Topic+1

Society and Environment curriculum includes the study of the social nature of human beings and human relationships, and cultural and social aspects of human existence. Its focus is on **people**, which also includes learning about interactions between humans and their cultural and natural environments. The field of learning for students from Kindergarten to Year 12 is outlined in the //National Statements and Profiles for Studies of Society for Australian Schools// (Australian Education Council 1994a, 1994b), and is described more definitively in various state curriculum policy documents. An indication of the scope of Society and Environment curriculum is given by the New South Wales Board of Studies (2006, p.1): The key learning area Human Society and Its Environment deals with the interactions of people with one another and with their social, cultural and physical environments as they attempt to meet their needs. These interactions are analysed in this key learning area, drawing on content and methodology from traditional disciplines in the humanities and social sciences. This key learning area assists students to empathise with others and to understand and evaluate the nature of the society to which they belong, and its environments, from both regional and global perspectives. Learning experiences in this key learning area also assist students to develop a sense of personal and national identity and provide opportunities to develop skills in researching, analysing information, issues and values, and interacting with others to bring about improvements in the quality of society and its environments. In New South Wales the //Human Society and Its Environment// Key Learning Area also includes responsibility for Languages Other Than English (LOTE). This 'optional element' enables students to actually learn a language, but the emphasis in the 'core element' focuses on cultural aspects of Society and Environment which provide a context for specialised language studies. A most important feature of learning in Society and Environment, incorporated into the New South Wales policy document as well as those produced by curriculum authorities in various other states is the emphasis placed on learning outcomes which require inquiry based learning approaches. This includes: A broad intention common to most curriculum policy statements is that Society and Environment inquiry should have a long term goal of contributing to students' personal and social development in order to enhance their abilities to cope with a changing world, and to make constructive contributions to the quality of the Society and Environment of which they are part. In other words it plays an essential role in **citizenship education**. The overall purpose of providing for citizenship education is clearly apparent in the general aim of the New South Wales //Human Society and Its Environment K-6 Syllabus// (Board of Studies NSW 2006, p. 8). The aim of Human Society and Its Environment is to develop in students the values and attitudes, skills, and knowledge and understandings that: Such cognitive and affective aspects of learning, including the 'participation' component, are also incorporated into the //National Statements and Profiles// (Australian Education Council 1994a, 1994b). The //National Statement on Studies of Society and Environment// (Australian Education Council, 1994a ,p. 3) refers to this field of learning as encompassing the study of people's interactions, the study of their surroundings and interactions between people and their surroundings. Studies of Society and Environment are important because they expand students' knowledge and understanding of their own society, other societies, local and global environments, and of relationships between environments and societies ..... The area promotes the knowledge, skills, attitudes and values that enable students to participate as active and informed citizens in a democratic society and within a global community. The general aim of the New South Wales //Human Society and Its Environment K-6 Syllabus// is to be achieved through three major aspects of learning: Change and continuity; Cultures; Environments; and Social systems and structures. Acquiring information; Using an inquiry process; and Social and civic participation. Interest in, and informed and responsible attitudes towards people, cultures, religions, societies, environments and learning, with a commitment to: The major strands which fall under the heading of 'knowledge and understandings', taken collectively, provide a conceptual base for a wide range of more specific outcomes and topics related to subject matter content. These are expanded upon in the syllabus and in the accompanying support document. These conceptual strands are intended to be investigated in an interconnected way. The key aspect of 'skills' relates to 'using an inquiry process'. The syllabus provides a student centred inquiry learning model which enables 'students to identify issues and problems, gather relevant information and organise this information in order to solve problems and take responsible action' (Board of Studies NSW, 2006, p. 12). 'Acquiring information' and 'Social and civic participation' are given equal prominence with 'Using an inquiry process' in the syllabus, but in reality both of the former are contributed to by enlightened use of the latter. This inquiry learning model is used as the basis for developing cognitive inquiry learning sequences in EDSS223 The role of 'values and attitudes' is particularly important in Society and Environment curriculum as they are both derived from and influence the ways in which people interact with their society and environment. They have particular relevance to the making of decisions and taking of action which is part of 'social and civic participation'. While the treatment of values and attitudes in the New South Wales //HSIE K-6 syllabus// is said to be 'embedded in the content', there is a need to ensure they can be recognised and made overt. Some traditional values education approaches which enable this will be studied in depth in EDSS324. In the New South Wales //Human Society and Its Environment K-6// syllabus there is a deliberate emphasis on inclusion of issues and perspectives of individuals and groups whose points of view may be overlooked or seen as less important in the views of 'mainstream' society. The purpose of including such perspectives is to focus on realities inherent in studying Society and Environment and to encourage empathy with all people in society. The particular perspectives emphasised in the syllabus include those related to: Aboriginal, Citizenship, Environmental, Gender, Global, Multicultural and Work. These are intended to be treated in all learning areas of primary and secondary schools, but they are of particular concern to the content and pedagogy of Society and Environment curriculum. The notion of 'perspectives' includes the use of subject matter content and learning activities relevant to the particular perspectives being treated, but it goes beyond simply 'teaching about' the groups or issues which are the focus of such perspectives. The intention should be to ensure that //the actual points of view// of particular groups or individuals are deliberately and substantively included in Society and Environment curriculum, taking into account the need for 'people based' as well as 'people related' sources of information, experiences and learning activities needed to do this.
