Overview

Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority

Update June 2007
Published by the Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority
41 St Andrews Place, East Melbourne, Victoria 3002
First published March 2005
Updated June 2007
© VCAA 2005
All rights reserved. Except under the conditions described under the Copyright Act 1968 and subsequent amendments, no part
of this publication may be reproduced by any process without prior permission in writing from the publisher.
Photocopying: Victorian schools only may photocopy parts of this publication for use by teachers
ISBN 1 920992 22 7
Foreword
All young Victorians need a high quality education that equips them with a broad
range of knowledge, skills and personal qualities to confidently meet the challenges of
life in a complex, information-rich and constantly changing world.

In releasing the Blueprint for Government Schools in November 2003, the Minister
for Education and Training, Lynne Kosky MP, asked the Victorian Curriculum and
Assessment Authority (VCAA) to develop a new framework of essential learning for all
Victorian schools that would both reinforce standards and promote flexibility at the
school level.

The Victorian Essential Learning Standards, the VCAA’s response to this request,
provides the framework for schools to deliver teaching and learning programs that
support students to develop capacities to confidently manage themselves and their
relationships with others, make sense of the world in which they live and effectively
participate in that world.

The Standards are based on the best practice in Victorian schools, national and
international research and widespread consultation with school communities, educators,
professional associations and community groups. They represent an outstanding
collaborative achievement by all sectors of the Victorian education community.

During the consultation phase in 2004 the VCAA received over 1200 written responses
which strongly endorsed the proposed direction for curriculum reform. This support
continued throughout the development process, with hundreds of practising teachers,
academics and other educators involved as writers or critical friends or responding to
draft papers as members of reference groups. The VCAA also worked closely with the
Department of Education and Training’s Office of Learning and Teaching, the Catholic
Education Commission of Victoria and the independent sector in the development of
the Standards.

The VCAA Board particularly acknowledges the commitment to and leadership of this
reform by its P–10 Curriculum and Assessment Committee and Curriculum Reform
Working Party.

Throughout the State, principals and curriculum leaders have embraced the new
curriculum approach, and are enthusiastic about how the Standards will support the
work they are already doing to meet the learning needs of all students.

We look forward to schools using the Victorian Essential Learning Standards as the
basis for developing whole school curriculum planning, effectively monitoring student
achievement, and reporting to parents and the community.

Stuart Hamilton Michael White

Chair Chief Executive Officer
 Contents

1 Introduction

1 Essential learning

2 Priorities at different stages

4 Building the future

4 Educational principles

5 Using the Standards

7 Structure
8 Learning focus statements
8 Standards
9 Relationship between the learning focus statements and the standards

11 Learners of English as a second language

12 Students with disabilities

12 Curriculum and Standards Framework (CSF) II

13 National Benchmarks

13 Implementing the Standards

14 Assessment
 Victorian Essential Learning Standards: Overview

Overview

Introduction
The Victorian Essential Learning Standards provide a new approach to
organising the curriculum in schools. They give parents and the community
confidence that rigorous standards have been set for students throughout
Victoria. At the same time they recognise the responsibilities of principals
and teachers to devise the best programs for their students to achieve these
standards.

The Standards identify what is important for students to achieve at different

stages of their schooling, set standards for those achievements and provide a
clear basis for reporting to parents and for planning programs.

This curriculum approach directly addresses:

• the economic and social changes associated with the development of our
global, knowledge-based world and their implications for schools; and
• the growing evidence base about how people learn and its implications for
teaching that works.

Schools have a key role to play in developing skilled, flexible, responsible and
creative young people. To date, however, we have been slow to adapt our
curriculum to the broad demands that society places on young people. This
has led to pressure to include ever more content without establishing clear
priorities. Our curriculum has not provided sufficient support in systematic
ways to the notion of developing learners who can apply their knowledge
beyond the classroom to new and different situations.

