AusVELS                          

AusVELS is the Foundation to Year 10 curriculum that provides a single, coherent and comprehensive set of prescribed content and common achievement standards, which schools use to plan student learning programs, assess student progress and report to parents.

AusVELS incorporates the Australian Curriculum F-10 for English, Mathematics, History and Science within the curriculum framework first developed for the Victorian Essential Learning Standards (VELS). AusVELS uses an eleven level structure to reflect the design of the new Australian Curriculum whilst retaining Victorian priorities and approaches to teaching and learning (F is the abbreviation for ‘Foundation’ which is now the common term agreed to by all States and Territories to refer to the first level of school (prep) for curriculum design purposes)

AusVELS is based on the VELS triple-helix structure of three interconnected areas of learning called strands. The three strands are as follows:

Physical,   Personal and Social Learning

Students learn about themselves and their place in society. They learn   how to stay healthy and active. Students develop skills in building social   relationships and working with others. They take responsibility for their   learning, and learn about their rights and responsibilities as global   citizens.

Discipline-based   Learning

Students learn the knowledge, skills and behaviours in the arts,   English, humanities, mathematics, science and other languages.

Interdisciplinary   Learning

Students explore different ways of thinking, solving problems and   communicating. They learn to use a range of technologies to plan, analyse,   evaluate and present their work. Students learn about creativity, design   principles and processes.

Domains are distinct bodies of knowledge, skills and behaviours within each strand.

Each of the AusVELS domains is structured by eleven levels associated broadly with the levels of schooling, from Foundation (Prep) to Level 10. The levels represent typical progress of students at key points within the stages of learning. It is recognised that students progress at individual rates and may demonstrate achievement at a particular level earlier or later than typical.

Nominal school   level   

VELS Level     

AusVELS Level

   Prep/Foundation

 1

Foundation

        1

 2

  1

        2

  2

        3

 3

  3

        4

  4

        5

 4

  5

        6

  6

        7

 5

  7

        8

  8

        9

 6

  9

       10

 10

 

The AusVELS structure encourages teachers to use the curriculum to target the learning level of each individual student in a class. This reflects the considerable body of research that shows that in any typical mixed ability class, students will demonstrate a range of abilities that spans approximately five school levels.