The Australian Curriculum describes collaboration level by level, from Foundation to Year 10, in the Collaboration row of the Personal and Social capability’s continuum. For reporting, Victoria’s Department of Education requires its government schools to report on the capabilities as well as the learning areas taught in each reporting period, with a teacher judgement, the progress made since the last report, and a 5-point scale.
General informationThe reporting rules on this page are one state’s policy, for Victorian government schools, as last updated on 4 August 2026. Schools must align their reporting with it from the Semester 1, 2027 reporting period (Semester 1, 2028 for specialist schools). For a school anywhere else, the school can explain how it reports.
The Collaboration row, level by level
Version 9.0 of the continuum gives one line for each level, each describing what students do. Level 1a, the first column, is there so that students with disability can reach the content for their age group and take part in learning on the same basis as other students.
| Level | Years | The continuum says |
|---|---|---|
| Level 1a | No year band | “engage with peers and other community members” |
| Level 1b | Foundation | “engage with others and participate in group play, tasks and activities” |
| Level 2 | Years 1–2 | “participate cooperatively in groups on common tasks and activities” |
| Level 3 | Years 3–4 | “perform designated roles within groups, appreciating everyone’s contributions to a shared outcome” |
| Level 4 | Years 5–6 | “coordinate contributions of group members, suggesting improvements to ways of working and collaborative outputs” |
| Level 5 | Years 7–8 | “appreciate diverse perspectives in a range of collaborative contexts, demonstrating negotiation skills to improve ways of working and outputs” |
| Level 6 | Years 9–10 | “devise strategies for collaborative work and outputs in a range of contexts, building on the perspectives, experiences and capabilities of group members” |
Read down the column and the student’s part in the group grows. Taking part comes first, then holding a designated role, then coordinating what other members contribute, and by Years 9–10, devising the strategies the group works by.
Judging your own part
The same capability describes students assessing themselves. Reflective practice has students “reflect cyclically on feedback and self-assessment to evaluate their learning”.
Three levels of the Reflective practice row show feedback moving from something received to something used:
- Level 2 (Years 1–2)“describe what they have discovered about themselves by engaging with feedback”
- Level 3 (Years 3–4)“build on personal abilities and achievements using feedback and self-assessment”
- Level 6 (Years 9–10)“evaluate goals set for their own personal, social and cognitive development, reflecting on feedback”
Victoria’s Department of Education describes feedback as information that tells a student, the teacher or both about the student’s performance relative to the learning goals.
What a Victorian government school report must contain from 2027
The Department’s policy on reporting student achievement and progress from Foundation to Level 10 sets these requirements for its schools, to be in place from the Semester 1, 2027 reporting period (Semester 1, 2028 for specialist schools):
- How often. Achievement and progress are formally reported to parents and carers at least twice each school year, for every student enrolled.
- A conversation. Parents, carers and students must have opportunities to discuss the report with teachers, school leaders or both.
- The form. Paper or digital, in a form parents and carers can readily get to and follow.
- The measure. Reports are made directly against the achievement standards of the Victorian Curriculum F–10 Version 2.0.
- For each area taught, capabilities included. For every curriculum area taught in the period, learning areas and capabilities alike, the report gives a teacher judgement against the achievement standards as a score that reflects where the student is along the learning continuum (the policy’s example is Level 3.5), shows progress since that area was last reported, and uses a 5-point scale.
The policy names the scales too. Schools have to use an age-expected 5-point scale in English, Mathematics and Science; they may also use it in other curriculum areas, but not in English as an Additional Language (EAL). For EAL the Department recommends a progress scale, and for students with disability and additional needs it recommends a learning objectives met scale, with the progress scale also an option.
Schools’ semester reports must be consistent with model reports the Department provides, and interpreting services are available for parents and carers who need help understanding their child’s achievement and progress.
One thing to keep straight: the policy refers to the Victorian Curriculum F–10 Version 2.0, while the continuum quoted earlier on this page is from ACARA’s Australian Curriculum, version 9.0.
Questions for the report discussion
Where a Victorian government school report includes a capability, the requirements above suggest a few plain questions for the discussion the policy provides for:
- Which capabilities were taught in this reporting period?
- Which of the 5-point scales does the report use?
- How has the score moved since the last report?
- What kinds of group tasks did the class do?