Essential learning
The Essential Learning Standards are a framework of essential learning in
two ways. First, the framework is based on the premise that there are three
components of any curriculum which are necessary to enable students to meet
the demands of a modern, globalised world. These components are:

• the processes of physical, personal and social development and growth

• the branches of learning reflected in the traditional disciplines; and
• the interdisciplinary capacities needed for effective functioning within and
beyond school.

In the Standards, these components become the three core strands; Physical,
Personal and Social Learning, Discipline-based Learning and Interdisciplinary
Learning.


Victorian Essential Learning Standards: Overview

Second, the Standards clarify the core elements of each component which
students need to acquire if they are to succeed in further education, work and
life.

The traditional discipline strand is balanced in the Standards by a set of

broader interdisciplinary capacities (the domains of Communication, Design,
Creativity and Technology, Information and Communications Technology and
Thinking Processes), and linked to physical, personal and social development
(the domains of Health and Physical Education, Interpersonal Development,
Personal Learning and Civics and Citizenship), with all three strands being
equally necessary. Together, the three strands provide the basis for students to
develop deep understanding – an ability to take their learning and apply it to
new and different circumstances.

Priorities at different stages

The Standards have been developed in response to the growing body of
evidence on how people learn and the developmental stages of learning that
young people experience at school. This research recognises that while student
learning is a continuum from Prep through to Year 10, and that different
students develop at different rates, they broadly progress through three stages
of learning from:
• Prep to Year 4 (laying the foundations), where the curriculum focuses on
developing the fundamental knowledge, skills and behaviours in literacy
and numeracy and basic physical and social capacities which underpin all
future learning; to
• Years 5 to 8 (building breadth and depth), where students progress beyond
the foundations, their literacy and numeracy becomes more sophisticated,
and important discipline-based and interdisciplinary capacities are
progressively introduced; to
• Years 9 and 10 (developing pathways), which constitute a bridge to the
post-compulsory years and where students begin to focus more clearly
on areas of particular interest related to both their future schooling and
intended pathways beyond school while developing their understanding of,
and connection to, the community in which they live.

Recent research1 has provided new understanding of the learning process and
the development of competent performance in different intellectual domains,
with the result that teaching and learning is focusing on student understanding
and the application of knowledge to different contexts.


 Victorian Essential Learning Standards: Overview

Of particular importance as far as the Standards are concerned, is the way in

which students progress from being novice to more expert learners as they
move through school. Research suggests the development involves: noticing
features and meaningful patterns of information; acquiring relevant content
knowledge that is organised in ways which reflect a deep understanding of
the subject matter; applying the knowledge in ways appropriate to context,
rather than merely exercising one’s memory; retrieving important aspects of
knowledge with a degree of automaticity; and approaching new situations in
flexible ways.

That is why the Interdisciplinary and Physical, Personal and Social Learning
strands are intertwined with the commonly accepted core bodies of knowledge
(disciplines) which are central to any curriculum framework. The Standards do
not replace the core disciplines. The disciplines are related to the other strands
in a new and integrated manner.

By combining all three strands in a common framework for creative

implementation by schools, the Essential Learning Standards provide a
comprehensive curriculum response to the challenges of today’s globalised
knowledge economy, consistent with research findings on how students learn.

At Levels 1 and 2 the focus is largely on foundational literacy and numeracy

skills and the development of physical, personal and social capacities.

It is not until Level 3 that students are expected to achieve standards in

disciplines such as Science and the Humanities. At Levels 4 and 5 it is
appropriate that students be supported and expected to achieve the full range
of knowledge and skills in each of the three interrelated strands that comprise
the Standards.

At Level 6 the Standards are designed to enable schools to construct coherent

programs which include: each of the five broad disciplines; a strong focus
on developing the full range of interdisciplinary and physical, personal and
social knowledge, skills and behaviours; and the capacity for students to
pursue pathway-related studies which meet their needs, and dovetail with the
programs available in Years 11 and 12.

