VICTORIAN CURRICULUM

Music In 2023 EdSpace students listen to, compose and perform music. EdSpace has developed  a practical component of Music with the teaching of managing a PA system. Students are supported to use the PA system for community events. VET: EdSpace provides Certificate II in Creative Industries to support an introduction to pathways in Creative industries careers. As composers, they create music in different styles and forms exploring personal interests and given ideas. 

 Media Arts students engage with a range of art forms to design, produce, distribute and interact with a range of art and craft works.  Students are encouraged to explore and learn  to create artworks with recycled materials. Students have explored  Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures in Reclaiming the Void project. Linking community to cross cultural priorities is an engaging way for students to explore an integrated approach to cross cultural learning. VET: EdSpace provides Certificate II in Creative Industries that incorporates units of competency to explore the design pathways in industry.

Science The Science curriculum provides opportunities for students to develop an understanding of important scientific concepts and processes, the practices used to develop scientific knowledge, the contribution of science to our culture and society, and its applications in our lives. EdSpace integrates the Stephanie Alexander kitchen Garden program that aligns with the Victorian Curriculum and units of work are carried out in the schools garden and kitchen. Students visit a farm regularly to understand animal science and a environmental science and sustainability issue affecting their local and global community.VET: Certificate II in Agriculture is available as a School Based traineeship for EdSpace students developing a pathway into the varied careers in science and agriculture. VET: Certificate II in Animal Studies is offered as School based Traineeship in our Dog grooming facility, Dogs for Life.

Health and Physical Education focuses on students enhancing their own and others’ health, safety, wellbeing and physical activity participation in varied and changing contexts.  The Health and Physical Education curriculum has two interrelated strands: Personal, social and community health, and Movement and physical activity. EdSpace provides physical activity on a daily basis with learning taking place in outdoor environments. Local use of the pool and gym weekly. Regular bike riding and walking on a daily basis. Personal and social health is provided weekly by a Registered Nurse. VET: Certificate 1 and II in Sport and Recreation. School based traineeships are available in our bike enterprise Wheelie Awesome.

Mathematics provides students with access to important mathematical ideas, knowledge and skills that they will draw on in their personal and work lives. EdSpace utilises Mathletics, an on line program that has the benefits of students working at their own pace through all the curriculum aligned year levels. Teachers are able to track and use the data to assess students levels and knowledge in maths. MATHS in the VPC. Students continue with their individual mathletics program through out their schooling. Practical maths are utilised in VET and applied learning projects. Money Smart is utilised for understanding life skills and using the tools that will encourage confidence in mathematical applications.

English  at EdSpace is taught at an individual level with Literacy Planet. Individual levels can be set for students to advance their confidence in their literacy skills. Students  listen, read, view, speak, write, create and reflect on a novel each semester. The integrated approach of combining the novel with the cross curriculum capabilities explored  in place, time and culture, including excursions based on the theme in the novel.

Design and Technologies  At EdSpace, Food and fibre production are explored in an agricultural context and cross cultural contexts and food is combined with life skills in the Stephanie alexander Kitchen garden curriculum context. This provides students with knowledge, understanding and skills through which they can safely explore economic, environmental and social sustainability. VET Certificate III in Hospitality is offered as a School based traineeship in the Edspace IT cafe. Opportunities for catering and events is offered through the EdSpace registered kitchen. Lifelong skills in food preparation and hygiene are developed for life long learning.

Digital Technologies at Edspace are skills specifically embedded in the content descriptions of Mathematics, Media Arts, Geography, English and Digital Technologies. Digital technology is widely used to assist students in learning across the curriculum with iPads or lap tops. Students are encouraged to use design apps to develop their digital skills and creative skills. Lego and Minecraft sessions provide fun and problem solving for EdSpace students. EdSpace is introducing Virtual Reality technology into the curriculum in Semester 2, 2023.

Civics and Citizenship emphasises investigating contemporary issues and developing points of views that encourage and enable students to participate in, and contribute to Australian society as active and informed citizens. At a local level Edspace students are involved in volunteering in Meals on Wheels and reading to young children with our Puppy Dog Tales program. Behind The News (BTN) is used weekly to introduce and explore contemporary issues such as debates over changes to the law, elections and Australian government responses to international events, are a means of linking what students may know from the media to the theory about democratic political and legal institutions and values such as fairness, equality, representation and accountability and citizens’ rights that underpin a democracy.

