English - Cross-curriculum priorities

Cross-curriculum priorities support the Western Australian Curriculum to be a relevant, contemporary and engaging curriculum that reflects national, regional and global contexts. Cross-curriculum priorities are incorporated through learning area content; they are not separate learning areas or subjects. They provide opportunities to enrich the content of the learning areas, where most appropriate and authentic, allowing students to engage with and better understand their world.

Opportunities to apply cross-curriculum priorities to learning area content vary. All three cross‑curriculum priorities have relevance and meaning to the English curriculum. The Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Histories and Cultures cross-curriculum priority is embedded in content descriptions where it is core to the delivery of the content in English. All three priorities are also identified in content elaborations where they offer opportunities to add depth and richness to student learning.

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander histories and culture

In the English curriculum, students explore Aboriginal and Torres Strait cultural knowledge, traditions and experiences represented and communicated through traditional, modern and contemporary texts. The histories and cultures are reflected across the three strands. The Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Histories and Cultures cross-curriculum priority within the English curriculum provides culturally relevant and engaging contexts for all students to:

• appreciate literature created by Aboriginal and Torres Strait authors and illustrators
• engage with and respond to literature about the histories, cultures and perspectives of Aboriginal and Torres Strait peoples
• examine texts that include events, Country/Place, identities and languages of Aboriginal and Torres Strait peoples
• identify and discuss the representation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait histories and cultures
• explore oral narrative traditions of Aboriginal and Torres Strait peoples and their importance for connections to people, Country/Place and cultural identity.

Asia and Australia’s engagement with Asia

In the English curriculum, students explore texts that reflect the rich and diverse cultures, belief systems and traditions of the Asia region, and Asian experiences in and with Australia. Students engage with traditional and contemporary authors, illustrators and texts from across Asia. They investigate the role of literature in developing, maintaining and transforming cultural beliefs and practices, and communicating the rich cultural diversity of the Asia region. They reflect on the intrinsic value of these texts as well as their place and value within contexts and communities.

Sustainability

Through the English curriculum, students explore how ideas and opinions about issues, such as living sustainably can be represented in texts from different historical, social and cultural contexts. They examine how these issues are debated and reported in texts. English develops students’ ability to analyse and evaluate multiple points of view.