Australian Curriculum Assessment

It is compulsory for Australian year 3, 5, 7 and 9 school students to complete the National Assessment Program- Literacy and Numeracy (National Assessment Program, 2016) test. The NAPLAN test provides schools, governments, education authorities, students and the community statistics of schools and individual student’s weaknesses and strengths in specific areas of curriculum. One of the areas of curriculum that is tested is Mathematics. For this assignment we had to answer five questions from a year 9 NAPLAN test. I felt confident answering majority of the questions correctly; taking my time to logically work out each question with the aid of pen and paper when needed. I am a visual learner, so I was able to mentally solve most of the questions in my head. I rarely need to use a calculator as I have memorized many different strategies for working out mathematical questions.

The objective of EDC141: The Numerate Educator was for students to obtain the chance to develop their mathematical skills, build mathematical competency, and positively chance their disposition (as a pre-service teacher) towards the importance and the functionality of maths. The key to success is to learn from one’s mistakes and work (by practicing mathematical questions) to further improve one’s results. This I managed to do by increasing my Mathspace results from 64% to 68% (as shown in Appendices 1A). The Australian Curriculum focuses on developing student’s capabilities in six areas: number, Algebra, Geometry, measurement, statistics and probability. Using evidence from the Mathspace test results, the NAPLAN results and activities of ‘What

The Australian Curriculum basically makes sure that it is setting out the essential knowledge, understanding, skills and universal competences that are very essential for all Australian students. The Australian Curriculum makes sure that it defines the learning power of students as groundwork for their future learning, development and vigorous contribution in the Australian society. It makes obvious what every young Australians need to learn as they advance through their schooling. It is the basis for high worth teaching to come across the requirements of everyone of Australian students. Curriculum is intended to progress fruitful learners. Secure and resourceful persons and functioning and informed people (MCEECDYA, 2008, p.13). In 2008, the Australian Government swore to distribute a reasonable and just curriculum for the national's educational system, pulling the job away from the Local and State Governments. The drive of this was to generate a smooth phase of education all the way through the nation, and to also safeguard their countries locus into the 21st century. This essay will reveal the Nation's curriculum, its organization and development that had already been implemented for its initial opening in 2011.

Each question will be worth 25 marks and be divided into two parts; part (a) and part (b). Part (a) asks you to demonstrate descriptive skills and is worth 10 marks, whilst part (b) asks you to display evaluative skills

A study conducted in 2003 by Ofsted that involved England, Denmark and Finland, showed England’s national curriculum compared to the other two countries was:

The Australian Curriculum incorporates observations as one of the fundamental skills that students are required to learn (Assessment and Reporting Authority [ACARA], n.d., ACAVAM106). Observations, such as the observational drawing of leaves completed in topic two provide students with an opportunity to develop their visual literacy skills and inquire about the world around them (Dinham, 2014, p. 39). During the different stages of drawing development, students draw upon prior learning, which they have gained through observations, to express their thoughts and make meaning. In the same way, the artist Henri Rousseau, who’s jungle paintings have been described as “…primitive and naïve” drew upon his developing catalogue of prior learning to

Through encouraging learners or athletes to act out a strategic activity or skill, the learner learns the drill in an informal manner. This also helps aid memory retention and muscle memory retention, especially for improving motor skills or conditioned behaviour.

The stage 4 mathematics Unit of Work (UoW) “Unit 10 Measurement, Length, Perimeter and Area” implements an array of concepts to aid the students to learn multidimensional mathematics through applying an Aboriginal perspective. These concepts that are outlined are the choice of and conversion between metric units, establishing and using formulae to solve perimeter and areas of squares, rectangles and triangles, utilising pi and solving perimeters of circles and solving problems using perimeter, area and circumference. Although the unit mentions the importance of the use the Mathematics problem solving there is a majority of content that is missing on the cultural aspect of mathematics as it highlights the prominent use of one-dimensional Mathematics.

1.1 Assessment measures the learner’s progress towards or the completion of, the learning aim and criteria, and can be used at any point during the learning cycle. It can provide information to adapt the delivery to suit the learner’s needs and abilities; a learner may need more help or time on some aspects, or has progressed quicker than planned and requires additional goals. By standardising the assessment process this creates uniformity for all learners.

As a future educator, it will be my job to continue acknowledging, valuing and teaching Indigenous origins, histories and cultures using the Australian Institute for Teaching and School (AITSL) standard 2.4 and the Australian Curriculum. This will give my future students a better understanding that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people were the first custodians of our Australian land and of their origins. They lived in Australia 60,000 years before the British settled in 1788. I will teach an Australian historical time line prior to 1788.

Curriculum is designed to develop successful learners. Confident and creative individuals and active and informed citizens (MCEECDYA, 2008, p.13). In 2008, the Australian Government promised to deliver a fair and equitable curriculum for the national’s educational system, taking the task away from the State and Local Governments. The purpose of this was to create an even level of education throughout the country whether in Hobart of Cape York, and to ensure our nations position into the 21st century. This essay will demonstrate the Nation’s curriculum, its structure and development ready for its initial implementation in 2011.

Critical issues facing educators today include; educational inequity, socio-economic status of students, cultural diversity, stereotyping, dominate cultural paradigms, and social disadvantage. Because of these issues, educators will be best prepared for classroom life if they find ways to adapt and modify the learning environment in order, to provide for inclusive regardless of the learners needs. All children in Australia are presented with the opportunity to attend schools which are designed to be inclusive for any and all abilities. Due to the diverse nature of the school age population in Australia classrooms are made up of an assortment of needs in relation to social, cognitive, and physical areas of learning.

Interwoven throughout the learning areas and general capabilities are Cross Curriculum Priorities which encompass Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander histories and cultures, Asia and Australia’s engagement with Asia and Sustainability (ACARA, 2010c). All three priorities are significant in the current social and economic climate. The integration of these into the curriculum provides young Australians the opportunity to understand and engage in meaningful discussion of these contemporary issues.

The focal point of this assessment is to display my understanding and achievement in developing numeracy. Numeracy comprises mathematical knowledge, competence, and tendency towards maths. Within Australian Curriculum of Foundation to Year 10, the six areas of mathematics are Number, Algebra, Measurement, Geometry, Statistics, and Probability. From each of the components the evaluation and assessment of my understanding and progress of numeracy is based on the weekly tasks demonstrated in ‘What I know about’ (WIKA), ‘Thinking time problem’ (TTP), and the results from Mathspace test. The WIKA draws on my understanding on the concepts of each areas of mathematics, examples of activities, and other areas of mathematics relate to each of the components.

Curriculum based assessment (CBA) is an assessment process that links curriculum content with assessment. The purposes for CBA is to cultivate effective lesson plans, evaluate students’ development in the curriculum, and to determine eligibility (source 1). CBA helps teachers and other professional specify instructional objectives. Due to direct links between instruction and assessment, CBA is often used as a frequent measure to determine if changes should be made in curriculum or the teaching (source1). Intervention, data gathering, and clarification are essential components of CBA. According to United Stated Department of Education, The No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (NCLB) measures districts accountability through the implementation of data collection and report cards (United Department of Education, n.d.). Mississippi Department of Education (MDE) must meets NCLB reporting requirements by using report cards to collect and report data about Mississippi schools and districts academic assessments in English and language arts, reading, math, adequate yearly progression, funding, and qualifications of teachers (Mississippi Department of Education, 2012). According author Dylan Williams (2011), assessments are an essential component of effective instruction tracing back from early experiments in the individualization of learning works of Benjamin Bloom in which reviews the impact of learner’s views in the classrooms (source2).