Economics and Business EdSpace enables students to understand the process of economic and business decision-making at the personal, local, national, regional and global levels by teaching Social Enterprise. Students create their protoypes and sell their products at the EdSpace street stall. This is combined with the kitchen garden program using locally grown seasonal produce to create jams and preserves for sale in the cafe to learn the economical principles at a local level.

Geography at EdSpace presents a structured way of exploring, analysing and understanding the characteristics of the places that make up our world BTN provides the vehicle to explore current issues and makes sense of the learning of place, space, environment, and sustainability. Aspects of Geography are explored though our farm based science activities and STEM experiments. 

History is explored through the current affairs program BTN to make sense of the current world issues and how they came about. Students can explore individual interests such as World Wars and Ancient civilisations, with our online Jacaranda texts as a teachers and students resource and guide.

EdSpace VPC, VET

The Victorian Pathways Certificate (VPC) meets the needs of a smaller number of students who are not able or ready to complete the VCE (including the VCE Vocational Major). It provides an enriched curriculum and excellent support for students to develop the skills, capabilities and qualities for success in personal and civic life. 

The VPC is an accredited foundation secondary qualification under the Education and Training Reform Act 2006. It aligns to Level 1 in the Australian Qualifications Framework. While the VPC is not a senior secondary qualification, it can be a pathway to the VCE.

The VPC is designed to develop and extend pathways for young people, while providing flexibility for different cohorts. The VPC is suitable for students whose previous schooling experience may have been disrupted for a variety of reasons, including students with additional needs, students who have missed significant periods of learning and vulnerable students at risk of disengaging from their education. Students will gain the skills, knowledge, values and capabilities to make informed choices about pathways into a senior secondary qualification, entry level vocational education and training (VET) course or employment.

The curriculum accommodates student aspirations and future employment goals. VPC learning programs connect students to industry experiences and active participation in the community. Through participation in the VPC students will gain necessary foundation skills to allow them to make a post-schooling transition.

New curriculum in VPC Literacy, Numeracy, Personal Development Skills and Work Related Skills has been developed by panels of current applied learning practitioners. The new curriculum is engaging, based in real life and gives students in-demand skills needed for the future world of work.

Applied learning teaches skills and knowledge in the context of ‘real life’ experiences. Students apply what they have learnt by doing, experiencing, and relating acquired skills to the real-world. It enables flexible, personalised learning where teachers work with students to recognise their personal strengths, interest, goals, and experiences.

This is a shift from the traditional focus on discrete curriculum to a more integrated and contextualised approach to learning. Students learn and apply the skills and knowledge required to solve problems, implement projects or participate in structured workplace learning.

EdSpace VET in VPC

To become an apprentice or trainee you must be in paid work and sign a contract of training. The training contract must be registered with the Victorian Registration and Qualifications Authority.

Your VPC program would then include:

  • VET studies at school
  • part-time paid work in the industry in which you are training.

You can do a school-based apprenticeship or traineeship in many industries as part of your VPC. At EdSpace these include, but are not limited to, agriculture, animal studies,sport and recreation and hospitality.

A school-based apprenticeship or traineeship qualification contributes to successfully finishing the VPC, by giving students credit for completed Units of competency.

Structured Workplace Learning

Structured workplace learning (SWL) is on-the-job training or work placements that allow you to develop work skills and understand what employers expect.

SWL can be a valuable component of your VET qualification undertaken within your VCE, VCE VM or VPC. SWL complements your training at school or with another provider.

It should be spread across the whole training program, and it allows you to:

  • build and improve your skills
  • apply practical industry knowledge
  • be assessed in units of competency, as determined by the RTO
  • expand your employment opportunities.

Structured workplace learning recognition

When you complete SWL, you can gain extra units towards your VPC by completing SWL recognition. This process gets you to reflect on your SWL experiences in a Workplace Learning Record and discuss these with your school. This also applies if you are undertaking a school-based apprenticeship or traineeship.

Duke of Edinburgh Award (DOE)

The Duke of Edinburgh Award provides an excellent resource for individual planning and goal setting. Once a week students spend a day working towards their DOE award level including physical fitness, skills development, and logging into their digital goal records. Volunteering takes place during the week with Meals on Wheels for Cooinda and Puppy Dog Tales reading to kindergarten children. Other opportunities such as selling their produce in the EdSpace café, providing a DJ Service to the community, and bike workshops for young people at Waminda Community House.