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What is the Australian Curriculum? A plain-English guide for parents
The Australian Curriculum, explained for parents: what ACARA’s version 9 covers, the eight learning areas, how year levels and achievement standards work, and what “curriculum-aligned” really means when you’re choosing resources.
Read the guideThe short answer
The Australian Curriculum is the national plan for what every Australian child should learn from their first year of school through to Year 10. It is developed and published by ACARA — the Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority — and the current version, version 9 (v9), was approved in 2022. Anyone can read it for free at australiancurriculum.edu.au.
For parents, it matters because it is the common reference point behind almost everything your child does at school. Teachers plan lessons from it, school reports are written against it, and the phrase “curriculum-aligned” on any learning resource is — or should be — a claim about this exact document.
Who writes it, and where to find it
ACARA is the independent national authority responsible for the Australian Curriculum, along with NAPLAN and national schools reporting. The curriculum is not a fixed document: it gets reviewed and updated over time, and version 9 — approved in 2022 — is the current edition. It tightened and decluttered earlier versions, so anything still referencing “version 8.4” is working from the previous edition.
The whole curriculum is public at australiancurriculum.edu.au. You can filter by year level and learning area and see exactly what teachers are working from. Every skill is written as a short “content description” with its own code — Year 3 maths codes start with AC9M3, for example — which is what good resources point to when they claim alignment.
The eight learning areas
The curriculum is organised into eight learning areas: English; Mathematics; Science; Humanities and Social Sciences (HASS); The Arts; Technologies; Health and Physical Education; and Languages.
In the primary years, English and Mathematics carry the most classroom time, with Science alongside them as a core area. The others absolutely matter, but if you are choosing extra practice for a K–6 child, English, maths and science are where the curriculum is most detailed — and where most learning resources focus.
Woven through all eight areas are “general capabilities” (things like literacy, numeracy, and critical and creative thinking) and cross-curriculum priorities. You do not need to memorise these; it is enough to know that the curriculum expects skills like reading and reasoning to show up everywhere, not just in one subject.
Year levels, content descriptions and achievement standards
The curriculum runs from Foundation — the first year of school, called Kindergarten in NSW, Prep in Queensland and Victoria, and Reception in South Australia — through to Year 10. For each year level, each learning area sets out content descriptions: the specific things to be taught that year.
Sitting above the content descriptions is the achievement standard: a short statement of what a student should typically know and be able to do by the end of that year. When a school report says your child is “at standard” or “working towards” something, this is the standard it is referring to.
One thing worth holding onto: children move at different speeds, and the standards describe typical expectations, not a ceiling or a deadline. A child can be ahead in number work and still consolidating fractions in the same term. That is normal — and it is exactly why good teaching, and good resources, meet a child where they actually are rather than where the year level says they should be.
Why your state might call it something different
The Australian Curriculum is national, but each state and territory decides how to implement it, and most adopt it closely. The main exceptions are NSW, where NESA writes its own syllabuses derived from the Australian Curriculum, and Victoria, which publishes the Victorian Curriculum — its own adaptation of the national document.
In practice, the backbone is the same everywhere: the same learning areas and broadly comparable year-level expectations. A resource genuinely mapped to Australian Curriculum v9 will line up well with what your child is doing in class in any state, even where the local codes and headings differ.
What “aligned to the curriculum” actually means when you’re choosing resources
Alignment is a spectrum. At the weak end, it is a marketing line — a workbook that covers vaguely age-appropriate topics. At the strong end, it means every activity is mapped to specific version 9 content descriptions at the right year level, so what your child practises at home genuinely matches what their teacher is building on at school.
Three questions are worth asking of any resource. Which version of the curriculum is it aligned to? (Version 9 is current — approved in 2022.) Can it show which content descriptions an activity covers, not just a subject name? And does it match your child’s year level while adjusting when they are ahead or behind in a particular area?
If the answers to those questions are vague, the alignment probably is too. The curriculum is public and precise — a resource that has genuinely done the mapping work will have no trouble showing it.
Common questions
Is the Australian Curriculum the same in every state?
The backbone is. Most states and territories adopt the Australian Curriculum closely. NSW (through NESA) and Victoria publish their own syllabuses derived from it, with their own codes and structure, but the learning areas and year-level expectations remain broadly comparable across the country.
What is the current version of the Australian Curriculum?
Version 9 (v9), approved in 2022 and published by ACARA at australiancurriculum.edu.au. If a resource claims curriculum alignment, it is worth checking that it means version 9 rather than an older edition.
What year levels does the Australian Curriculum cover?
Kindergarten — the first year of school, called Foundation in the Australian Curriculum — through to Year 10. The senior secondary years (11 and 12) are handled separately by each state and territory.
What is an achievement standard?
A short statement, for each learning area and year level, of what a student should typically know and be able to do by the end of that year. Teachers assess against it, and school reports are written with it in mind. It describes typical expectations, not a ceiling — children can be ahead in some areas and consolidating in others.
Can I read the curriculum myself?
Yes. The full Australian Curriculum is free to read at australiancurriculum.edu.au. Filter by your child’s year level and a learning area (say, Year 3 Mathematics) and you will see the exact content descriptions their teacher works from.
How do I know if a resource is genuinely curriculum-aligned?
Ask three things: which curriculum version it is aligned to (v9 is current), whether it can show the specific content descriptions each activity covers, and whether it matches your child’s year level while adapting when they are ahead or behind. Vague answers usually mean vague alignment.
