General Capabilities

Critical and creative thinking represents two important ways of thinking that work together to help students inquire into the world around them.

Critical thinking involves students analysing and assessing possibilities against criteria for judgement. They construct and evaluate arguments and use information, evidence and logic to draw reasoned conclusions and to solve problems.

Creative thinking involves students learning to generate and apply new ideas, and see existing situations in new ways. They identify alternative explanations and possibilities, and create new links to generate successful outcomes.

Dispositions such as inquisitiveness, reasonableness, intellectual flexibility, open- and fair-mindedness, and a readiness to try new ways of doing things are enhanced by critical and creative thinking. Students consider alternatives and develop persistence throughout the learning continuum.

Digital literacy encompasses the knowledge and skills students need to create, manage, communicate and investigate data, information and ideas, and solve problems in a digital environment. It assists students to work collaboratively at school and in their lives beyond school.

Digital literacy involves students critically identifying and appropriately selecting and using digital devices or systems and learning to make the most of the technologies available to them. Students adapt to new ways of doing things as technologies evolve, and protect the safety of themselves and others in digital environments.

Ethical understanding encompasses the knowledge and skills students need to identify ethical concepts, understand different ethical perspectives and apply ethical thinking in response to issues.

Ethical understanding involves students building a strong personal and socially oriented ethical outlook that helps them to manage context, conflict and uncertainty. Students develop an awareness of the influence that their values and behaviour have on others. They explore ethical issues and interactions with others, discussing ideas and learning to be accountable as members of a democratic community.

Ethical understanding is developed through the investigation of a range of questions drawn from various contexts in the curriculum.

Intercultural understanding encompasses the behaviours and dispositions that students need to understand what happens and what to do when cultures intersect.

Through learning to value their own cultural perspectives and practices and those of others, young people are supported to become responsible local and global citizens. They are equipped for living and working in an interconnected world.

Intercultural understanding involves students developing the knowledge and skills needed to reflect on culture and cultural diversity, engage with cultural and linguistic diversity, and navigate intercultural contexts.

Literacy is defined as students’ ability to interpret and create texts with appropriateness, accuracy, confidence, fluency and efficacy for learning in and out of school. This ability helps them to participate in Australian life and as global citizens. Students’ literacy develops through their engagement with texts of gradually increasing specialisation and complexity as the curriculum knowledge and skill requirements increase.

Students adapt language to meet the demands of different purposes, audiences and contexts, including the unique disciplinary literacies used by each learning area. They learn about the different ways in which knowledge and opinion are represented and developed in texts. Texts are composed using language ranging from the everyday language of personal experience to more abstract, specialised and technical language, including the language of schooling and academic study across varied subjects and learning areas. Information about how literacy applies in each learning area is available on the learning area webpages.

Students develop literacy by listening to, reading, viewing, speaking, writing and creating different texts, and using language for different purposes in a range of contexts.

Numeracy is defined as students’ ability to use mathematical knowledge and skills effectively for learning and participation in daily life. Numeracy is fundamental to a student’s ability to learn at school and to engage productively in society. It involves the recognition, formulation and interpretation of mathematics, and its application to real-world problems and contexts. Through the Western Australian Curriculum, students become numerate as they develop the learning and thinking to use mathematics knowledge and skills more confidently across other learning areas at school and in their lives more broadly.

The Personal and social capability provides a foundation for students to understand themselves and others, and navigate their relationships, lives, work and learning. Students with well-developed social and emotional skills find it easier to manage themselves, relate to others, collaborate, develop empathy, set goals and resolve conflict. They feel positive about themselves and the world around them.

The Personal and social capability supports students to build their ability to regulate their thoughts, emotions and behaviours. This ability assists students to effectively engage with new ways of thinking, knowing and doing in an increasingly demanding and diverse global society.

The Personal and social capability learning continuum includes descriptors to support students with disability to access age-equivalent content and participate in learning on the same basis as their peers.