K-10 Syllabus

Early Adolescence (8-10) The Arts Syllabus

The Early Adolescence (8-10) The Arts Syllabus is designed to support teachers with planning and delivering learning, teaching and assessment programs in the context of the Curriculum Framework. The syllabus details content at each year of schooling across the early adolescence phase of development. When using these advisory materials, teachers will continue to make professional judgements about when to introduce content based on students' prior learning and achievement.

Last Updated: Tuesday, 04 March 2008 11:30

Click a heading below to expand.The Early Adolescence (8-10) The Arts Syllabus
Purpose

Download: Purpose of the Early Adolescence (8-10) The Arts Syllabus

This syllabus provides teachers with advice about content, planning, teaching and assessment in The Arts in years 8-10.

Connections with other curriculum policy and support documents
This syllabus is consistent with, and can be used in conjunction with, the following policy and support documents:
  • The Arts Learning Area Statement in the Curriculum Framework for Kindergarten to Year 12 Education in Western Australia produced by the Curriculum Council of Western Australia.
    The Curriculum Framework establishes the learning outcomes expected of all Western Australian students from kindergarten to year 12.
  • The Curriculum Council’s Curriculum Framework Progress Maps - The Arts.
    These describe progressive student achievement in The Arts from kindergarten to year 12 and are a guide for monitoring and planning for student achievement.
  • The Department of Education and Training’s Outcomes and Standards Framework - The Arts.
    This is similar to the The Arts Progress Maps but also includes Achievement Targets for years 3, 5, 7 and 9 in WA public schools.
  • The Curriculum Council’s Curriculum Framework Curriculum Guide - The Arts.
    This describes, in phases of development, content to support students’ progress in The Arts from kindergarten to year 12.
  • The MCEETYA National Consistency in Curriculum Outcomes (NCCO) Statements of Learning.
    These are statements of learning agreed to by State and Territory Ministers for Education and are intended to provide greater consistency in curriculum outcomes across Australia.

As part of a K-12 approach to The Arts, this syllabus also:
Rationale

Download: Rationale for teaching The Arts in the early adolescence phase of development

Key features of The Arts
The Arts encompasses dance, drama, media, music and visual arts. The Arts develop students’ abilities to:

  • express themselves creatively
  • appreciate and respond to artistic works
  • understand their culture and the cultures of other people.

Organisation of the The Arts learning area
Four outcomes are identified in the Curriculum Framework The Arts Learning Area Statement:
  • Arts Ideas
  • Arts Skills and Processes
  • Arts Responses
  • Arts in Society.

Teachers of The Arts integrate content for all four outcomes to promote a holistic approach to learning about The Arts.

The scope and sequence statements are contained in two documents: Arts Practice and Aesthetic Understanding.  Arts Practice encompasses the Arts Ideas and Arts Skills and Processes outcomes.  Aesthetic Understanding encompasses the Arts Responses and Arts in Society outcomes.

Content

Download: Content
Download: K-10 overviews
Download: Scope and sequence statements

Content in this syllabus is organised into:
  • K-10 overviews of concepts, forms and styles in The Arts
  • scope and sequence statements expressed in year levels to provide advice on starting points for learning, teaching and assessment programs.

Note: The K-10 overviews are presented as A3-sized Adobe PDF's in landscape orientation. If you do not have access to an A3 printer, see the Help section for suggested solutions.

Planning

Download: Planning for learning in The Arts

When using the content in this syllabus to plan for learning, teachers of The Arts need to take into account the following:
Assessment

Download: Assessment in The Arts

The purpose of assessment in The Arts is to monitor students' progress to:
  • provide feedback
  • inform planning, teaching and reporting.
When assessing, The Arts teachers need to take into account the Curriculum Framework’s principles of assessment and keep in mind the following:
  • assessment relies on teachers’ professional judgements
  • assessment should be referenced to common standards as described in the Curriculum Framework Progress Maps - The Arts / Outcomes and Standards Framework - The Arts
  • teachers of The Arts do not have to formally level or grade every piece of student work
  • Arts Departments should have an assessment policy which is communicated to students and other members of the school community
  • assessment can be undertaken in a variety of ways including via collection and marking of student work, observation, checklists, portfolios, recordings and anecdotal records
  • teachers of The Arts can select from a range of published or teacher developed resources to record assessment information.


Download Complete Syllabus (ZIP)