Read the full story below or use the following links to navigate to the relevant areas:
- The Origins: Victoria, Australia (2007)
- The Progressive Curriculum Frameworks Mark II: England (2012)
- The Progressive Curriculum Frameworks Mark III and IV: Australia & Victoria (2013)
- The Progressive Curriculum Frameworks Mark V: Alberta, Canada (2014)
- The Progressive Curriculum Frameworks Mark VI: Victoria, Australia (2016/2017).
The Origins: Victoria, Australia (2005-2007)
Longing for the opportunity to be able to make more of a difference, be involved in an ever evolving line of work where innovative minds meet and work together to improve practices and outcomes, and actually enjoy working full-time, I left my corporate career in business and information technology and entered the world of teaching.
When I started my university studies (Bachelor of Teaching @ The University of Melbourne), my state of Victoria was under the loom of curriculum redesign, a proposed movement from the Curriculum Standards Framework (CSF II) to the Victorian Essential Learning Standards (VELS). We were told that when we graduated that we would be entering schools as the new guard, graduates trained and primed to handle to requirements of the new curriculum in the first year of the introduction of VELS into schools. We kept one eye on CSF (as it was being used in schools throughout the period of our studies) and prepared to embrace VELS.
However, there was no subject training students in the ability to readily read, analyse and identify progression in VELS, nor was there any mention of the word "sub-strands". We as student-teachers read VELS and when undertaking our school-based teaching rounds, planned lessons around VELS.
VELS was presented in the form of large paragraphs, black and white text and without the presence of sub-strands or statement codes.
When I started my university studies (Bachelor of Teaching @ The University of Melbourne), my state of Victoria was under the loom of curriculum redesign, a proposed movement from the Curriculum Standards Framework (CSF II) to the Victorian Essential Learning Standards (VELS). We were told that when we graduated that we would be entering schools as the new guard, graduates trained and primed to handle to requirements of the new curriculum in the first year of the introduction of VELS into schools. We kept one eye on CSF (as it was being used in schools throughout the period of our studies) and prepared to embrace VELS.
However, there was no subject training students in the ability to readily read, analyse and identify progression in VELS, nor was there any mention of the word "sub-strands". We as student-teachers read VELS and when undertaking our school-based teaching rounds, planned lessons around VELS.
VELS was presented in the form of large paragraphs, black and white text and without the presence of sub-strands or statement codes.
Image © VCAA 2005 - VELS Writing Standards - Levels 2 & 3
To identify progression, teachers would have to:
Teachers were busy enough teaching, correcting and planning. The process shouldn't of had to be like that at all. And the education departments in universities simply didn't teach subjects dedicated to reading, analysing, unpacking/decomposing, identifying progression/opportunities for differentiation and understanding VELS.
The Analysis
Therefore in an attempt become knowledgeable of the curriculum we were required to teach, I did all of the above steps for the Mathematics and English VELS curriculum, denoting progression/differentiation between the standards and progression points via the use of coloured font. This process resulted in the:
The Progressive Curriculum Frameworks were designed in two formats:
- Download the curriculum.
- Locate in multiple locations/documents the standards for the same area (e.g. Writing - pictured right.
- Either print both standards or view both standards using a computer's split screen function.
- Place the curriculum of two levels beside each other and try to identify the similarities and differences in amongst the paragraphs.
- Repeat the whole process for the Progression Points.
- Then commit the progression to memory for the next time it was needed, or face repeating the whole process over again!
Teachers were busy enough teaching, correcting and planning. The process shouldn't of had to be like that at all. And the education departments in universities simply didn't teach subjects dedicated to reading, analysing, unpacking/decomposing, identifying progression/opportunities for differentiation and understanding VELS.
