Curriculum Reform News
K-6 Curriculum Support
The K-6 Curriculum Support page contains:
- Important links to external and internal sites
- Professional learning
- Planning and programming support
- Assessment and reporting
- Professional reading
For enquiries please contact learningk-12support@dow.catholic.edu.au.
Literacy Teaching Toolbox
The Literacy Teaching Toolbox contains a range of syllabus aligned information, teaching strategies, curriculum support material, and professional readings to support you in teaching English across K-6.
The following sections of the Literacy Teaching Toolbox were updated during the pupil vacation period:
- Pedagogy - High-Impact Teaching Strategies (Learning and Wellbeing)
- Programming and planning - Information on scope and sequencing; backward by design approach to planning and programming; making connections across focus areas of the K-10 English syllabus, plus a range of curriculum support material
- Creating written text - encompasses information to support planning and programming within and across the focus areas related to creating written texts including oral language, vocabulary, spelling, handwriting and digital transcription and embedded components of grammar and punctuation.
The Literacy Teaching Toolbox will be regularly updated throughout the year. For all K-6 enquiries please contact learningk-12support@dow.catholic.edu.au.
2025+ Programming Resources
A whole school approach maximises learning by providing students with a highly-sequenced, knowledge-rich curriculum that presents new material incrementally, connects new content to what’s come before, and gives students ample opportunities to practice. (Grattan, 2023)
The 2025 programming folders have been released to all schools. These folders contain updated CEDoW Sample Program Templates and CEDoW Sample Scope and Sequence Templates, aligned to the NESA requirements for programming and CEDoW Programming Guidelines.
As schools continue to embed the K-10 English and Mathematics syllabuses, the revised scope and sequence templates are designed to support a coordinated whole-school approach to planning through the design of whole school scope and sequences.
Teachers may modify layouts of sample unit templates or choose to develop their own in line with school agreed practices. It is a teacher’s responsibility to ensure program documentation meets minimum NESA requirements. Schools must have processes in place to support teachers in meeting these requirements.
These resources can also be found on the K-6 Curriculum Support page.
Additional resources to support the development of teaching and learning programs include:
- Sample scope and sequence templates can be found here.
- Sample program templates can be found here.
- CEDoW programming guidelines can be found here.
- CEDoW Religious Education programming guidelines can be found here.
- Class curriculum compliance self-review checklist can be found here.
- NESA’s fact sheet: Curriculum - school registration requirements can be found here.
- NESA's advice on differentiated programming can be found here.
- AERO (2023): How students learn best
- AERO (2024): A knowledge-rich approach to curriculum design
For further information please contact learningk-12support@dow.catholic.edu.au.
2025 Australian Maths Teachers Online Conference
"The best piece of advice I can share about teaching maths in 2025..."
The Numeracy Teachers Academy is offering access to its free online conference. All sessions of the conference are asynchronous and are ready for you to watch at any time between 20 January and 17 February 2025.
Some sessions include:
- Practice makes permanent, Dr Ange Rogers
- You don’t need to differentiate everything - it’s the Big Ideas that make a difference! Emeritus Professor Dianne Siemon
- Establish routines, Dr Paul Swan and Narelle Rice
- Make reasoning part of every lesson!, Dr Aylie Davidson
- Embrace flexible planning approaches to spark interest in every student!, Dr Sara Gaul-McKee
- Supporting students in the transition from primary to secondary maths. It’s all about working together, Stephanie Watts and Nicola Kovacs
Recordings of these sessions are available from 20 January to 17 February 2025 (4 weeks). Register here to access all the videos.
Teaching Phonics: Embed systematic synthetic phonics instruction through online professional learning
The Australian Government Department of Education is funding online micro-credential courses with the University of Adelaide for all Australian teachers. The research-grounded Teaching Phonics course provides insights into the teaching of phonics for both primary and secondary teachers, and identifies the critical evidence-based strategies and practices that support student learning, using the latest research.Duration: 48 hours of self-paced learning
Delivery mode: Online
Start date: 28 January 2025 onwards
Cost: Free
This course forms part of a suite (Classroom Management, Explicit Teaching and Teaching Phonics) of free, evidence-based expert-informed courses provided by the University of Adelaide. Each self-paced, practical course supports schools/teachers build their capability through professional learning on a flexible, digital platform.
To register your interest and for further details, click here.