 * The field of society and environment curriculum**
 * Topic 1: The field of society and environment curriculum**
 * emphasis on student centred learning;
 * development of thinking and research skills as outcomes of learning;
 * the use of content as a vehicle for the development of concepts and understanding which can be transferred and applied in other contexts, as well as to the content selected for study; and
 * emphasis on citizenship education.
 * The emphasis in EDSS223 is on **//pedagogy//**, so that major attention is given to inquiry based learning approaches which can be applied to any particular content.
 * Maye, B. 1998, Looking Back to Look Ahead: Trends in Studies of Society and Environment Curriculum Development **eReserve**.
 * Collins, C. and Knight, S. 2006, Where to Society and Environment? **eReserve**
 * What kinds of Society and Environment curriculum policy documents have emerged in recent years?
 * What kinds of ideological trends have been evident in the development of Society and Environment curriculum?
 * Read**
 * Maye, B. 1998, Looking Back to Look Ahead: Trends in Studies of Society and Environment Curriculum Development **eReserve**.
 * Collins, C. and Knight, S. 2006, Where to Society and Environment? **eReserve**
 * Reflect**
 * The role of society and environment inquiry in the school curriculum**
 * enhance their sense of personal, community, national and global identity; and
 * enable them to participate effectively in maintaining and improving the quality of their society and environment.
 * Knowledge and understandings about:**
 * Skills in:**
 * Values and attitudes:**
 * Social justice;
 * Intercultural understanding;
 * Ecological sustainability;
 * Democratic processes;
 * Beliefs and moral codes; and
 * Lifelong learning.
 * Read**
 * Tudball, L. 2007, Standing up for SOSE: the future of Social Education//, ETHOS//, pp. 14-19. **eReserve**
 * Reynolds, R. 2007//,// Good Pedagogy and SOSE in Primary Schools//, The Social Educator//, Vol. 25, No. 3, pp. 8-10. **eReserve**
 * Cross curriculum perspectives**
 * Figure 1.1 Architecture of the HSIE/SOSE Curriculum**

When we are making decisions about what to teach in HSIE/SOSE and how to go about teaching it, it is helpful to keep in mind how the syllabuses we are implementing have been constructed, and how we can divide the planning processes we must do into manageable stages. Figure 1.1 //Architecture of the HSIE/SOSE Curriculum// provides an overview of how HSIE/SOSE curriculum is developed from its broad inception to the detailed implementation of lessons. Syllabuses are written following a rigorous process during which there is hotly contested debate about what is most important for students to learn. Authorities responsible for publishing syllabuses establish expert groups to oversee the process. They collect research and policy about teaching, learning and education generally, and about HSIE/SOSE related disciplines in particular, from multiple sources internationally and nationally, and use this to provide a framework for writing the new syllabus. Extensive consultation is undertaken so that anyone with a view about what should be included has an opportunity to put it forward. As you can imagine there will be multiple points of view and the final published document will reflect some more than others. Once published, the syllabus sets out the requirements for our teaching in the HSIE /SOSE area. Often support documents providing examples and suggestions about how to interpret the syllabus are published shortly after its release. Usually syllabuses are expressed in broad terms so that they can be implemented in widely different schools. Each school is responsible for interpreting the syllabus requirements in the local school context. This provides an opportunity for each of us to contribute significantly to the curriculum since the choices we make to implement the syllabus flavour what children have an opportunity to learn in our school. The first plan that a school staff makes is a //scope and sequence// that sets out an overview for the whole school of what will be included in its //program// for HSIE/SOSE. The scope and sequence identifies what will be learned at each year level or stage across the primary school. This ensures that there is coherence and continuity in learning for students as they move through the school. It eliminates the possibility of subject matter being repeated for a particular cohort. Planning to have the necessary information sources available when needed, and for major learning experiences such as trips away, can be more timely when the scope and