VCAA
Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority
The Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority is an independent authority that works to improve the learning of all Australian students through school curriculum, assessment and reporting, serving both government and non-government schools.
The VCAA curriculum and assessment for Foundation - 10 in Victoria is known as AusVELS. VELS was the previous Victorian curriculum framework used by schools. AusVELS represents the integration of the new Australian Curriculum subjects into the Victorian Essential Learning Standards (VELS). The underpinning philosophy of VCAA is to provide high quality curriculum, assessment and reporting that enables individual lifelong learning. A key innovation of AusVELS representation of learning areas, categorised as ‘general capabilities’ - separate and identifiable domains of knowledge and skills that can be taught, learnt and assessed. These are:
Out of these, writing, reading and numeracy are held with the highest importance while music, drama, physical education and visual arts are less so. A key difference between the Australian Curriculum and AusVELS is that where the Australian Curriculum is organised by year levels, the AusVELS design is structured by levels of learning. This reflects and reinforces the idea that curriculum should be a developmental continuum of learning. The reporting process of VCAA includes a five-point scale of achievement, attendance data, teacher comments, and achievement accounts subject by subject. The report also addresses the demand for both standards (through the use of grades) and norm reporting (through the use of a rank order). The reporting on each student must include at least two reports per year. |
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A reference list for this page can be found below:
AusVELS, General Capabilities, Available at: <http://ausvels.vcaa.vic.edu.au/GeneralCapabilities>, accessed 16 March 2015
Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority 2015, Foundation-10 Curriculum, Available at: <http://www.vcaa.vic.edu.au/pages/foundation10/f10index.aspx>, accessed 16 March 2015
Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority 2015, Assessment, Available at: <http://www.vcaa.vic.edu.au/Pages/foundation10/curriculum/assessment.aspx>, accessed 16 March 2015
AusVELS, General Capabilities, Available at: <http://ausvels.vcaa.vic.edu.au/GeneralCapabilities>, accessed 16 March 2015
Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority 2015, Foundation-10 Curriculum, Available at: <http://www.vcaa.vic.edu.au/pages/foundation10/f10index.aspx>, accessed 16 March 2015
Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority 2015, Assessment, Available at: <http://www.vcaa.vic.edu.au/Pages/foundation10/curriculum/assessment.aspx>, accessed 16 March 2015