Australian Curriculum

NESA has legislative responsibility under the NSW Education Act 1990 for setting and monitoring Kindergarten to Year 12 curriculum for NSW schools. NESA is also responsible for advising the NSW Minister for Education on the appropriateness, suitability and quality of curriculum for NSW schools and the structure and process of its implementation. 

NSW has joined with the Australian Government and all other states and territories to develop an Loading . Loading  and ongoing Loading  is coordinated by the Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority (ACARA). NESA coordinates feedback from the NSW education community and makes recommendations to ACARA. 

Implementation of the Australian Curriculum is the responsibility of states and territories. In NSW, Australian Curriculum content is incorporated into syllabuses using an ‘adopt and adapt’ approach. NESA will align new syllabuses with Version 9.0 of the Australian Curriculum as it is released by ACARA. 

In NSW the Australian Curriculum is incorporated into K–10 syllabuses. NESA determines: 

• the timeline for syllabus development for each key learning area 
• the subsequent implementation of syllabuses in schools. 

This determination is made in consultation with key stakeholders. 

The Australian Curriculum is the agreed common base for development of Stage 6 courses. NESA has flexibility to ‘adopt and adapt’ the Australian Curriculum to: 

• maintain the breadth and high standards of NSW senior secondary curriculum 
• ensure compatibility with the NSW assessment and examination system.