sequence chart is well constructed. Having established the broad framework for HSIE/SOSE within the school, teachers prepare the //program//. Usually a program comprises //units of work//, each of which sets out the content of a body of class work to be done over several weeks, perhaps as long as a school term but often about half a term. Units may be entirely teacher-prepared within the school, or they may be based on examples prepared by others outside the school in which case they would need to be modified to suit the school’s particular context and available information resources. Units are planned to cover quite large chunks of the syllabus, with several of the syllabus outcomes being addressed in a substantial way by the student learning activities included in the unit. In many schools units of work are constructed to integrate activities that address outcomes and content from other key learning areas in addition to HSIE/SOSE. This is a sensible way to plan as it enables more to be achieved in the time available and it enables students to see connections between subjects that make what they are learning more meaningful. Because units of work may be implemented over quite long timeframes, and can cover multiple ideas and understandings, it is necessary to divide them into smaller manageable chunks for implementation. These ‘chunks’ should be s//equences// of learning activities that cohere about a central understanding to be learned. The structure of a sequence will vary according to the learning purpose of the sequence. In EDSS 223 we will be concentrating on writing and planning inquiry sequences. The main purpose of asequence is the learning of knowledge and understanding about various topics ie those set out in our syllabuses. In EDSS 324 we will look at values education sequences and problem solving sequences, and further, we will see how these different forms of sequences can be fitted together to form units of work. The final curriculum planning step is to plan lessons and parts of lessons. This is a daily task, as at this level of planning teachers have to take into account the outcomes of the previous lessons within the sequence, and sometimes, what has happened in the class in other learning areas. While class teachers can contribute to curriculum planning at every level, it is at the school and class level where they //must be engaged//. They are the ones who choose activities that students will enjoy and learn from, they choose the information resources to be used, they choose the examples and case studies to illustrate the big ideas that students need to learn about, they are the ones that organise how students will interact and they are the ones who stimulate students to think and to try new ideas and ways of doing things. They are the ones who see to it that all students are engaged in learning and that what is being learned is of value. Class teachers are central to creating the curriculum students experience. In this topic, we are asking you to visit a number of websites to explore current directions in curriculum developments in Australian. HSIE/SOSE education in Australia is undergoing significant changes brought about by a number of national developments. The most recent development has been the release of the Australian Curriculum: history which is now in the implementation phase in the schools and the draft stage of the Australian Curriculum : Geography finalised. In the past, there have been numerous attempts to develop a National Curriculum for Australia schools, often with difficulties and differences arising between state and federal governments. In June 1993, the Council of Australian Governments (COAG) amalgamated a number of ministerial councils in order to optimise coordination of policy making across interrelated portfolios. One of the combinations involved merging three previously existing councils to form the Ministerial Council on Education, Employment, Training and Youth Affairs (MCEETYA). In April 1999, State, Territory and Commonwealth Ministers of Education met as the Ministerial Council on Education, Employment, Training and Youth Affairs (MCEETYA) in Adelaide. At that meeting, Ministers endorsed a new set of //National Goals for Schooling in the Twenty-First Century//. The new goals were released in April 1999 as The Adelaide Declaration (1999) on //National Goals for Schooling in the Twenty-First Century// and are available from the following website: @http://www.mceecdya.edu.au/mceecdya/ During its term in office, the Howard Government pushed for a uniform approach to curriculum and the Rudd Government continued with its commitment to