The Analysis
Therefore in an attempt become knowledgeable of the curriculum we were required to teach, I did all of the above steps for the Mathematics and English VELS curriculum, denoting progression/differentiation between the standards and progression points via the use of coloured font. This process resulted in the:
- Identification repeating themes such as text types, grammar and spelling, which would be ideal for separating the curriculum statements, essentially creating sub-strands for VELS
- Development a better understanding what it was that I had to teach
- Identification of the differences between the curriculum levels which would assist me in my planning for the lessons and activities I would need in my multi-age composite classroom
- Side-benefit that I would come to understand the curriculum better than the parents of the children that I taught, some of whom were teachers and were monitoring their child's 'graduate' teacher
- Creation of the 'Progressive Curriculum Frameworks for VELS' (pictured below).
The Progressive Curriculum Frameworks were designed in two formats:
- PDF: For printing in A3 colour so that I could highlight and annotate upon the
frameworks to (i) track the teaching of the curriculum, and (ii) track
student achievement against the curriculum. - Excel: For working directly on a computer to (i) hyperlink the curriculum to readymade
lessons and activities for both staff and students to access, (ii) track my
teaching of the curriculum, and/or (iii) track student achievement against the
curriculum.
Progression between the standards and progression points could now be easily identified, as coloured and bold font indicated new words/statements and black font denoted that which had been mentioned in earlier areas of the curriculum.
Whilst the leadership and the teaching teams at the schools I worked at gave nothing more than a quick glance to these documents, I used them daily over the next six years in both junior and senior years classrooms for:
Whilst the leadership and the teaching teams at the schools I worked at gave nothing more than a quick glance to these documents, I used them daily over the next six years in both junior and senior years classrooms for:
- Assessment: For each student I printed the frameworks on A4 or A3 colour for all areas of English and Mathematics. I then highlighted the progression points and standards when a student's work met the standard or made notes indicating their current skills (e.g. B: Beginning, C: Consolidating, etc.).
- Reporting: The Progressive Curriculum Frameworks for each child could be quickly accessed to give their mark (i.e. using the recommendation that the student must cover 80% of the areas, 80% of the time to achieve a pass).
- Parent Teacher Interviews: During parent teacher interviews the Progressive Curriculum Frameworks for each child could be shown to the parents to explain how their child had been progressing and why they were given various marks on their reports
- End of Year Transition To Secondary School Queries: I once had some senior year students approach me concerned about the content they would be taught in Year 7, their first year at secondary school. I opened the Mathematics frameworks on the PC, we highlighted for both Years 6 and 7 what I had taught and the areas they felt they knew well. The simple and honest task, giving them access to student friendly curriculum documents, quickly dispelled their concerns, and as they noted, 'Geez we've learned heaps! Hang on, that means you have to mark us half-way through Year 7 for some areas!", which was my plan anyway. See the image below for our highlighting of their achievements in one area of Mathematics:
Because of this "progressive" analysis, I was able to become an expert of the VELS curriculum, and could readily fire off a statement and what progression point or standard it belonged to. Parents commented on their ability to understand the curriculum and were readily able to see why I had assessed their children to be at progression level x and those students who asked to see their progression understood too.
The Progressive Curriculum Frameworks Mark II: England (2012)
In 2012, I headed over to London (England) to study the impact of OFSTED on schools.
During one of my roles working within schools, at the last minute I was asked to assist a full-time, graduate and internationally trained teacher assess their class' literacy skills. As England's curriculum documents were also presented chock full of paragraphs and black and white text, I had to apply a "progressive" curriculum analysis to the then English curriculum being used by schools in England.
During one of my roles working within schools, at the last minute I was asked to assist a full-time, graduate and internationally trained teacher assess their class' literacy skills. As England's curriculum documents were also presented chock full of paragraphs and black and white text, I had to apply a "progressive" curriculum analysis to the then English curriculum being used by schools in England.
NOTE:
The beta version of the Progressive Frameworks For England's Literacy can be downloaded in their PDF form here:
- As of September 2014, the national curriculum for England is to be taught in all maintained primary and secondary schools from September 2014.
- However, teachers should note that in the 2014 to 2015 academic year (until July 2015), pupils in Years 2 and 6 should be taught the current programmes of study in English, Mathematics & Science.
