Download: Purpose of the Early Childhood (K-3) Syllabus

This syllabus provides teachers with advice about children’s learning in the early childhood phase of development, planning for learning and content in K-3.

• 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.
  These describe progressive student achievement 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.
  This is similar to the 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 Guides.
  These describe, in phases of development, content to support students’ progress 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, this syllabus also connects with the Middle Childhood (4-7) Syllabus.

Download: Children's learning in the early childhood phase of development

Children are the focus of learning and teaching in K-3. They bring with them a natural wonder and curiosity about their world and their place within it.

The role of the early childhood educator is to plan and implement learning experiences that will support each child’s learning and development.

The early years provide a critical foundation for lifelong learning and the acquisition of life skills and abilities. Early learning needs to be rich, contextualised, developmentally appropriate and connected to young children’s worlds and their community experiences.

This phase is characterised by children’s rapid rate of growth, learning and development, children’s different learning pathways and their multiple forms of expression.

• home
• school
• different carers
  
• the wider community in which they live
  
• the way in which the different parts of their world interact.

• opportunity to learn
• connection and challenge
• action and reflection
• motivation and purpose
• inclusivity and difference
• independence and collaboration
• supportive environment.

The principles of effective learning and teaching can be incorporated into learning in K-3 in ways which take account of children's current stages of development.

Download: Planning for learning in the early childhood phase of development

• consideration of curriculum organisers other than the Curriculum Framework’s learning areas, such as the categories in the Kindergarten and Pre-primary Profile, or developmental domains, to support a range of integrated approaches to meeting the holistic learning and development needs of all children
• planning should be consistent with school system/sector priorities and curriculum policies, and, where appropriate, with whole-school planning for improvement
• programs should be developmentally and contextually appropriate for all children and should cater for both individuals and groups
• children need to be provided with blocks of time sufficient for them to become deeply involved in their learning and to complete activities at their own pace
• planning should focus on opportunities for integration and organise learning experiences to reflect the way children learn
• the Curriculum Framework’s principles of learning, teaching and assessment
• approaches to assessment that focus on children’s social-emotional, literacy, numeracy and physical development across the learning outcomes in the Curriculum Framework.

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

The Early Childhood (K-3) Syllabus provides advice on content to support development of learning in the early years of schooling. Content is expressed at specific year levels to provide early childhood educators with advice on starting points for the development of learning programs. It is the teacher, in partnership with children and parents/caregivers, who will continue to make decisions about appropriate learning experiences for each child.

• K-10 overviews
• scope and sequence statements expressed in year levels to provide advice on starting points for learning, teaching and assessment programs.

• The Arts
• English
• Health and Physical Education
• Languages (LOTE)
• Mathematics
• Science
• Society and Environment
• Technology and Enterprise.

• Civics and Citizenship
• Information and Communication Technology (ICT)
• Literacy
• Numeracy
• Physical activity
• Values.