7–10Geography 7–10 Syllabus

Figure 1 shows the organisation of Geography 7–10.

Image long description: This diagram outlines the organisation of content for the Geography 7–10 Syllabus. Along the top are the focus areas labelled Stage 4: Landscapes and landforms; Liveability of places; Water in the world; and Interconnections and trade. At the bottom are the focus areas labelled Stage 5: Biomes and sustainable agriculture; Changing places; Environmental change and management; and Human wellbeing. In the centre of the diagram are the Geographical concepts: place, space, environment, interconnection, scale, sustainability and change; the Geographical inquiry skills: acquiring, processing and communicating geographical information; and the Geographical tools: maps, fieldwork, data and graphs, spatial technologies and additional geographical representations. A line connects the concepts, inquiry skills and tools labelled ‘Thinking and working geographically’ across the top and ‘Knowledge, understanding and skills’ across the bottom.

NESA is committed to working in partnership with Aboriginal Communities and supporting teachers, schools and schooling sectors to improve educational outcomes for young people.

It is important to respect appropriate ways of interacting with Aboriginal Communities and Cultural material when teachers plan, program and implement learning experiences that focus on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Priorities.

Indigenous Cultural and Intellectual Property (ICIP) protocols need to be followed. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples’ ICIP protocols include Cultural Knowledges, Cultural Expression and Cultural Property and documentation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples’ Identities and lived experiences. It is important to recognise the diversity and complexity of different Cultural groups in NSW, as protocols may differ between local Aboriginal Communities.

Teachers should work in partnership with Elders, parents, Community members, Cultural Knowledge Holders, or a local, regional or state Aboriginal Education Consultative Group. It is important to respect Elders and the roles of men and women. Local Aboriginal Peoples should be invited to share their Cultural Knowledges with students and staff when engaging with Aboriginal histories and Cultural Practices.

The development of the Geography 7–10 Syllabus follows Recommendation 2: ‘Clarify and strengthen writing content in syllabus documents’ from Teaching Writing: Report of the Thematic Review of Writing (NESA 2018).

Creating written texts facilitates learning as it promotes explicitness, encourages the integration of ideas, supports reflection, fosters personal engagement and aids learners to think about the significance and implication of ideas. Each subject has particular and specific writing demands relevant for communicating within and about the discipline. Writing about content enhances understanding across subjects and stages.

The secondary curriculum includes:

• systematic development of expectations for creating written texts which align with the English K–10 Syllabus (2022)
• explicit writing content to support students to become fluent creators of texts and to deepen their understanding of the subject area
• opportunities to practise the process of creating written texts to develop and communicate knowledge, understanding and ideas
• a focus on development of word consciousness and precise use of subject-specific terminology.

Creating written texts refers to the act of composing and constructing a text for a particular purpose, audience and context.

Various methods of transcription may be employed, and a student’s preferred communication form(s) should be considered when teaching.

The outcomes describe the knowledge, understanding and skills that students are expected to demonstrate as a result of teaching and learning. Teachers should use the outcomes to determine the scope of learning for the content included in each focus area.

The amount of content associated with a given outcome is not necessarily indicative of the amount of time spent engaging with the respective outcome. Teachers use formative and summative assessment to determine instructional priorities and the time needed for students to demonstrate expected outcomes.

The content groups are not intended to be hierarchical. In considering the intended learning, teachers make decisions about the sequence and emphasis to be given to particular groups of content based on the needs and abilities of their students.

Thinking and working geographically is featured in each focus area of the syllabus. It outlines how geographical concepts, inquiry skills and tools are to be integrated into each focus area.

Thinking geographically is integral to what students learn in Geography. It involves applying knowledge and conceptual understanding to new settings and enables students to think geographically about the world. Outcomes include knowledge and understanding of places and environments across a range of scales, and the interactions between people, places and environments. Students think geographically by using geographical concepts and tools as they engage in inquiry.

Working geographically involves students using concepts and content to apply knowledge through a process of inquiry. Students use and apply geographical tools for inquiry and use the skills of acquiring, processing and communicating geographical information.