
learning areas or subjects. In particular, the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander histories
and cultures priority provides opportunities for all students to deepen their knowledge
of Australia by learning about the world’s oldest continuous living cultures. Through this priority,
the Australian Curriculum provides Aboriginal students and Torres Strait Islander students with
the ability to see themselves, their identities and cultures reflected in what they’re taught,
to drive deeper engagement in their learning. Reflecting on the three-dimensional structure of
the Australian Curriculum, we can see that the Education Declaration underscores our commitment
to ensuring all students learn about the diversity of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures,
while supporting young Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples to thrive in their
education and every facet of life. To examine the priority in more detail,
we will focus on its structure, key connections between the priority and learning areas,
and additional resources that can support planning. In doing this, it supports us to
identify where we can authentically embed the priority within the learning area content to
support and deepen student engagement with the respective learning area.
Let’s begin by exploring the structure of the priority.
On screen is the conceptual framework for the priority. It provides a scaffold to
support teachers in developing the knowledge, understanding and skills for the priority and
revolves around the central ideas of Living Communities and Identity. Identity is central
to the sense of self and belonging derived from cultural heritage, while Living Communities
highlight the contemporary existence and vitality of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples
within Australian society. These concepts are linked to the deep knowledge, traditions and
holistic world views of Aboriginal communities and/or Torres Strait Islander communities. The
framework is organised around three interconnected aspects: Country/Place, Culture and People.
As we explore the aspects and you reflect on your planning, please note that there have been
changes made to Version 8.4 of the Australian Curriculum in Version 9.0. On the screen,
the left column shows Version 8.4. On the right, you can see Version 9.0. For example,
within the organising ideas of the aspect of Country/Place, you will notice changes including
the extended detail about the experiences of First Nations Peoples and the use of respectful
and culturally responsive language. A comparison table is available on the Australian Curriculum
Version 9.0 website in the downloads section. This table identifies the changes for all three
aspects of the conceptual framework. Let’s now look more closely at the three
interrelated aspects of the priority. As we move through each aspect, take a moment to pause the
recording and read through each organising idea in more detail. Within the aspect of Country/Place,
these organising ideas recognise the special connection of First Nations Australians to
Country/Place and acknowledge the impacts of colonisation on their ownership of,
and access to, Country/Place. The second aspect of the framework
is Culture. These organising ideas examine the cultural diversity of the First Peoples
of Australia and the First Nations Peoples of the Torres Strait and recognise Australian
First Nations Peoples as belonging to the world’s oldest continuous cultures.
The third aspect of the framework is People. These organising ideas recognise that Australia
has two distinct First Nations Peoples, each encompassing a diversity of nations and peoples,
and examines the significant contributions of First Nations Australians’ histories and cultures
on a local, national and global scale. Take a moment now to pause the recording
to consider how a deeper understanding of the priority, including the aspects of Country/Place,
Culture and People, can be used to inform your planning to authentically embed Aboriginal and
Torres Strait Islander histories and cultures in teaching and learning.
Now that we have explored each of the three interrelated aspects of the framework, let’s
turn our attention to how we may plan to embed the priority where appropriate and authentic in the
Australian Curriculum v9.0 learning areas. Elements for effective planning
Let’s begin with the elements for effective planning. This resource is available on the
QCAA website accessed using the QR code on screen. The elements for effective planning
advice outlines the six interdependent elements, represented in the diagram. The elements can be
used in any sequence and are considered when planning to strengthen alignment of curriculum,
teaching, learning, assessment and reporting. The elements should be considered at all levels
of curriculum and assessment planning. When planning to authentically and appropriately
incorporate cross-curriculum priorities, schools consider their context and their students. This is
represented in the centre of the diagram. Today we will be looking broadly at the
elements of identifying the curriculum and sequencing teaching and learning.
Let’s begin with Identify curriculum. As mentioned earlier, the cross-curriculum priorities are
incorporated in learning area content in ways that are appropriate and authentic; they are not
separate learning areas or subjects. Each priority includes aspects and organising ideas that provide
a scaffold to support teachers in developing the knowledge, understanding and skills of the
priority and promoting connections between the priority and learning area content.
The cross-curriculum priorities support and deepen student engagement with learning area content and
may be developed within the context of learning areas. Information about this can be found in
the key connections section. In the Key connections section,
additional information is provided on how the cross-curriculum priority of Aboriginal
and Torres Strait Islander histories and cultures may be developed in the context of
each learning area. When developing teaching and learning sequences that address this priority,
teachers are encouraged to: • draw on their school’s context
to support and inform the integration of the priority within their individual setting
• use the aspects and organising ideas of the priority as scaffolding to relate and
develop content knowledge, understanding and skills within the learning area/s.
Some examples of the connections made are: • in English, students examine literary texts
that include events, Country/Place, identities and languages of First Nations Australians
• in Humanities and Social Sciences, students explore and deepen their knowledge of Aboriginal
peoples and Torres Strait Islander peoples as the world’s oldest continuous living cultures
and First Nations peoples of Australia • in The Arts, students learn about the
central place of the arts in the oldest continuous living cultures in the world
• in Health and Physical Education, students may investigate the origins,
purpose and history of traditional and contemporary First Nations Australian games.
There is also information available to educators in the Downloads section.
The downloads may assist teachers to deepen their understanding of the priority.
One of the downloadable resources is the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander
histories and cultures glossary. The glossary is a useful reference
to be used in conjunction with your reading and planning as it provides
a greater understanding of the terminology used throughout the curriculum documents.