- Therefore the Progressive Curriculum Frameworks below may not represent the current curriculum in England and some are not fully completed.
The beta version of the Progressive Frameworks For England's Literacy can be downloaded in their PDF form here:
- England - En1 - Speaking & Listening - Attainment Targets
- England - En1 - Speaking & Listening - Core Learning
- England - En1 - Speaking & Listening - Teaching Points
- England - En2 - Reading - Assessment Guidelines
- England - En2 - Reading - Attainment Targets
- England - En2 - Reading - Teaching Points
- England - En3 - Writing - Attainment Targets
- England - En3 - Writing - Core Learning
- England - En3 - Writing - Teaching Points
The Progressive Curriculum Frameworks Mark III and IV: The New Australian Curriculum - Australia AC & Victoria's AusVELS (2013)
After teaching in England during 2012, I return to Australia to prepare for the 2013 academic year.
Australia had just released the new national curriculum. Each state's/territory's curriculum authority/board of studies (whom have the legal responsibility of curriculum provision in their respective jurisdictions) had to implement the Australian Curriculum by various agreed start dates, whilst reserving the right to retain their own state priorities and approaches when it comes to curriculum provision and teaching and learning.
Whilst I created The Progressive Curriculum Frameworks for the new Australian Curriculum, I also had to create them for AusVELS. My state, Victoria, serviced by the VCAA, chose to implement AusVELSAC , which contained approximately 99% of the Australian Curriculum with some minor modifications made to suit state priorities (Click here to learn exactly how AusVELS differs from the Australian Curriculum).
A Small Step In The Right Direction
To my surprise, the sub-strands that did not exist in the VELS curriculum were present in both the Australian and AusVELS curricula, and even some elaborations/explanations/interpretations on how the content could be taught were given in dot point form. However, once again, the curriculum was entirely composed of hundreds of pages of paragraphs, all typed in black and white (see image below).
To my surprise, the sub-strands that did not exist in the VELS curriculum were present in both the Australian and AusVELS curricula, and even some elaborations/explanations/interpretations on how the content could be taught were given in dot point form. However, once again, the curriculum was entirely composed of hundreds of pages of paragraphs, all typed in black and white (see image below).
Image: AusVELS English - Levels 2 (Sample)
Image licensed under Creative Commons-Attribution-Non-Commercial-Share Alike 3.0 Australia (CC-BY-NC-SA)
Image licensed under Creative Commons-Attribution-Non-Commercial-Share Alike 3.0 Australia (CC-BY-NC-SA)
The Usual Dilemma
Once again, to identify progression in the new Australian and AusVELSAC curriculum, teachers would have to:
The Analysis
Therefore in an attempt to become knowledgeable of the curriculum we would be required to teach, I did all of the above steps for the entire Australian and AusVELSAC curriculum (Mathematics, English, Science & History), denoting progression/differentiation between the standards and content descriptors via the use of coloured font. This process resulted in the:
The Progressive Curriculum Frameworks were designed in two formats:
The key ideas behind The Progressive Curriculum Frameworks are:
Essentially, reading each 5-8 page Progressive Curriculum Framework PDF reduces the need for teachers to read, re-read and compare each sentence and every word in the Australian Curriculum or AusVELSAC documents, which normally consist of 40+ pages.
Once again, to identify progression in the new Australian and AusVELSAC curriculum, teachers would have to:
- Download the curriculum.
- Locate in multiple locations/documents the standards for the same area (e.g. Writing - pictured right.
- Either print both standards or view both standards using a computer's split screen function.
- Place the curriculum of two levels beside each other and try to identify the similarities and differences in amongst the paragraphs.
- Repeat the whole process for the Content Descriptors.
- Then commit the progression to memory for the next time it was needed, or face repeating the whole process over again!
The Analysis
Therefore in an attempt to become knowledgeable of the curriculum we would be required to teach, I did all of the above steps for the entire Australian and AusVELSAC curriculum (Mathematics, English, Science & History), denoting progression/differentiation between the standards and content descriptors via the use of coloured font. This process resulted in the:
- Identification of the differences between the curriculum levels which would assist me in my planning for the lessons and activities I would need in my multi-age composite classroom
- Development a better understanding what it was that I had to teach
- The creation of the 'Progressive Curriculum Frameworks for AusVELSAC' (pictured below).
