Cross-Curriculum Priorities

The cross-curriculum priorities address the contemporary issues that students face in a globalised world. Teachers may find opportunities to incorporate the priorities into the teaching and learning program for the Humanities and Social Sciences. The cross-curriculum priorities are not assessed unless they are identified within the core content.

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander histories and cultures

Across the Western Australian Curriculum, the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander histories and cultures priority provides opportunities for students to deepen their knowledge of Australia by engaging with the world's oldest continuous living cultures. Students will understand that contemporary Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities are strong, resilient, rich and diverse. The knowledge and understanding gained through this priority will enhance the ability of young people to participate positively in the ongoing development of Australia.

The Humanities and Social Sciences provides opportunities for students to learn about the traditional and contemporary experiences of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander People in a social, economic, political and legal context, and examine historical perspectives from their viewpoint. The priority also provides an opportunity to explore the relationships people have with place and their interconnection, and interactions, with the environment in which they live.

Asia and Australia's engagement with Asia

Across the Western Australian Curriculum, this priority will ensure that students learn about and recognise diversity within and between the countries of the Asia region. Students develop knowledge and understanding of Asian societies, cultures, beliefs, and environments, and the connections between the peoples of Asia, Australia, and the rest of the world. Asia literacy provides students with the skills to communicate and engage with the peoples of Asia so they can effectively live, work and learn in the region.

The Humanities and Social Sciences provides opportunities for students to learn about the past, present and future interconnections, and interdependence, between Australia and the Asia region, forged through political, economic, cultural and social ties. This priority also provides rich contexts for investigating interrelationships between places, environments and peoples.

Sustainability

Across the Western Australian Curriculum, the sustainability priority allows students to develop the knowledge, skills, values and worldviews necessary for them to act in ways that contribute to more sustainable patterns of living. Education for sustainability enables individuals and communities to reflect on ways of interpreting and engaging with the world. The sustainability priority is futures-oriented, focusing on protecting environments and creating a more ecologically and socially just world through informed action. Actions that support more sustainable patterns of living require consideration of environmental, social, cultural and economic systems and their interdependence.

The Humanities and Social Sciences provides opportunities for students to explore the human dependence on the environment and develops students' worldviews in relation to judgments about access to, and sustainable use of, the Earth's resources, as well as local and global equity and fairness across generations for the long-term wellbeing of our world. This priority also provides a rich context for understanding that sustaining a resilient democracy depends on the informed participation of its citizens in discussing and acting on local, national and global issues.