By focusing on what is essential, the Standards achieve two important

objectives. First, they reduce the reporting requirements in some domains at
some levels to better reflect the development of student learning. Second,
they give formal recognition to the knowledge and skills being developed
by schools in the areas of physical, social and personal learning and in
interdisciplinary areas by providing a common language for teaching and
learning, assessing and reporting.


Victorian Essential Learning Standards: Overview

Building the future

The Victorian Essential Learning Standards propose that students need to
develop a set of knowledge, skills and behaviours which will prepare them
for success in a world which is complex, rapidly changing, rich in information
and communications technology, demanding high-order knowledge and
understanding and increasingly global in its outlook and influences. To succeed
in that world, all students need to develop the capacities to:
• manage themselves as individuals and in relation to others
• understand the world in which they live; and
• act effectively in that world.

Students will need to create a future which:

Is sustainable – developing an understanding of the interaction between

social, economic and environmental systems and how to manage them.

Is innovative – developing the skills to solve new problems using a range of

different approaches to create unique solutions.

Builds strong communities – by building common purposes and values

and by promoting mutual responsibility and trust in a diverse socio-cultural
community.

Each of these purposes is embedded within the three core strands of the
Victorian Essential Learning Standards, and incorporated into specific standards.

For example, environmental sustainability will not only draw on the full
range of interdisciplinary domains but will also be embedded within such
discipline areas as Science, Geography and Economics, and programs to
develop students' physical, personal and social capacities. Similarly, community
building is likely to be a core component of the Civics and Citizenship and the
Interpersonal Development domains.

Educational principles
The Essential Learning Standards are underpinned by a clear set of educational
principles which reflects the community’s expectations for schooling in
Victoria.

Specifically, the educational principles are:

Learning for all – proceeding on the basis that all students can learn given
sufficient time and support, and that good schools and good teaching make a
positive difference to student outcomes


 Victorian Essential Learning Standards: Overview

Pursuit of excellence – seeking to accomplish something noteworthy and

admirable individually and collectively, and performing at one’s best

Engagement and effort – acknowledging that student ability is only one

factor in achievement and that if students work hard and make an effort, they
improve

Respect for evidence – seeking understanding and truth through structured

inquiry and the application of evidence to test and question beliefs

Openness of mind – being willing to consider a range of different views and

consider different ways in which evidence is perceived and solutions can be
reached.

Using the Standards

In many ways this approach is not new. Many schools are already doing
valuable work in building students’ knowledge, skills and behaviours in the
areas identified in the Standards. For example, many schools explicitly set out
to build good social and interpersonal skills in their students. Other schools
promote a thinking-oriented curriculum and much of what is in the three core
strands is already part of the Curriculum and Standards Framework (CSF) on
which the existing school curriculum is based.

What is new, however, is that Victoria now has a set of standards for ensuring
that all three strands, and their domains, are addressed by all schools in their
teaching programs and in their assessment and reporting practices.

The Standards have not been designed as an organisational template on which

to develop timetables or school structures. They are designed to be used for
whole school curriculum planning. School teams will decide how to meet the
essential learning standards. For some this may be through explicit teaching
focused on a particular standard and for others it will be by creating units
of work which address a number of standards at the same time. The key to
using the Standards successfully will be the development of a whole school
curriculum plan. Figure 1 on page 6 illustrates this approach.


Victorian Essential Learning Standards: Overview

VICTORIAN ESSENTIAL LEARNING STANDARDS

A WHOLE SCHOOL CURRICULUM PLANNING FRAMEWORK

Three interwoven purposes

To equip students with capacities to:
manage themselves and their relations with others
understand the world and
act effectively in that world
to prepare them for success in education, work and life.