The Progressive Curriculum Frameworks were designed in two formats:
- PDF: For printing in A3 colour so that educators could highlight and annotate upon
the
frameworks to (i) track the teaching of the curriculum, and/or (ii) track
student achievement against the curriculum. - Excel: For working directly on a computer to (i) hyperlink the
curriculum to readymade
lessons and activities for both staff and students to access, (ii) track my
teaching of the curriculum, (iii) track student achievement against the
curriculum, and/or (iv) copy the statements into curriculum planning documents to both show and plan for differentiation.
The key ideas behind The Progressive Curriculum Frameworks are:
- Progression between the statements contained in each level descriptor and standard is clearly denoted by bold text. Each year level is assigned a specific colour.
- The content descriptors and standards are clearly organised in tabular form to show:
(i) Strands
(ii) Sub-strands, and
(iii) Elaborations. - The content descriptors contain the cross-curriculum priorities (for both the Australian Curriculum and AusVELSAC) and general capabilities (Australian Curriculum only) as denoted by the relevant icons.
Essentially, reading each 5-8 page Progressive Curriculum Framework PDF reduces the need for teachers to read, re-read and compare each sentence and every word in the Australian Curriculum or AusVELSAC documents, which normally consist of 40+ pages.
Below: A screenshot of The Progressive Curriculum Framework for AusVELS Mathematics AC - Statistics & Probability (click on the image to download the full/bigger version of the framework). Note the bold words indicate progression/new statements. Coloured font represents each Year level.
Below: A screenshot of The Progressive Curriculum Framework for AusVELS Writing (click on the image to download the full/bigger version of the framework). Note in Level 2 as denoted by bolded & coloured font: the introduction of four new text types, an additional audience and that punctuation must now be used accurately.
The Implementation of the Progressive Curriculum Frameworks (Known)
The Progressive Curriculum Frameworks in their AusVELS form have been:
- Implemented across Templeton Primary School, Wantirna, Victoria, for communication, planning, reporting and assessment. Templeton PS is currently using the frameworks as a knowledge management tool to record and capture examples of school-wide teaching and learning practices. The frameworks are also quickly becoming essential tools for teachers at Templeton PS when developing a differentiated classroom planner
- Implemented at Our Lady of Lourdes, Prahran East, Victoria, to be used by all teachers as part of evidence collection for thorough assessment and reporting procedures
- Used for curriculum planning, assessment, moderation, reporting and during parent-teacher interviews
- Used by senior years students (Years 4-6) in the form of progressive capacity matrices (see here) and for delivering self-paced independent lessons and differentiated learning scenarios (see ICT Excellence in schools).
An Array of Applications
Educators can use The Progressive Curriculum Frameworks in a variety of ways, including clearly demonstrating differentiation in planning documents (pictured below).
So far the known methods of schools implementing the Progressive Curriculum Frameworks include:
Online tutorials to explain and demonstrate how The Progressive Curriculum Frameworks can be used in myriad of ways mention above can be accessed from here.
Access the relevant Progressive Curriculum Frameworks from the portals: The Australian Curriculum (ACT, NT, QLD, SA, TAS & WA) or Victoria.
- Curriculum Tracking: Teachers/Coordinators can use the frameworks to track taught content
- Curriculum Queries: Teacher can use the easy reading frameworks to quickly answer student, parent and staff queries about the curriculum
- Curriculum Capital: Principals, Coordinators and Leadership Teams can lead a school-wide approach to have each year level team annotate upon the frameworks to effectively 'map' how each year/grade level within a school meets each of the required curriculum areas, essentially capturing the approaches to curriculum that make school x 'great'
- Curriculum Planning To Show Differentiation: Teachers can copy and paste the colour-coded curriculum into curriculum planners to plan and show differentiation (see an example here).
