Making Humanities and Social Sciences Come Alive Early Years and Primary Education

In aspiring for world-class education, the Alice Springs (Mparntwe) Education Declaration provided guidance for the continued development of the Australian Curriculum. The declaration committed the Australian Government, in collaboration with the education community, support for all young Australians development in becoming confident and creative individuals, successful lifelong learners and active and informed members of the community. To do so, schools are encouraged to address not only academic achievement but also their holistic development and wellbeing. Subsequently, some of the approaches to achieving these goals are identified as not solely fitting into the traditional content learning areas. Rather, it was argued that such approaches needed to be immersed across learning areas to ensure the intellectual, physical, social, emotional, moral, spiritual and aesthetic development and wellbeing of young Australians were respected and treated as part of the teaching and learning requirements and as a student entitlement. Hence, the general capabilities and cross-curriculum priorities are additional dimensions embedded across learning areas and purported to be of equal importance.