Victorian Curriculum

The Victorian Curriculum (VC) provides direction for the planning of our Health and Physical Education (HPE) programs. It is important for teachers of HPE in Government and Catholic schools to use the HPE:VC to review, redefine and refocus our programs to ensure students have the opportunity to develop the skills, knowledge and behaviours required to lead active and healthy lives, now and in the future.

Two of the “Education State Targets” over the next 10 years are directly linked to outcomes from quality HPE programs. These are:

  1. The proportion of students who report high resilience will grow by 20%.
  2. The proportion of students doing physical activity for an hour a day, five times a week, will grow by 20%

HPE is obviously considerably broader than resilience and physical activity, but we must use such statements to our advantage when advocating for our HPE programs.

Other than HPE, where else in the curriculum can the importance of physical activity be explicitly taught as a key learning outcome? Through quality HPE and collaborating with the broader school community we can provide leadership and direction to enable these targets to be reached.

Government and Catholic schools will be required to report against the Victorian Curriculum from 2017 - this reporting is optional for independent schools. Any curriculum review and planning should be focussed on that target date.

In HPE it is vital for schools and teachers to be familiar with the curriculum content and the propositions underpinning the curriculum. Effective implementation will require schools and teachers to:

1) Have a clear understanding of the rationale for the HPE curriculum including the five interrelated propositions that underpin the curriculum:

  1. Focus on educative purposes
  2. Take a strengths-based approach
  3. Value movement
  4. Develop health literacy
  5. Include a critical inquiry approach

2) Become familiar with the structure of the VC, and the expected learning outcomes as represented by the achievement standards and content descriptors scope and sequence – against which you will be required to assess and report.

3) Establish within your whole of school context, those areas of the curriculum from other learning areas and capabilities that will be explicitly taught and / or reinforced in HPE.

ACHPER Victorian Branch would encourage schools and teachers of HPE to review their current HPE program to:

  • Audit their HPE Program against the VC HPE scope and sequence and identify where content is currently being taught and any gaps that exist
  • Determine if any of the gaps identified are taught in other areas of the curriculum, and;
  • Evaluate how the current HPE is being delivered, and who is responsible for delivery
Where gaps exist, get in touch with us to arrange an in-school consultation.

ACHPER National Position Statements - Australian Curriculum

ACHPER has been closely involved in discussions and meetings with Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority (ACARA) and contributed significant feedback from the states / territories and National to inform the discussions on the HPE Curriculum.

On Friday 18 September 2015, the Education Council endorsed the Australian Curriculum in eight learning areas, including Health and Physical Education. As noted by ACARA, schools and teachers have the flexibility as to how they teach the curriculum based on the needs of their students and the requirements of their school and local curriculum authorities.

Click here to learn more via the ACHPER National website >>

Links to ACHPER National Position Statements:
Please feel free to contact our office via email [email protected] or phone (03) 9274 8900 for further clarification.

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