The Five Concepts Of The Australian National Curriculum

Although the Australian National Curriculum provides educators with a teaching framework, the curriculum is more than just a document, it is the curriculum experienced by students. Blaise and Nuttall (2011) suggests that it is imperative for educators to understand all five concepts of curriculum which interlink within the education system to teach students as they provide a more complex understanding of curriculum and how it is experienced (p .82). These concepts consist of the intended curriculum, the enacted curriculum, the hidden curriculum, the null curriculum and the lived curriculum (Blaise & Nuttall, 2011, p. 82)
The intended curriculum (The Australian National Curriculum) is the official curriculum framework set out by the government and provides guidelines to assist schools and teachers in the planning and teaching of various subjects the government expect students to experience within the classroom (Blaise & Nuttall, 2011, p. 83). These guidelines clarify what will be learned (the curriculum content), when it will be learned (the arrangement of content) and describes how teachers and parents will know it has been learnt (through assessments) (Blaise & Nuttall, 2011, p. 85).
However, students do not directly experience the intended curriculum instead they experience it through the enacted curriculum, a process that refers to how a teacher interprets the curriculum framework to make decision regarding planning and the delivery of lessons based on influential factors such as formal theories, curriculum guidelines, material resources and teacher’s life experiences (Blaise & Nuttall, 2011, p.
87). While planning is essential for teaching the content of the official curriculum teachers will also need an awareness of the unplanned events which occur at school and affect the delivery of content (Marsh & Wallis, 2007, p.
15).
These unplanned experiences are known as the hidden curriculum and represents the unintended or informal lessons children learn at school, such as the social rules and norms of the classroom and playground (Blaise & Nuttall, 2011, p. 90). Students are required to know or learn certain valves and behaviours that are conducive within school or amongst peers and, having behavioural skills like whole body listening and following teacher’s instructions and, the social skills to getting along with peers of different genders, socioeconomic backgrounds or learning abilities can contribute to successful student learning experiences (Blaise & Nuttall, 2011, p. 90). Although school a hub for learning, there are some topics that teachers omit from teaching due to their lack knowledge or skills of a specific subject and subjects being of a sensitive nature (Blaise & Nuttall, 2011, p. 92). Within the education system this is called the null curriculum and refers to what a teacher does not want the students to learn such as sexuality, death and religion, which can be personal to a student, contradict the beliefs of a student’s family or not be age appropriate for students (Blaise & Nuttall, 2011, p. 92). Yet, Blaise and Nuttall highlight (2011) “these topics interested children therefore, it is important for teachers to include these issues, even if it makes adults uncomfortable” (p. 92). Finally, it is important for educators to be aware that “the curriculum is never a single thing and never remains static” (Marsh & Willis, 2007, p.4). The lived curriculum combines everything a student learns and experiences in the intended, enacted, hidden and null curriculum and teachers need to understand how these curriculums interlink to teach effectively. Educators can then make decisions not just based on the official curriculum but on what is required within the classroom at any given time whether that be attention to social skills or the acknowledgment that students experience the same curriculum in different ways, therefore a different approach to teaching is needed (Marsh & Willis, 2007, p.6).