A Critique of Version 9.0 of the Australian Curriculum - Geography for Primary Schools - Alaric Maude

Oct 15, 2026

Uploaded by Finn

A critique examines the Knowledge and Understanding sub-strand of the revised Australian Curriculum: Geography for Years F-6, scheduled for implementation in 2024. Using criteria grounded in the aims of primary geography, the work argues that educational value lies less in a body of facts and more in personal development—abilities and values. It details seven contributions, evaluates the new curriculum against these objectives, and identifies deficiencies. It also assesses ACARA’s review aims and proposes an alternative revision.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryExam

FormatPDF

Pages18

Reading Time45 min

AccessFree to download

Abstract

Part 1: What does geography contribute to the educational development of primary school children?

Place attachment and personal development

Pro-environment attitudes

Part 2 and Part 3 (curriculum evaluation and ACARA aims)

Final part: Alternative revision proposal

A Critique of Version 9.0 of the Australian Curriculum: Geography for Primary Schools Alaric Maude Associate Professor, Flinders University email: [polymaude@ozemail.com.au](polymaude@ozemail.com.au) Abstract The article offers a critique of the Knowledge and Understanding sub-strand of the revised Australian Curriculum: Geography for Years F-6, due to be implemented in Australian schools in 2024. As a foundation for this critique, the article first discusses what should be the aims of geography in primary schools, in order to provide some criteria for evaluating the revision. It argues that what is educationally valuable about geography in the primary school years isnot so much a body of geographical knowledge, but what that knowledge contributes to the personal development, abilities and values of a primary school child. The article describes seven of these contributions. The second part of the article evaluates the new curriculum against these educational objectives, and identifies a number of deficiencies. Part 3 describes the aims of the Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority (ACARA) in undertaking the review and revision of the Australian Curriculum, and evaluates the extent to which these have been achieved in the geography curriculum for the primary school years. The final part of the article presents an alternative revision that might meet both ACARA’s aims and the educational objectives identified in Part 1. The aim of this article is to provide a critique of the recent revision of the Australian Curriculum: Geography for the primary school years F-6, and to suggest an alternative. This revision (Version 9.0) was completed in early 2022, and will be implemented in schools in 2024. Such a critique must go beyond simply identifying errors, misleading statements and inconsistencies, and evaluate whether the new curriculum succeeds in fulfilling the educational objectives of primary school geography, as well as ACARA’s aims in undertaking the revision. The article only discusses the separate Knowledge and Understanding sub-strand of the curriculum, and not the combined Skills sub-strand. It starts with the question: What does geography contribute to the educational development of primary schoolchildren? Part 1: What does geography contribute to the educational development of primary school children? To answer this question, I argue that what is valuable about geography in primary schools isnot so much a body of geographical knowledge, but what that knowledge contributes to the personal development, abilities and values of a primary school child. These contributions are described below under seven headings. Place attachment and personal development Becoming familiar with the place you live in, and developing an attachment to it, contributes to the emotional development of children. Little and Derr (2018, p. 15) write that “much like with human attachment, children gain a sense of their self-worth and self-identity from attachment to place,” while Jack, a British social work academic, concludes from research in the UK that “place continues to play an important role in the development of personal identity, feelings of security and a sense of belonging in the modern world”(Jack, 2015, p. 417) . Place attachment also contributes to children’s resilience and coping ability, especially in times of displacement and natural disaster (Little & Derr, 2018) . The foundations for this attachment are formed in middle childhood, during the primary school years, and geography has a role in this. Spencer (2005, p. 305), a psychologist, argues that in“doing geography” with children, the primary school teacher is facilitating “the child’s very personal development of self-identity which will shape much of their lives, their values, sense of belonging and self-worth.“ This occurs through the development of a child’s familiarity with, and sense of attachment to, their place. He concludes that: It is cle

FAQs

What aspect of the curriculum does the critique focus on?

It focuses only on the separate Knowledge and Understanding sub-strand, not the combined Skills sub-strand.

What does the article argue is most educationally valuable about primary geography?

It argues value lies less in geographical content knowledge and more in what that knowledge contributes to students’ personal development, abilities, and values.

How is the curriculum evaluated in the article?

The article first identifies seven educational contributions of geography, then evaluates the new curriculum against these objectives and highlights deficiencies.

Oct 15, 2026

Uploaded by Finn