Academic Subjects
The four week rotation means that students spend four weeks in the work place and four weeks at school learning the following core subjects:
English Communication
In Australia, English is the principal spoken language and the predominant written language of personal and public life. Proficiency in and understanding of English allows people to share in and contribute to current and future local, national and global communities and cultures.
The concept of language and literacy as social practice is fundamental to this study area specification. It is through texts that people express and share the vitality of cultures and communities; tell the stories of cultures; contribute to the shaping of personal, group and national identities; explore ideas and feelings that invite reflection on knowledge, values and practices; promote shared cultural understandings, and participate actively in communities. Students will utilise, manipulate and critically reflect on a range of texts in the contexts of work, community and leisure.
Students will be involved in learning experiences that allow them to develop their interpersonal skills, to learn and function in various situations, and to acquire specific knowledge and skills relevant to future life and further training and employment. Students are supported in developing the capacity to learn from and about spoken, written and visual texts.
Prevocational Mathematics
Prevocational Mathematics is designed to help students improve their numeracy by building their confidence and success in making meaning of mathematics. It aims to help students overcome difficulties with, or negative attitudes towards, mathematics, so that they can use mathematics efficiently and critically to make informed decisions in their daily lives.
Numeracy is more than being able to operate with numbers. It requires mathematical knowledge and understanding, mathematical problem-solving skills, literacy skills and positive beliefs and attitudes. When students become numerate they are able to manage a situation or solve a problem in real contexts such as everyday life, work or further learning.
Students study five topics (number, data, location and time, measurement and finance) that are integrated into teaching and learning contexts that they find relevant. Students respond to these contexts by identifying or locating, acting upon, interpreting, and communicating mathematical ideas and information. Students learn to represent these ideas and information in a number of ways. Because these contexts foster cooperation, and are supportive, enjoyable and non-competitive, students develop positive attitudes towards the use of mathematics.
Students’ confidence improves when they have sufficient time to discuss and discover how to solve problems, guess at answers, take chances, try things out, be wrong, and most importantly, experience success. Students learn that there is rarely one way of doing things and that workplace mathematics is often very different from school mathematics because each industry adapts mathematical skills differently. As students become more confident in using mathematics, they willingly contribute to class and group discussions — they question, propose, argue, challenge, seek advice and clarification, and become aware of the benefits of working independently and in groups.
Information and Communication Technology
Students learn best by constructing their own learning — by undertaking meaningful and, if possible, authentic tasks, and then reflecting on what they have achieved. They should be challenged to produce effective solutions to problems and, in so doing, not only develop their abilities but also experience the fun and enjoyment of using ICTs.
Information & Communications Technology enables students to keep pace with new technologies and be responsible users of ICTs, aware of the social, environmental and legal impacts of their actions. They will also learn to make decisions about the effective, legal, ethical and aesthetic use of technology.
While the course of study has a vocational orientation, it also provides opportunities for students to develop important skills that they will need in other life roles, and serves as a support subject for study in other disciplines. Through undertaking a study in Information & Communications Technology, students should develop important, transferable skills for using a computer as a problem-solving and communication tool.
Business
The Business Study Area Specification has been developed to engage learners in their senior phase of learning in a range of contemporary real-life contexts. Business learning involves a range of experiences that provide knowledge, processes and skills contributing to vocational pathways and their role as active informed citizens.
This study area specification is designed to provide an understanding of the world of business in both public and private sectors. Students have the opportunity to understand issues associated with workplace culture and practices, and develop the skills, processes and attitudes crucial for making valid decisions.
Skills implicit in business and personal effectiveness include working in teams, demonstrating effective communication, organisational and interpersonal skills, and using a range of technologies. These skills must be performed with accuracy, a concern for quality, and a commitment to achieving goals and objectives.
The development of students’ business-related knowledge and skills will also allow for the development of the key competencies, in contexts that arise naturally from the learning experiences and assessment practices of the subject.