VELS Level 5 and 6 – Stages of Learning: Building Breadth and Depth and Developing Pathways
Understanding Year 9 Students A Theoretical Perspective Paper No. 8 Part A April 2006 (PDF - 562Kb)
Building breadth and depth
Middle Years (Yrs 5-8)
In Years 5 to 8 where students progress beyond the foundations, their literacy and numeracy becomes more sophisticated, and important discipline-based and interdisciplinary capacities are progressively introduced.
Key characteristics of students - Level 5
Key characteristics of students at this level include:
- developing self-efficacy skills to maintain confidence and a positive attitude
- developing an individual sense of identity
- having an awareness of universal ethics and morality, culture and nationhood
- shifting from the concrete to the conceptual
- discriminating in terms of value, quality and worth
- developing an awareness of formal methods of inquiry
Developing pathways
Later Years (Years 9-10)
Years 9 and 10 constitute a bridge to the post-compulsory years where students begin to focus more clearly of areas of particular interest related to both their future schooling and intended pathways beyond school while developing their understanding of, and connection to, the community in which they live.
Key characteristics of students - Level 6
Key characteristics of students at this level include:
- looking towards adulthood
- making choices about the future
- having a career orientation
- employing a range of coping skills
- increasing differentiation and specialisation across domains
- building expertise through formal methods of inquiry
- participating as a community member both within and beyond the school.
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