- Curriculum Delivery: Students can use the frameworks to set/choose the areas of Mathematics they wish to learn about (also applies to 'Flipped' classrooms)
- Curriculum Capital: Teachers and coordinators can hyperlink quality lesson materials that address the areas of the curriculum, essentially creating a school-wide knowledge base containing excellent teaching resources and significantly reducing time spent planning and designing lessons
- Assessment (Teacher-led): Teachers can use the frameworks to track student achievement of the required outcomes/content areas
- Assessment (Student-lead): Students can create hyperlinks within the frameworks to open samples of their work, which can then be used by the teacher to assess student competency/achievement of standards
- Assessment: Teachers can eliminate Pre and Post Tests by using Progressive Capacity Matrices (see below).
- Reporting (Teacher-lead): Teachers can use the frameworks to show student achievement via highlighting and annotating on frameworks during parent/teacher interviews
- Reporting (Student-lead): Students can create their own hyperlinks within the frameworks to open student work samples during student-led conferencing.
Online tutorials to explain and demonstrate how The Progressive Curriculum Frameworks can be used in myriad of ways mention above can be accessed from here.
Access the relevant Progressive Curriculum Frameworks from the portals: The Australian Curriculum (ACT, NT, QLD, SA, TAS & WA) or Victoria.
The Progressive Curriculum Frameworks Mark V: Alberta, Canada (2014)
After visiting Canada in 2013 and then discovering some wonderful work in the area of Mathematics and Science happening in Alberta (Alberta is recognized worldwide as a leader in the development of quality curriculum), I set aside 2014 to travel back to Canada to gain first-hand experience in observing and working within schools in Alberta.
Alberta's Curriculum/Program of Study is derived from Western and Northern Canadian Protocol For Collaboration in Basic Education (the Common Curriculum Framework). The Mathematics component slightly differs from that of the WNCP (click here to discover the differences).
Whilst undertaking an analysis of Alberta's Curriculum/Program of Studies, it was heartening to see a curriculum authority (Education Alberta), create a more user-friendly curricula when compared to Australia and England. Naturally the curricula is again present in black and white text, however, when compared to the curricula documents from Australia and England, progression/differentiation is much easier to detect (particularly in The Alberta K-9 Mathematics Program of Studies with Achievement Indicators) as the curricula is presented in tabular format (pictured below).
Whilst undertaking an analysis of Alberta's Curriculum/Program of Studies, it was heartening to see a curriculum authority (Education Alberta), create a more user-friendly curricula when compared to Australia and England. Naturally the curricula is again present in black and white text, however, when compared to the curricula documents from Australia and England, progression/differentiation is much easier to detect (particularly in The Alberta K-9 Mathematics Program of Studies with Achievement Indicators) as the curricula is presented in tabular format (pictured below).
It was also heartening to see that approximately 70% of the Mathematics Specific Outcomes are aligned so that on the most part, a statement relating to the same or similar mathematical area can be found in the preceding or following Grade.
See below for a screenshot of each of the two derivations of The Progressive Curriculum Framework for Alberta's K-9 Program of Studies (English Language Arts & Mathematics), one with Achievement Indicators, one without (Note: The curricula can be clicked on to download a bigger version of what you are looking at)
See below for a screenshot of each of the two derivations of The Progressive Curriculum Framework for Alberta's K-9 Program of Studies (English Language Arts & Mathematics), one with Achievement Indicators, one without (Note: The curricula can be clicked on to download a bigger version of what you are looking at)
The Progressive Curriculum Framework Presentation in Canada
I was asked if I would like to attend and also present at InnovateWest, a conference for innovative educators hosted by Connect Charter School in Calgary on 23-25 May, 2014.
The focus of the presentation was based on:
The attendees discussed that regardless of their province or school scenario (e.g. generalist/specialist or elementary/middle/secondary) that:
The focus of the presentation was based on:
- The Excellence in ICT and Web 2.0 in Schools section of this website
- The origins of The Progressive Curriculum Frameworks for Australia, England and Canada
- How various schools in Australia are using The Progressive Curriculum Frameworks
- The introduction of how a progressive analysis was applied to Alberta's Program of Studies and how this analysis technique could then be freely by applied by anyone to any national or provincial curricula.