This is achieved through the three core, interrelated strands of

Physical, Personal and Social Learning

Knowledge, skills and behaviours in
Health and Physical Education; Personal Learning; Interpersonal
Development; Civics and Citizenship

Discipline-based Learning
Knowledge, skills and behaviours in
The Arts; English and Languages Other Than English; The
Humanities; Mathematics; Science

Interdisciplinary Learning
Knowledge, skills and behaviours in
Communication; Design, Creativity and Technology; Information
and Communications Technology; Thinking Processes

across the stages of learning

Years Prep to 4 Years 5 to 8 Years 9 to 10

Laying the foundations Building breadth and depth Developing pathways

underpinned by educational purposes, principles and values

to form

Victorian Essential Learning Standards

a framework for whole school curriculum planning
Schools plan their teaching and learning programs, using the three strands, to enable
their students to achieve the essential statewide learning standards.

Figure 1: Whole school curriculum plan


 Victorian Essential Learning Standards: Overview

Structure
Within each strand of learning, the essential knowledge, skills and behaviours
are organised into domains with further divisions into dimensions. Standards
are written for each dimension. The relationship between the strands, domains
and dimensions is shown in Table 1.
Strand Domain Dimension
Physical, Personal Health and Physical Education Movement and physical activity
and Social Learning Health knowledge and promotion
Interpersonal Development Building social relationships
Working in teams
Personal Learning The individual learner
Managing personal learning
Civics and Citizenship Civic knowledge and understanding
Community engagement
Discipline-based The Arts Creating and making
Learning Exploring and responding
English Reading
Writing
Speaking and listening
Languages Other Than English Communicating in a language other than English
Intercultural knowledge and language awareness
Economics Economic knowledge and understanding
Economic reasoning and interpretation
The Humanities Geography Geographical knowledge and understanding
Geospatial skills
History Historical knowledge and understanding
Historical reasoning and interpretation
Mathematics Number
Space
Measurement, chance and data
Structure
Working mathematically
Science Science knowledge and understanding
Science at work
Interdisciplinary Communication Listening, viewing and responding
Learning Presenting
Design, Creativity and Investigating and designing
Technology Producing
Analysing and evaluating
Information and ICT for visualising thinking
Communications Technology ICT for creating
(ICT) ICT for communicating
Thinking Processes Reasoning, processing and inquiry
Creativity
Reflection, evaluation and metacognition

Table 1: The structure of the essential learning strands


Victorian Essential Learning Standards: Overview

The domains in each of the three strands comprise two interrelated elements:
• Learning focus statements; and
• Standards.

Learning focus statements

Learning focus statements are provided at each level for each domain. They
outline the learning that students need to focus on if they are to progress in
the domain and achieve the standards at the levels where they apply. In the
main, they suggest appropriate learning experiences rather than defining a
syllabus or prescribing specific teaching methods. Teachers can draw from
these statements to develop relevant teaching and learning activities.

In some disciplinary domains however, such as History and Geography, key

content is specified to ensure coverage of subject matter which is crucial to
further learning in the domain and/or part of what the community expects all
young people to learn (for example the study of Australia’s history including
such issues as the history of indigenous peoples and the impact of white
settlement and Federation in Australia).

Standards
Standards define what students should know and be able to do at different
levels of schooling and are written for one or more dimension within each
domain. They are, in effect, outcomes against which student achievement will
be assessed and reported on and provide valuable information about student
progress which can form the basis of further teaching and intervention.

By clearly specifying the standards appropriate at each of the six levels, broadly
equivalent to Prep and Years 2, 4, 6, 8 and 10, the Standards provide a clear
picture of the sequence of development a student should progress through
in the three strands. The standards enable teachers, parents and students not
only to determine the knowledge and skills a student currently demonstrates,
but also what that student needs to know and be able to do to progress to the
next level, through to the end of Year 10.

The standards are set at a challenging, not minimum, competence level in

age and developmentally appropriate ways. This helps to ensure that students
are stretched to learn, rather than doing work they may find easy and
uninteresting.

The standards do not represent specific tasks to be completed in narrowly

defined ways. Students will be required to demonstrate their achievement
of the standards using a wide variety of learning activities and tasks. Nor do
the standards determine how teachers will assess. For example, if a standard
involves explaining a key idea or concept, this could be demonstrated through
a performance, test or assignment.