develop an Australian National Curriculum. The Gillard Government has continued to push the National agenda for schooling. As part of the consultation process, the Federal Government conducted sessions and released four Framing Papers for English, Mathematics, Science and History during October and November 2008. //The National History Curriculum: Framing paper//‘ proposes broad directions for what teachers should teach and young people should learn in the national History curriculum from Kindergarten to Year 12’ (National Curriculum Board 2008: iii). These papers were open for consultation until February 2009. Throughout 2009, the National History Curriculum unfolded and now in 2011 the Foundation to Year 10 Australian Curriculum for English, mathematics, science and history is now available. Note the name change from National Curriculum to Australian Curriculum. You can assess the history curriculum at the following website: @http://www.acara.edu.au/default.asp The development of an Australian history curriculum provides the opportunity to ensure that all Australian students learn history. Awareness of history is an essential characteristic of any society; historical knowledge is fundamental to understanding others, and ourselves and historical understanding is as foundational and challenging as the disciplines of science, mathematics and English. Having an Australian Curriculum will ensure the teaching of history will be systematic and sequential across the years of schooling in all schools in Australia. The new national history curriculum will see history as a discipline in its own right in the primary years of schooling; a core subject with content outlined for each year or schooling Kindergarten to Year Six. As with past HSIE/SOSE documents the content has been organised on an ‘expanding environments’ principle where the younger students investigate history at a personal level, moving on to local then state and national history studied in the later primary years. The diagram Figure 1.1 outlines the consultation and architecture involved in the evolution of HSIE/SOSE curriculum. As with the National History curriculum, and all previous curriculum documents before it, relating to this in this key learning area go through a framing stage where ideas are sourced from many areas, a draft is drawn up and a consultation and trialling period follows. Feedback from this phase is correlated and worked on before the final curriculum documents are released for implementation. As a teacher in training you need to visit the ACARA website and familiarise yourself with this new draft curriculum. A proposed final curriculum in English, mathematics, science and history will be published later this year. The website for Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority is: @http://www.acara.edu.au/default.asp Gilbert, R, ‘Studies of society and environment in the Australian curriculum’ **eReserve** Reynolds, R. 2009, ‘National Curriculum Framing paper on History Curriculum: SESS response’, //The Social Educator//, vol 27, no.1,pp. 4-6. **eReserve** How will a national curriculum benefit children in Australia? What are your views on the content within the Australian Curriculum: History? Australian Education Council 1994a, //A Statement on Studies of Society and Environment for Australian Schools//, Curriculum Corporation, Carlton. Australian Education Council 1994b, //Studies of Society and Environment – A Curriculum Profile for Australian Schools//, Curriculum Corporation, Carlton. Board of Studies NSW 1998, //Human Society and Its Environment K-6,// NSW Board of Studies, Sydney. Updated April 2006. Board of Studies, NSW 1999. //The Key Learning Areas of the Primary Curriculum//, @http://www.boardofstudies.nsw.edu.au Collins, C. and Knight, S. 2006, Where to Society and Environment? .//The Social Educator//, pp. 15-18. Gilbert, R & Hoepper, B, 2011 (Eds.), //Teaching Society and Environment// 4th ed., Melbourne, Cengage Learning Australia Pty Limited. Maye, B. 1998, Looking Back to Look Ahead: Trends in Studies of Society and Environment Curriculum Development. //The Social Educator//, 16, 2, pp. 11-12. Reynolds, R. 2007, Good Pedagogy and SOSE in Primary Schools. //The Social Educator//, Vol. 25, No. 3, pp. 8-10. Reynolds, R. 2009, National Curriculum Framing Paper on History Curriculum: SESS response. //The Social Educator,// vol 27, no. 1. pp 4-6 Tudball, L. 2007, Standing up for SOSE; the future of Social Education. //Ethos//, pp.14-18
 * Where does what I am teaching fit in to the HSIE/SOSE curriculum?**
 * The Australian Curriculum**
 * Read:**
 * Reflect:**
 * References**