The QCAA has developed a suite of resources to support teachers to plan to embed the Australian
Curriculum’s cross-curriculum priorities. The resource on screen shows where content
specifically related to the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander histories and
cultures priority appears in learning area achievement standards and content
descriptions. This resource is a great place to start planning to embed the priority by finding
the explicit links to learning area content. For example, a secondary Humanities and Social
Sciences teacher might identify there are content descriptions related to the
priority in Year 8 Civics and Citizenship, Economics and Business, and Geography.
For this example, we will use Year 8 Geography as a way to incorporate the priority in learning
area content. We can use the Australian Curriculum to look at aspects of the priority and organising
ideas mapped to the content description. The hand symbol indicates that there is an identified
connection between the content description and this priority. By selecting the icon,
it will connect you to the relevant aspect/s and organising idea/s. For this content description,
the teaching and learning of the value of landscape and landforms may be connected
to the aspects of Culture and Country/ Place. Alternatively, when planning to embed the priority
within teaching and learning, you might go to the aspect of the priority first. As
you can see for the Country/Place aspect of the conceptual framework on the left of the screen,
there are symbols that represent the learning areas connected to an organising idea. Selecting
the learning area symbol will allow you to see the related content description. It also allows
you to see connections to learning areas where the priority is not explicitly addressed in the
achievement standards or content descriptions, by linking to content elaborations. This indicates
that there may still be opportunities for the priority to be authentically incorporated.
Take a moment now to pause the recording and explore the connections between the priority
and a learning area and year level or band of your choice. Identify the connections
made in the Australian Curriculum and consider how by embedding the priority,
learning might be enriched in your context. Reflect on the vision and goals of the Mpartnwe
Education Declaration, the aspects of the priority and the students in your context.
We will now take a moment to reflect on the resources we have explored so far,
along with some additional resources to consider how we might use these to effectively plan to
embed the priority in learning area content. Taking us back for a moment to the elements
for effective planning that are considered when planning to strengthen alignment of curriculum,
teaching, learning, assessment and reporting. This session we have used resources that
help us to identify curriculum and sequence teaching and learning.
Key resources that can support educators to plan to embed the priority can be accessed
on the QCAA website. These include the advice and resource documents for the cross-curriculum
priorities. To access these resources, use the QR code on screen or follow these steps:
1. Navigate to the Prep–Year 10 tab. 2. Select Australian Curriculum in the side bar.
3. Look for the section related to cross-curriculum priorities.
Cross-curriculum priorities resources By selecting the advice accordion, you will see
the Embedding the cross-curriculum priorities: Advice for schools document. This document
contains relevant considerations for planning and mapping of the three cross-curriculum priorities
in the Australian Curriculum achievement standards and content descriptions — with
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander histories and cultures represented in blue.
Under the Resources accordion you will find an individual factsheet for each of
the cross-curriculum priorities. By selecting the Resources accordion you can click to expand three
resources, one for each cross-curriculum priority — with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander
histories and cultures listed first. This is where you will find information
about the priority; the aspects of the conceptual framework, the organising ideas,
and the mapping of the priority to learning area achievement standards and content descriptions for
each year level. A reminder to note, where the priority is not explicitly addressed,
there may still be opportunities for the priority to be authentically incorporated.
Further information about Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander perspectives is also available
on the QCAA website. You can navigate to this section of the QCAA website by
scanning the QR code on screen or by: 1. selecting the ‘about us’ tab in
the top banner 2. selecting K‒12
policies and resources in the side bar 3. then expanding the Aboriginal and Torres
Strait Islander perspectives section. Here you will find information on the
QCAA strategies, resources, projects and initiatives that focus on increasing awareness
of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander perspectives and improving outcomes for
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students in Queensland schools.
Finally, you can find on the Australian Curriculum Version 9.0 website the First
framework. It can be located through the Resources page of the website or through
the QR code on screen. The First framework provides educators with a structured approach,
when support is needed, to engage with their local First Nations communities and integrate
First Nations perspectives into the curriculum in an inclusive and culturally responsive way.
The connection to the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander histories and cultures conceptual
framework is through the centrality of identity and living communities in the image. The framework
aims to provide practical considerations when developing a teaching and learning
program suitable for your context. While you may want to read the framework clockwise, where you
start and the order in which you consider the information will be influenced by your previous
and existing partnerships in your context. As you have seen, there are a number of resources
designed to help you better understand the priority and incorporate the priority into
your teaching and learning plans in meaningful and authentic ways. Take a moment now to pause
the recording to consider the resources that would be most valuable for planning
to embed the priority in your context. Reflect on what you already do and from what you have heard,
determine an action you could take to enhance what is done in your context.
For example, this could be using a specific resource to support an upcoming unit,
aligning a resource with a learning objective, or building your own understanding of the priority
by unpacking the aspects of the framework and the organising ideas to see where they
could be authentically embedded in the different learning areas.
As the session comes to a close, let us reflect on our learning goal and
success criteria. We have reflected upon the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander histories
and cultures cross-curriculum priority and considered ways to enrich learning areas,
supported by relevant planning resources. If you don’t do so already, we recommend you
follow QCAA on one or more social media platforms to stay in touch with us, and to find out about
upcoming resources and professional learning. If you have any queries regarding the information
from this session, please reach out to the K–10 Curriculum and Assessment Branch with
the contact details noted on screen. We thank you for your time in completing this session
and wish you and your colleagues all the best as you plan to embed the priority in learning a