 Victorian Essential Learning Standards: Overview

Relationship between the learning focus statements and the

standards
Learning focus statements are provided for each domain at all six levels and
are broadly associated with two years of learning and teaching. The standards
specify the knowledge and skills students should be aiming to achieve at
the end of those two year periods, where it is essential and developmentally
appropriate for standards to apply. For example, students may learn basic
economics knowledge and skills in the early years of school, such as the need
to spend within their means, but it is not developmentally appropriate to
specify standards until Level 4 when more sophisticated and comprehensive
concepts and capacities are involved.

While Table 2 below outlines a general expectation of when students will

achieve the various standards, students will develop at different rates. Some
students in Year 5, for example, may still be working towards achieving the
standards at Level 3 while others need to be introduced to knowledge and
skills covered by the learning focus statement at Level 5.

Prep
Year 1
Year 2
Year 3
Year 4
Year 5
Year 6
Year 7
Year 8
Year 9
Year 10
Level 1 Level 2 Level 3 Level 4 Level 5 Level 6

Table 2: Relationship between years of schooling and levels in the Essential Learning Standards


Victorian Essential Learning Standards: Overview

Table 3 provides a summary of the levels in each domain that have formal
standards against which student achievement will be assessed and reported.
Standards are introduced where they are central to future learning and success
and where research suggests they are developmentally appropriate.

Levels with standards for assessment and reporting

Level 1 Level 2 Level 3 Level 4 Level 5 Level 6

Health and Physical Education * *

Social Learning
Personal and
Physical,

Interpersonal Development

Personal Learning

Civics and Citizenship

           

The Arts * *
English
Discipline-based Learning

The Humanities

Economics

Geography

History

Languages Other Than English

Mathematics

Science
               

Communication
Interdisciplinary
Learning

Design, Creativity and Technology

ICT

Thinking Processes

* Standards in one dimension only

Table 3: Summary of levels with standards

Formal standards apply to those levels shaded in each domain in Table 3, while
only learning focus statements are provided for the levels that are unshaded.
(Learning focus statements for Economics, Geography and History at Levels 1
to 3 are included within the Humanities. Levels 4 to 6 outline separate learning
focus statements for Economics, Geography and History.)

10
 Victorian Essential Learning Standards: Overview

This does not suggest that students should not or cannot be introduced to
concepts from particular domains before standards apply, such as Science
or Geography in the early years (Levels 1 and 2) where there are no formal
standards for assessment and reporting. The purpose of the learning focus
statements at these levels is to give advice about learning experiences that will
assist students to work towards the achievement of the standards in later years
when they apply.

Using the Economics example provided on page 9, the setting of standards

from Level 4 means there is no formal requirement for schools to assess
and report on Economics until the end of Year 6. However, the learning
focus statements at Levels 1 to 3 provide advice about appropriate learning
experiences for schools including basic ideas about Economics before Level 4.
For example, at Level 2 – Students begin to understand how local resources are
used to make products which meet local people’s needs and the needs of people
in other places – introduces a concept of economics in a developmentally
appropriate way, without requiring a particular standard to be met at this
stage.

In Languages Other Than English (LOTE) standards are introduced for

assessment and reporting at Level 4. While it is clear that students gain most
benefit from the study of another language when they begin this study in
the early years, it is acknowledged that some schools choose to maximise the
effect of their resources by introducing LOTE programs at different year levels
with appropriate time allocations. In recognition of the cumulative nature of
language learning, the LOTE domain includes progression measures which
provide a typical sequence of second language development leading to Level
4. Regardless of the level at which the study of a LOTE is introduced, students
will need to develop the knowledge and skills described in the progression
measures before they attempt the learning associated with the Level 4
standards. These progression measures also assist those schools that provide
LOTE programs prior to Years 5 and 6 to assess and report effectively on
student achievement.

