The+National+Curriculum+Sustainability

Cross-curriculum priorities in the National Curriculum, sustainability with Mathematics and English

Sustainability and Mathematics

 Sustainability addresses the ongoing capacity of Earth to maintain all life. Sustainable patterns of living meet the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their needs. Actions to improve sustainability are both individual and collective endeavours shared across local and global communities. They necessitate a renewed and balanced approach to the way humans interact with each other and the environment. Education for sustainability develops the knowledge, skills and values necessary for people to act in ways that contribute to more sustainable patterns of living. It is futures-oriented, focusing on protecting environments and creating a more ecologically and socially just world through action that recognises the relevance and interdependence of environmental, social, cultural and economic considerations. The Australian Curriculum: mathematics provides the foundation for the exploration of issues of sustainability. It equips students with the skills of measurement, mathematical modelling, and data collection, representation and analysis. These skills are needed to investigate data, evaluate and communicate findings and to make predictions based on those findings. Mathematical understandings and skills are necessary to monitor and quantify both the impact of human activity on ecosystems and changes to conditions in the biosphere. Actions to improve sustainability involve students in processes such as auditing, reading measures and gauges, and interpreting data on invoices and accounts. Mathematical and statistical analysis enables informed decision making about present and future action. []

Sustainability and English

 Sustainability addresses the ongoing capacity of Earth to maintain all life. Sustainable patterns of living meet the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their needs. Actions to improve sustainability are both individual and collective endeavours shared across local and global communities. They necessitate a renewed and balanced approach to the way humans interact with each other and the environment. Education for sustainability develops the knowledge, skills and values necessary for people to act in ways that contribute to more sustainable patterns of living. It is futures-oriented, focusing on protecting environments and creating a more ecologically and socially just world through action that recognises the relevance and interdependence of environmental, social, cultural and economic considerations.The Australian Curriculum: English provides students with the skills required to investigate and understand issues of environmental and social sustainability; communicate information about sustainability, and advocate action to improve sustainability. If people now and into the future are to be treated fairly, action to improve sustainability needs to be informed by a world view of peoples, places and communities. Both literature and literacy are key elements in the development of each student’s world view. More sustainable patterns of living are largely shaped by people’s behaviours. English provides an important means of influencing behaviours, facilitating interaction and expressing viewpoints through the creation of texts for a range of purposes, audiences and contexts including multimodal texts and the use of visual language. []