The attendees discussed that regardless of their province or school scenario (e.g. generalist/specialist or elementary/middle/secondary) that:
- They could identify progression in a few seconds without reading pages of documentation
- They wished that they were taught how to analyse and colour-code the curriculum in this way during their teacher training/university studies
- The concept of The Progressive Curriculum Frameworks could be used within their schools and provinces in a variety of scenarios
- That they were glad that I had not fully completed a progressive analysis of the English Language Arts documents as they intended to completing the rest of the analysis in an effort to (i) learn their curriculum in more depth, and (ii) learn how to analyse curriculum documents to identify progression/differentiation
- Specialist teachers in secondary school scenarios could use a modified approach to using colour to identifying progression/differentiation based on the approach that I had used when analysing Australia's Science (P1, P2, P3), History, Geography, Digital Technologies (ICT), Design and Technologies. Business & Economics and Civics & Citizenship curricula.
The Progressive Curriculum Framework For Alberta's Program of Studies Downloads
Permission has been given by Alberta Education to reproduce and distribute the following content under the conditions that the outcomes are not altered; that appropriate credit/citation is included and that the material is used solely for non-profit, educational purposes.
The downloads are available in PDF format. If you would like to have free access to the editable Excel files, please email Effective Curriculum Ideas.
Mathematics
English
The downloads are available in PDF format. If you would like to have free access to the editable Excel files, please email Effective Curriculum Ideas.
Mathematics
- Alberta's Program of Studies - Progressive Framework - Mathematics - Number - Strand (K-9)
- Alberta's Program of Studies - Progressive Framework - Mathematics - Number - Strand with Achievement Indicators (K-9)
- Alberta's Program of Studies - Progressive Framework - Mathematics - Patterns and Relations - Strand and Sub-strands (K-9)
- Alberta's Program of Studies - Progressive Framework - Mathematics - Patterns and Relations - Strand and Sub-strands with Achievement Indicators (K-9)
- Alberta's Program of Studies - Progressive Framework - Mathematics - Shape and Space - Strand and Sub-strands (K-9)
- Alberta's Program of Studies - Progressive Framework - Mathematics - Shape and Space - Strand and Sub-strands with Achievement Indicators (K-9)
- Alberta's Program of Studies - Progressive Framework - Mathematics - Statistics and Probability - Strand and Sub-strands (K-9)
- Alberta's Program of Studies - Progressive Framework - Mathematics - Statistics and Probability - Strand and Sub-strands with Achievement Indicators (K-9)
English
- Alberta's Program of Studies - Progressive Framework - English Language Arts (K-9) - Sample 1
- Alberta's Program of Studies - Progressive Framework - English Language Arts (K-9) - Sample 2 - With "W" Indicators (Identifying specific outcomes that directly or indirectly related to Writing, Reading, Speaking and/or Listening)
The Progressive Curriculum Frameworks Mark VI: Victoria, Australia (2016/2017)
The AusVELS Curriculum (2013-2016) has now been surpassed by the implementation of the Victorian Curriculum F-10 (the final iteration of AusVELS). Victorian schools must transition to using the Victorian Curriculum by 2017.
The Progressive Curriculum Frameworks for the Victorian Curriculum have been released for the learning areas of English and Mathematics, with the other learning areas following soon. The Progressive Curriculum Frameworks for the Victorian Curriculum can be accessed here.
The Progressive Curriculum Frameworks for the Victorian Curriculum have been released for the learning areas of English and Mathematics, with the other learning areas following soon. The Progressive Curriculum Frameworks for the Victorian Curriculum can be accessed here.
Note: The above Creative Commons License only applies to the typed content on this page and does not apply to any text or images contained within Alberta's Program of Studies or England's curriculum (which are both protected under different copyright laws).