Learners of English as a second language

Many students in Victorian schools learn English as a second language (ESL).
They are of all ages and at all stages of learning English, and have varying
educational backgrounds in their first languages. While the broad objectives
of English programs will ultimately be the same for all students, those learning
English as a second language need time, support and exposure to English
before being expected to reach the learning standards described in the English
domain and will come to this achievement via a range of pathways. Teachers
need to devise appropriate teaching and assessment practices for these
students.

11
Victorian Essential Learning Standards: Overview

The English as a Second Language Companion to the Victorian Essential Learning

Standards was published in December 2005 and provides a framework for
assessing student achievement and developing effective learning programs for
the many students in Victorian schools who are learning English as a second
language.

In the domains other than English, ESL learners usually need to express
their understanding using English. It is therefore important that assessments
of progress in these domains are made in the context of the learner’s
development as a learner of English. The ESL Companion will assist in assessing
such development.

For more information on the ESL Companion to the VELS visit:

http://vels.vcaa.vic.edu.au/support/esl/esl.html

Students with disabilities

The Standards are designed for all Victorian students. They provide a whole
school curriculum planning document for the development of individual
programs for students with disabilities. These programs should be developed
at the school level in conjunction with program support groups. Individual
programs should be tailored to individual circumstances. Reporting of student
achievement will be decided at the local level. All such programs, however,
should be designed within the curriculum described in the Essential Learning
Standards.

The Victorian Essential Learning Standards – Students with Disabilities Guidelines

provide a framework for teachers to develop programs for students with
disabilities that are consistent with the VELS by linking the rationale and
structure of the VELS to individual program development and assessment for
students with special needs.

For more information on the Guidelines visit:

http://vels.vcaa.vic.edu.au/support/disability.html

Curriculum and Standards Framework (CSF) II

The CSF will remain an important curriculum resource to help teachers in
writing teaching and learning programs. Direct comparisons can be made
between the documents because the Standards have retained the six level
structure of the CSF.

From 2006 the school curriculum and reports to parents will be organised
around the new strands and domains and not around the eight key learning
areas defined in the CSF. This will mean that schools are able to give greater
recognition to the knowledge, skills and behaviours which are part of the
Interdisciplinary and Physical, Personal and Social Learning strands.
12
 Victorian Essential Learning Standards: Overview

A major difference between the documents is that the key learning areas are
no longer the main organising feature for the curriculum. The role of physical,
personal and social along with interdisciplinary learning has been made
explicit, in acknowledgment of the work that schools already do, and the value
they place, on developing these areas.

The Victorian Essential Learning Standards replace the CSF. The Department of
Education and the Catholic Education Commission of Victoria provide advice to
schools about reporting against the VELS.

National Benchmarks
National Literacy Benchmarks are used for reporting achievement in three
aspects of literacy – reading, writing and spelling – at Years 3, 5 and 7.
National Numeracy Benchmarks are used for reporting achievement in three
aspects of numeracy – ‘Number sense’, ‘Spatial sense’ and ‘Measurement and
data sense’ at each of Years 3, 5 and 7.

For purposes of comparison and ease of reporting, the national literacy and
numeracy benchmarks have been embedded in the Standards in the English
and Mathematics domains. However, these benchmark performance indicators
articulate nationally agreed minimum acceptable standards, and the Standards
are set at a challenging level. This means, for example, that even though there
is an expectation that students in Year 7 will be working towards achieving
the standards at Level 5, the National Benchmarks for Year 7 are embedded at
Level 4.

Implementing the Standards

Fundamental to the Essential Learning Standards is the integrated focus on
the three strands to develop deep understanding in learners which can be
transferred to new and different circumstances.

The Standards are not intended as a total curriculum for schools. They instead
seek to describe what is essential for students to achieve during the compulsory
years of school (Prep to Year 10). Schools will construct appropriate curriculum
programs which ensure these essential outcomes are achieved, in ways which
reflect the resources and expertise available, and the particular needs and
interests of the school community.

