In version 9.0 of the Australian Curriculum, Collaboration is a sub-element of the Personal and Social capability, one of the general capabilities, and it sits in the element called Social management. In ACARA’s words, students “cooperate in groups and constructively contribute to ways of working and outputs”.
General informationThis page summarises ACARA’s published description of the capability and quotes it where the exact words matter. ACARA does not endorse this guide. What a particular school teaches, and in which year, is for that school to say.
What the capability is for
ACARA calls the Personal and Social capability a foundation for students to understand themselves and others, and to “navigate their relationships, lives, work and learning”. It also helps students grow their capacity to regulate their own thoughts, emotions and behaviours.
The link to group work is made in the capability’s first paragraph. ACARA says that students whose social and emotional skills are well developed have an easier time managing themselves, relating to others, collaborating, developing empathy, setting goals and resolving conflict, and that they feel positive about who they are and about the world around them.
The capability is set out as a learning continuum in levels. Level 1b is Foundation, and the levels then run in two-year bands: Level 2 for Years 1–2, Level 3 for Years 3–4, Level 4 for Years 5–6, Level 5 for Years 7–8 and Level 6 for Years 9–10. Before them sits Level 1a, which ACARA says is there so students with disability can work with the content for their age and take part in learning on the same basis as other students.
Four elements, fourteen sub-elements
The continuum is organised into four elements, and each element into three or five sub-elements. Collaboration is one of the fourteen.
- Self-awareness
- Personal awareness
- Emotional awareness
- Reflective practice
- Self-management
- Goal setting
- Emotional regulation
- Perseverance and adaptability
- Social awareness
- Empathy
- Relational awareness
- Community awareness
- Social management
- Communication
- Collaboration
- Leadership
- Decision-making
- Conflict resolution
Collaboration’s four neighbours
The other four sub-elements of Social management describe skills a group task leans on. ACARA describes them like this:
- Communication
- “students learn to negotiate and communicate effectively with others through verbal and non-verbal means in a range of contexts”
- Leadership
- “students explore the ways that they can lead themselves and others”
- Decision-making
- “students choose from possibilities to solve problems”
- Conflict resolution
- “students develop and apply strategies to prevent, defuse and resolve conflict to reach constructive outcomes”
Group work outside the Collaboration row
The continuum is a table, with one row for each sub-element and one column for each level. Read across the rows other than Collaboration and groups keep appearing. Here are some of the lines that name a group, collaborative work, or leading and deciding with others, quoted from version 9.0; Decision-making, for one, names group decisions at every level from 2 to 6.
| Sub-element | Level | The continuum says |
|---|---|---|
| Goal setting | Level 1b (Foundation) | “co-create goals to assist learning when working independently or collaboratively” |
| Goal setting | Level 2 (Years 1–2) | “collaboratively develop goals to improve learning” |
| Relational awareness | Level 1b (Foundation) | “share feelings, needs and interests with others through play and working within diverse groups” |
| Relational awareness | Level 4 (Years 5–6) | “identify and describe a variety of relationships, and the roles and responsibilities of people within them” |
| Leadership | Level 4 (Years 5–6) | “select and use different leadership approaches when acting as a sole leader or leading with others” |
| Decision-making | Level 2 (Years 1–2) | “practise individual and group decision-making” |
| Decision-making | Level 6 (Years 9–10) | “develop and apply criteria to evaluate the outcomes of individual and group decisions” |
| Conflict resolution | Level 1b (Foundation) | “listen to conflicting perspectives and apply strategies to calm situations” |
| Conflict resolution | Level 6 (Years 9–10) | “generate, apply and evaluate strategies to prevent and/or resolve interpersonal and intergroup conflicts” |
The description of Relational awareness makes the same point in prose: students learn to take part in positive, safe and respectful relationships, “defining and accepting individual and group roles and responsibilities”.
The Collaboration row itself, all seven levels, is set out in the guide How collaboration is described and reported.
Thinking alongside others
Two of the sub-elements of a second general capability, Critical and Creative Thinking, bear on group work. Under “Think about thinking (metacognition)”, students identify, describe and evaluate the thinking and learning strategies they use to complete activities. Under “Consider alternatives”, students explore different ways of going about a task, creative ones included, and recommend the options and actions they prefer.
What the continuum does and does not say
The continuum describes what learning looks like at each level. ACARA’s published document for this capability sets out its introduction, its structure and the continuum table; it does not set out how a school should assess or report it. For one state’s written rules on reporting capabilities, in Victoria’s government schools, see How collaboration is described and reported.