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May 14

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Physics in the Australian Curriculum

Senior Physics

The Physics Australian Curriculum has been released.

The curriculum overview on the ACARA website says in part: ... State and territory curriculum, assessment and certification authorities are responsible for how senior secondary courses are organised, and they will determine how the Australian Curriculum content and achievement standards are to be integrated into their courses.

The state and territory authorities will also determine the assessment and certification specifications for those courses and any additional information, guidelines and rules to satisfy local requirements including advice on entry and exit points and credit for completed study.

During 2013, ACARA will work with each of the respective state and territory curriculum, assessment and certification authorities, as each authority determines what will be integrated into their local courses, and report back to Ministers about:

• the senior secondary Australian Curriculum content that will be common to all states and territories,
• the process and timelines for validation of the draft achievement standards, to inform subsequent discussion about their proposed use,
• the process and timeline within which each state and territory will undertake the integration of the Australian curriculum content and achievement standards into state and territory courses and commence implementation of the new courses..

The emphasis in bold is the website manager's.

The 2013 Physics Teachers' Conference featured a discussion group session titled 'Setting the Parameters for a Physics Curriculum' in which participants expressed their views on the structure, content and sequence for the study design that will be constructed by VCAA's Physics Review Panel. Check here for conference details.

Discussion Questions and Background Material

Final Consultation

The final Consultation Draft for Physics in Years 11 and 12 was released on Friday, 10th May, 2012. The draft is available below. The consultation period lasted until Friday, 20th July, 2012.

The AIP (Vic Branch) Education Committee organised a series of consultation forums across the state.

For information on the forums click here

The Committee submitted its response to ACARA along with the other documents below as appendices.

Earlier Consultations

The earlier Consultation Draft for Physics in Years 11 and 12 was released on Friday, 14th May, 2010. That draft is available below. The consultation period lasted until 30th July, 2010.

The AIP (Vic Branch) Education Committee organised a series of consultation forums across the state. The forums were held in the week beginning 19th July that year and in the following 12 locations: Metropolitan (Sunshine West, Northcote, Kew, Ringwood, Mentone and Mt Eliza) and Regional (Geelong, Mildura, Ballarat, Bendigo, Shepparton and Sale).

Science: F - 10

The final version on Science F - 10 has been approved by the meeting of Education Ministers and has been released by Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority, ACARA. The science document can be accessed at here . The ACARA website gives the Rationale, the Organisation in strands and sub-strands and the Curriculum from Foundation (the new name for Prep) to Year 10.

Australian Curriculum Framing Papers

In 2009 ACARA released 'framing papers' for English, Maths, Science and History. The science document was 12 pages long with a detailed 6 page survey form in the appendices

The document discussed the following matters: Selection of science content, Relevance of science learning, Flexibility and equity, General capabilities, and under the Structure of the curriculum, the Elements of a science curriculum and an outline for the different Stages of schooling, specifically stage 1 (typically from 5 to 8 years of age), stage 2 (typically from 8 to 12 years of age), stage 3 (typically from 12 to 15 years of age) and stage 4 (typically from 15 to 18 years of age).

ASTA produced a set of questions to be considered by teachers when responding to the framing paper. The AIP Education Committee has also added some questions. See document below.