With version 2.0 of the Victorian Curriculum requiring full implementation next year, it has required Learning Areas to review and make changes to their respective subjects. This is to ensure that the sequence of learning activities addresses the knowledge and skills outlined in a subject’s curriculum for 2026.
While reviews of the learning activities and sequence is undertaken annually, the introduction of a new state curriculum will often involve some substantive changes. This can include the introduction of new knowledge to be taught, and sometimes the refinement of language used. For example, in the curriculum for Civics and Citizenship, part of the Humanities Learning Area, there has been a comparative component added when looking at the justice system. Previously the curriculum for Levels 9 and 10 required that students be able to discuss the key principles of Australia’s justice system, including equality before the law, independent judiciary, and right of appeal. From next year, students will need to consider the extent to which Australia’s legal systems provide justice compared with at least one other legal system in the Asia-Pacific region.
The changes made are not just subject specific, but also involve changes to the four capabilities. The four capabilities in the Victorian Curriculum are Ethical, Personal and Social, Intercultural, and Critical and Creative Thinking. These capabilities are taught across subjects.
Within each capability there are a number of strands for students to engage with and develop their knowledge and understanding. For Critical and Creative Thinking the strands are:
- Questions and Possibilities – where students explore the nature of questioning, and a range of strategies to develop new ideas and possibilities
- Reasoning – where students explore how to structure, analyse, evaluate and communicate reasoning and how to think analytically
- Metacognition – where students explore learning strategies, the use of thinking process to manage thinking for different purposes, and the of criteria to identify and evaluate proposed solutions to a problem.
In the strand of Questions and Possibilities at Levels 7 and 8, there has been a refinement for 2026 of the sub-strand where students will now learn about strategies for generating new ideas and possibilities including identifying a pattern across multiple information sources. We have in our learning plans opportunities for students to develop and apply these strategies in a number of subjects. For example, this sub-strand will be explicitly incorporated in the Year 8 Health & PE Inquiry Unit, in Year 7 Religious Education the Caring for Creation Unit, as well as in Mathematics when looking at Algebra and distributive law, to name just three subjects where this sub-strand is addressed.
As we plan for Version 2.0 of the Victorian Curriculum, it is an opportunity for our teachers and their teams to not only review and update the key knowledge that will be required, but also to ensure that we address changes to the capabilities. In the case of Critical and Creative Thinking, ensuring that our subjects incorporate the important thinking skills of reasoning, generating ideas and of metacognition.