Bridging Priorities with Practice: Integrating Curriculum for Meaningful Learning
This module helped me better understand how curriculum integration can create engaging, relevant and responsive learning experiences.
At first, I found the numerous requirements of cross-curriculum priorities (CCPs), general capabilities (GC’s) and learning areas to be overwhelming but the tutorial activity and curriculum documents helped me see how these priorities are not competing demands, but interwoven threads that support holistic education.
Graphics created by Dion Kingi. Logos from ACARA (2025a)
Reflecting on Drake and Reid’s (2018) article, I was pleased to see that their support for an integrated curriculum approach aligns with my own teaching goals. They argue that integrated curriculum supports the development of essential 21st-century capabilities such as critical thinking, collaboration and creatively breaking down traditional individual subjects and promote authentic, connected learning.
21st Century Skills Infographic (Panorama Education, 2022)
While I never experienced an integrated curriculum myself as a student, I recently designed a two-term Year 10 furnishings project that naturally lends itself to integration.
Students are tasked with designing and building a folding games table with marketable features.
This project could easily expand into a cross-curricular opportunity involving Design, Art, Mathematics and Business.
We are two weeks into the unit and the students are fully engaged.
Project overview screenshot of YR10 Furnishing Pathways Unit by Dion Kingi. Table Exemplar created by other faculty Staff. Photo by Dion Kingi.
Drake and Reid emphasise the use of inquiry-based framing questions to drive integrated learning.
This resonates with my own view of “How can we design a product that is both marketable and meaningful?”
This question helps students connect design with sustainability, economics and consumer needs.
Planning through an integrated viewpoint has deepened the unit’s relevance and transformed it into a dynamic platform for 21st-century skill development.
Overview of Technologies core concepts (ACARA, 2015)
The ACARA guidelines (2025b) and the article by Henderson (2020) explained that integrating these priorities is essential for building future-ready learners who are globally aware and socially responsible.
This aligns with the goals of EDC1002 which focus is on preparing students for a complex, interconnected future.
As a teacher, I see that I have a responsibility to design learning that reflects this complexity rather than simplifying it.
My key takeaway is that I don’t need to “add on” the priorities; instead, I need to begin with them.
Using inquiry-based learning and project-based approaches will help me bring the curriculum to life while embedding these learning goals.
This shift in mindset from compliance to creativity feels has allowed me to integrate these principles into my resource planning and creation.
YR10 students taking the exemplar part to create their cutting list and measurements to create their own set of working drawings. Photo by Dion Kingi
References:
ACARA. (2015). Technologies | V9 Australian Curriculum. Australiancurriculum.edu.au. https://www.australiancurriculum.edu.au/content/acara-curriculum/au/en/curriculum-information/understand-this-learning-area/technologies/_jcr_content/root/container/column_0/tabs/item_1639970394089/section_copy_copy_co/Container/image.coreimg.png/1640136331953/dt-creating-solutions.png
ACARA. (2025a). F-10 Curriculum | V9 Australian Curriculum General Capabilities. Australiancurriculum.edu.au. https://www.australiancurriculum.edu.au/f-10-curriculum/general-capabilities/critical-and-creative-thinking?element=0&sub-element=CCTINQA
ACARA. (2025b). Australian Curriculum Version 9.0. https://v9.australiancurriculum.edu.au/
Drake, S. M., & Reid, J. L. (2018). Integrated curriculum as an effective way to teach 21st century capabilities. Asia Pacific Journal of Educational Research, 1(1), 31–50.
Henderson, D. (2020) Cross-curriculum priorities in the Australian curriculum: stirring the passions and a work in progress? Curric Perspect 40, 203–214. https://doi.org/10.1007/s41297-020-00121-5
Panorama Education. (2022). A Comprehensive Guide to 21st Century Skills. Panoramaed.com. https://www.panoramaed.com/hs-fs/hubfs/everett-21st-century-skills.png?width=839&name=everett-21st-century-skills.png
