Organisation of Technology 7–8

The organisation of the Technology 7–8 Syllabus illustrates the important role of practical experiences and design and production processes in the development of technological knowledge, understanding and skills. Content has been grouped in focus areas to enable the integrated relationship between technologies to be explored through design projects.

Figure 1 is an overview of the organisation of the Technology 7–8 Syllabus.

Image long description: The 4 focus areas are identified in the centre of the diagram. They are Digital and communication technologies, Engineering technologies and systems, Food and agricultural practices, and Materials and production processes. A figure-eight loop intersecting the focus areas at the centre is labelled Practical experiences on the left and Design and production processes on the right. A single continuous line is labelled Develop technological knowledge, understanding and skills through design projects, and it encircles all content.

Course requirements

Students study the Technology 7–8 Syllabus for 200 hours.

All focus areas must be delivered across Years 7–8.
Students must undertake practical learning and project work for most of the course time.
Projects developed must ensure that all content can be experienced across Years 7–8.
Students must document, communicate and evaluate design and production processes for projects across Years 7–8.

Students with disability may require adjustments and/or additional support in order to engage in practical experiences.

Course numbers:

Technology 7–8: TBA

Exclusions: Students may not access Life Skills outcomes and other outcomes from the same subject.

Safety, risk management and animal welfare

Schools are required to ensure they follow safety and risk management, including the welfare of animals, in delivering the Technology 7–8 Syllabus.

Life Skills outcomes and content

Students with disability can access the syllabus outcomes and content in a range of ways. Decisions regarding curriculum options should be made in the context of collaborative curriculum planning.

Some students with intellectual disability may find the Years 7–8 Technology Life Skills outcomes and content the most appropriate option to follow in Stage 4. Before deciding that a student should access Life Skills outcomes and content, consideration should be given to other ways of assisting the student to engage with the Stage 4 Technology outcomes, or prior stage outcomes if appropriate. This assistance may include a range of adjustments to teaching, learning and assessment activities.

Life Skills outcomes cannot be taught in combination with other outcomes from the same subject. Teachers select specific Life Skills outcomes to teach based on the needs, strengths, goals, interests and prior learning of each student. Students are required to demonstrate achievement of one or more Life Skills outcomes.

Creating written texts supports learning

The development of the Technology 7–8 Draft 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.

Balance of content

The content groups describe the knowledge and skills students develop to become creative, safe and responsible users of technologies. The practical application of knowledge and skills is embedded in the outcomes and content to support the foundation for learning in technologies through projects.

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 describe in more detail how the outcomes are to be interpreted and demonstrated, and the intended learning appropriate for the stage. In considering the intended learning, teachers make decisions about the sequence and emphasis to be given to groups of content based on the needs and abilities of their students. Projects may include content points from multiple focus areas or within one focus area.

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