Implementation of the Standards therefore requires an holistic, whole school

response. There are many ways in which schools can structure programs. The
VCAA and the Department of Education have developed a number of support
materials to assist schools to implement the VELS including the Curriculum and
Planning Guidelines and support materials such as sample units.

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Victorian Essential Learning Standards: Overview

• Schools may opt to use an integrated approach where one or more

disciplines and other relevant domains are combined and addressed
through key questions or themes. A number of schools are, for instance,
constructing curriculum programs around such high level questions as an
investigation of the human genome project and its implications, which
draw on a number of disciplines (English, Science, History, etc.) and a
range of physical, personal and social and interdisciplinary domains. The
role of the school as a whole is to ensure full coverage of the Standards as
appropriate to the level involved.
• Schools may, choose to incorporate the interdisciplinary and physical,
personal and social strands of the Standards into existing discipline-based
subjects and broaden their focus in this way. For example, teachers of
different subjects within an existing curriculum can determine collectively
the extent to which other domains are addressed already in their teaching
and learning programs (for example, Thinking Processes, ICT, Interpersonal
Learning, etc. within English, or History, etc.) and the opportunities to
extend this so the full range of relevant standards can be met. Under the
leadership of the principal, the school as a whole will then need to ensure
appropriate coverage of the Standards across the relevant developmental
levels, and that areas of shortfall are addressed.
• Schools may seek to combine all three strands in the context of extended
projects that students are to complete. Students in Years 9 and 10 in
particular can benefit from extended projects which require them to learn
and apply knowledge and skills across many, interrelated domains. For
example, students may participate in a comprehensive, extended, city-
based project involving significant investigation and research, visiting and
interviewing, report writing and presentation of results, and more. As with
each example listed above, the school must ensure that students’ learning
experiences throughout the year will enable them to meet the full range of
standards which apply to the level in which they are involved.

There is, however, no single approach. Schools have responsibility for, and
control over, the educational program they develop to enable their students to
achieve the standards.

For more information on the Curriculum Planning Guidelines go to the

Department of Education website at:
http://www.education.vic.gov.au/studentlearning/curriculum/default.htm
VCAA support materials are available at:
http://vels.vcaa.vic.edu.au/support/index.html

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 Victorian Essential Learning Standards: Overview

Assessment
The VCAA and Department of Education and Training have developed a set
of assessment principles2 which have been published on the Victorian Essential
Learning Standards and Student Learning websites. Applying these principles to
the structure of the Essential Learning Standards will require some careful initial
planning.

Assessment should reflect the integrated nature of the Essential Learning

Standards. Rather than treating every standard as discrete there should be an
integrated approach to assessing performance. This not only ensures a more
efficient approach to student assessment that avoids unnecessary duplication
of assessment tasks and subsequent reports, but also more clearly reflects how
students actually learn.

The following example helps illustrate the point.

A common assignment in many secondary humanities classes requires students

to write a letter to a public official about an issue of concern to the student
and/or the class. More specifically, the student might be asked to:
Write a letter to a public official about an issue of concern to you.
Make sure that your letter clearly states your opinion on the issue, and
provides well thought-out reasons for your view.
Use the common conventions of formal letter writing.
The same assignment could, however, be structured so it is more of a learning
task in its own right, where the student is required to:
Select a public issue of concern to you.
Read about this issue from a minimum of four sources, two of which
support your viewpoint and two of which oppose it.
Then identify a public official who has some decision-making
authority in relation to this issue and write a letter to this person
which: clearly states your position; provides evidence (for example,
survey data, reports, etc.) to support your view; acknowledges and
rebuts an opposing view; and suggests a solution to the issue.
Use the common conventions of formal letter writing and ensure
your letter has an introduction and a conclusion as well as the central
arguments you advance.
Seek feedback on your draft letter from at least one other member
of the class and one adult from within the school or your family
and rewrite it as needed. Provide also an accompanying note which
outlines the feedback you received and how it led you to either
change your letter, or leave it the same.
While the product essentially is the same, the quality of work required and
demonstrated for the latter assignment is significantly higher and, arguably,
more engaging. It requires a higher level of intellectual achievement to
complete, and a deeper level of student involvement.
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Victorian Essential Learning Standards: Overview

