Tag: curriculum design

Walk into almost any Australian primary school and you will find the poster. Seven icons, seven labels: literacy, numeracy, critical and creative thinking and the rest. The general capabilities sit on the staffroom wall, in the planning template and in the annual report.

Now ask a Year 4 student what any of them meant for their Tuesday. Most will shrug.

AJ Juliani spotted the same pattern in the US craze for a “Portrait of a Graduate.” By his count, around 70% of districts in one large US network now have a portrait. Even so, few can show you what changed for a child because of it. His fix is a line worth borrowing: a portrait is a picture, a goal is a promise. This post turns his five promises into an Australian primary version.

What the General Capabilities Already Promise

The promise is already in writing. In December 2019, every Australian education minister signed the Alice Springs (Mparntwe) Education Declaration. In particular, its second goal names three outcomes. All young Australians become confident and creative individuals, successful lifelong learners, and active and informed members of the community.

The Australian Curriculum turns that goal into seven general capabilities. ACARA is clear that they are not separate subjects. Instead, students develop them through the content of each learning area. Five of the seven also come with a learning continuum.

That design makes sense. Even so, it leaves a gap. A capability taught “through everything” is easy to assume and hard to see. As a result, the icons go on the planner and nobody checks whether every child had the experience.

Way 1: Promise Every Child Goes Deep on Something

Juliani’s first promise is depth in at least two areas. To make the case, he draws on David Epstein’s Range. Breadth matters, yet students also need to know what real expertise feels like from the inside.

In a primary room, depth looks like one sustained inquiry where a child becomes the class expert. For example, picture a Year 3 student who spends five weeks on local frogs. She keeps a field journal, counts calls at dusk and teaches the class what she found. In other words, that one project draws on critical and creative thinking, literacy, numeracy and personal and social capability.

The student choice structures we covered in August, such as genius hour, give you a ready frame.

Way 2: Promise Every Child Is Known by an Adult

Second, every student should be known well by at least one adult at school. After all, personal and social capability grows through relationships. A child struggles to practise self-awareness with an adult who never asks.

In practice, this takes ten minutes. First, list every student in your class. Next to each name, write one thing they care about outside school. Any blank line is a child nobody knows well yet. Fix the blanks first.

Way 3: Promise Work for a Real Audience

Third, every student completes a longer project for an audience beyond the teacher. We called this a performance of worth back in 2021, and the idea still holds.

Katie Martin works with school systems on learner-centred redesign. On Juliani’s Next Gen Schools podcast, she named student presentations of learning as her biggest lever for change. In her experience, reluctant teachers watch one and say they want it every year. In primary, the audience might be families at a learning expo, a Year 1 class or a local councillor.

Rewrite the Poster as a Promise

Each general capability can become an “every student will” statement. Here are five starters to adapt for your school.

Way 4: Promise Learning That Leaves the Classroom

Fourth, students should use their learning beyond the school gate. Juliani cites a 2026 Gallup survey of US young people. Around 41% said they had not learnt anything interesting at school in the past week.

Above all, transfer gives learning a reason to exist. For example, a Year 2 measurement unit might end with students measuring something at home and reporting back. A Year 6 civics unit might end with a letter to the local member about a real issue. The task stays small, yet the child sees their learning work in the world.

Way 5: Promise to Track Engagement

Juliani’s last promise is the hardest. At present, schools track reading levels and NAPLAN bands closely. By contrast, far fewer track whether children want to be there. Gallup’s US data shows engagement dropping sharply with age. About three in four Year 5 students are engaged, against roughly one in three by the senior years.

Two cautions apply here. First, engagement is easy to fake. Busy, quiet and finished early can all hide shallow thinking, as our post on fake engagement shows. Second, resist the urge to rubric-score creativity. Juliani warns about Campbell’s Law. Once a number drives decisions, people start bending their behaviour to move the number.

As a result, student voice and your own observation beat a score out of four. A two-question exit slip once a fortnight tells you plenty. Ask what students enjoyed and what they would change.

Make the General Capabilities Real, One at a Time

Nobody keeps five promises in one term. Instead, pick one capability and one promise. Then plan backwards from the experience you want every child to have. The backward design process works the same way. You decide the evidence first and the activities second.

Martin’s point holds for schools of any size. The poster is where the work begins, not where it ends.