In addition, because it is a much richer task, it provides assessment information

across a range of domains, thereby enhancing the student’s demonstration of
their learning, and enabling the teacher to assess some physical, personal and
social, and interdisciplinary as well as discipline specific knowledge and skills.
This in turn helps limit the need for more assessment related to these other
strands.

In practice, this approach to assessment is characterised by:

• assessing a range of appropriate standards and not just what is easy to
measure or grade;
• focusing on more complex, contextualised demonstrations of what has
been learned, rather than a number of smaller, disconnected tasks;
• inviting students to use knowledge and skills in new contexts and/or to
produce a product or complete a performance so the focus is on tasks
worth completing;
• ensuring adequate time for students to plan and complete their work
including, where appropriate, working with others and evaluating and
revising work; and
• being varied, interesting and valued, but also efficient for students to
complete and teachers to assess.

A question that will undoubtedly arise is, ‘When has a student achieved the
standard?’

Each set of standards describes a range of things that a student should know,
understand and be able to do. It cannot be considered that a student knows
or understands something unless they are able to use that knowledge, or
apply that skill, in a range of contexts, including those that are new to them.
Consequently, achievement of a standard has to be demonstrated across a
range of tasks and situations allowing the teacher to make an on-balance
judgment regarding performance over time.

The Victorian Essential Learning Standards are accompanied by assessment

support materials, including assessment maps and progression point
examples, to assist teachers to make reliable, on-balance judgments of student
achievement at various levels and assessment tasks that exemplify appropriate
assessment in relation to specific aspects of the standards from the relevant
domain standards.

In addition, sharing, reflection and collaborative assessment processes using

the sample material as needed, will enable teachers to develop common
understanding of the standards and to make valid judgments about student
performance that are consistent within their own classes, with their colleagues
in their own school, and around the state.

For more information on assessment support materials visit:

http://vels.vcaa.vic.edu.au/assessment/index.html

16
End Notes

1
Bransford, John D, Brown, Ann L and Cocking, Rodney R (eds) 1999, How People Learn:
Brain, Mind, Experience and School, National Academy Press, Washington DC

2
Victorian Essential Learning Standards website:
http://vels.vcaa.vic.edu.au/assessment/assessprinciples.html
3
Blueprint for Government Schools website:
http://www.education.vic.gov.au

The development of the Victorian Essential Learning Standards is a key initiative in the
Government’s education reform agenda. The Department of Education provides the
Government with policy and planning advice for the delivery of education and training.

For more information on the Blueprint for Government Schools and other Department of
Education initiatives visit:
http://www.education.vic.gov.au

Websites

Department of Education
www.education.vic.gov.au

V ictorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority

www.vcaa.vic.edu.au

V ictorian Essential Learning Standards

http://vels.vcaa.vic.edu.au

Validation of the Victorian Essential Learning

Standards
A validation of the VELS was conducted during 2005. Data was collected about the
VELS structure, standards and learning focus statements through a broad-based online
questionnaire, an independent evaluation of the standards, a comparability study of the
standards and learning focus statements in five learning domains with comparable national
and international curriculum documents, and an assessment project with 45 schools. The
validation confirmed the structure of the VELS and the strands, domains and dimensions
were retained. Changes to the learning domains resulting from the year of validation were
minimal, generally relating to issues of clarity of purpose, consistency of language and
provision of further examples. The title of the ‘Thinking’ domain was changed to ‘Thinking
Processes’ to clarify the focus of the domain.

More information on the validation is available on the VELS website:

http://vels.vcaa.vic.edu.au/about/background/validation.html