Making Enabling Spaces and AusVELS


  • The Making Enabling Spaces Framework provides guidance on measures that relate closely to the Physical, Personal and Social Learning and Interdisciplinary Based Learning strands of AusVELS.

  • The implementation of the Physical, Personal and Social Learning strand of AusVELS is supported by Building Resilience: Social and Emotional Learning Materials.

AusVELS incorporates the Australian Curriculum (Foundation to year 10) for English, Mathematics, History and Science within the curriculum framework first developed for the Victorian Essential Learning Standards (VELS). AusVELS, therefore, mirrors the Australian Curriculum whilst emphasising Victorian priorities and approaches to teaching and learning. AusVELS comprises three strands: Physical, Personal and Social Learning; Discipline Based Learning; and Interdisciplinary Based Learning.

Physical, Personal and Social Learning

The Physical, Personal and Social Learning strand is the area of curriculum that encompasses Social and Emotional Learning (SEL). Under this curriculum,

"Students learn about themselves and their place in society. They learn how to stay healthy and active. Students develop skills in building social relationships and working with others. They take responsibility for their learning, and learn about their rights and responsibilities as global citizens ”.

Physical, Personal and Social Learning has a number of components called domains which describe the knowledge, skills and behaviours considered necessary in the education and development of students to prepare them for further education, work and life. It is split into four domains with numerous dimensions:

  • Interpersonal Development (Building social relationships; Working in teams)
  • Personal Learning (The individual learner; Managing personal learning)
  • Civics and Citizenship (Civics knowledge and understanding; Community engagement)
  • Health and Physical Education (Movement and physical activity; Health knowledge and promotion)

The Making Enabling Spaces Framework aligns with the Physical, Personal and Social Learning strand of the AusVELS curriculum, and can inform the broader work that teachers do to enhance the capabilities in their students. Research shows that students who participant in quality evidence-based social and emotional skills programs delivered within positive school environments tend have improved academic achievement and feel more connected to school and to learning (Cahill et al. 2015). Thus achieving ‘success’ in the Physical, Personal and Social Learning strand, can lead to success when implementing the other two curriculum strands, Discipline Based Learning and Interdisciplinary Based Learning.

The Making Enabling Spaces Organising Principles (Connection, Capacity and Meaning), are embedded in the Physical, Personal and Social Learning strand of AusVELS. The achievement of these domain outcomes requires respectful relationships and the creation and maintenance of a school and classroom culture where all students are respected and valued as individuals with the capacity to learn and think, and are seen as members of a broader community. An extensive international literature search on resilience, connectedness and belonging, establishes that successful programs are based on positive interpersonal relationships, create a sense of belonging and instil young people with a sense of self-agency and ongoing engagement with learning and community (O’Brien & Bowles 2013; Smyth et al 2013; Libbey 2004; Anderson et al 2004; Cahill et al 2015).

The organisations that work to keep young people engaged with learning provide programs that address their Social and Emotional Learning. The program objectives described on this website demonstrate how to put these SEL goals into practice when working with young people at risk of disengaging from learning, as well as offering tools to measure SEL in action.

Below, the AusVELS dimensions of Interpersonal Development, Personal Learning and Civics and Citizenships are mapped against the Making Enabling Spaces Framework principles of Connection, Capacity and Meaning.

Interpersonal Development

Interpersonal Development entails two dimensions, Building social relationships and Working in teams. These dimensions support students to maintain and manage positive social relationships with a diverse range of people in a diverse range of contexts and develop the skills and behaviours necessary to cooperate with others. This domain is also focused on encouraging students to reflect how learning occurs through being part of a team.

The emphasis on teamwork, collaboration and cooperation in the AusVELS curriculum reflects Connection’s emphasis on real, tangible links between individuals and other individuals, groups and institutions. In both the AusVELS curriculum and the Making Enabling Spaces Framework, students are encouraged to see themselves as members of a community, where both teachers and peers may provide knowledge and feedback to develop their content knowledge and understanding. This relates to the Making Enabling Spaces’ organising principle Meaning as students are encouraged to form strong respectful relationships with other young people and adults, building confidence and security, and leading to a stronger sense of identity and belonging to part of a group or community.

Personal Learning

The Personal Learning domain supports the development of autonomous learners, and students are encouraged to take greater responsibility for their own learning and participation at school. The curriculum aims to encourage students to be individual learners with a positive sense of themselves, and works to develop in students dispositions and behaviours that support learning. Students are supported to develop the confidence and ability to be adaptive and take an active role in shaping their own futures in a world of continual change.

This domain reflects the Making Enabling Spaces’ organising principle Capacity. Students are encouraged to take control of their own learning through engagement with programs that develop their skills, confidence and experience. The building of their capacities can lead to a sense of control over their learning. Engaging in these programs enables young people to acquire a stronger sense of Capacity through the development of a variety of skills, which in turn empowers them to contribute to their school and community. This results in an authentic sense of Meaning and purpose about their learning in relation to their own lives, one of the dimensions the AusVELS curriculum strand Personal Learning also aims for.

Civics and Citizenship

The Civics and Citizenship domain provides students with "knowledge, skills and opportunities to understand and practises what it means to be a citizen in a democracy" and emphasises Connection through the development of "a strong sense of personal identity developed through participation in communities" arguing that this is a "sound basis from which to connect with the world".

This domain reflects the Making Enabling Spaces’ organising principle Connection and the curriculum is designed to teach students why they as citizens need a sense of personal identity within their own communities, and how they can contribute to local, national and global communities. Young people are taught about what it means to be an active and engaged citizen and develop a sense of Meaning that comes from participating in a community.

Interdisciplinary Based Learning

The Making Enabling Spaces Organising Principles, Connection, Capacity and Meaning, are embedded in the Interdisciplinary Based Learning strand of AusVELS. The Interdisciplinary Based Learning strand guides students to explore different ways of thinking, problem solving and communication. Students learn to use a range of technologies to plan, analyse, present and evaluate their work.

  • Communication (Listening, viewing and responding; Presenting)
  • Design, Creativity and Technology (Investigating and designing; Producing; Analysing and presenting)
  • Information and Communications Technology (ICT for visual thinking; ICT for creating; ICT for communicating)
  • Thinking Processes (Reasoning, processing and Inquiry; Creativity; Reflection, evaluation and metacognition)

Communication and Design, Creativity and Technology are two of the domains that organisations working with young people at risk of disengaging from learning actively engage with in their programs.

Communication

The Communication domain focuses on teaching students the skills needed to communicate clearly and confidently in a range of settings, including the school setting. It entails teaching young people about the different forms, language and conventions used in different contexts and how to employ these to communicate effectively. Students need to develop the knowledge, skills and behaviours that allow them to respond to, make sense of, and understand a range of communication forms.

Communication assists learners in being able to construct and express Meaning and develop Connection. The ability to communicate ideas, present information, and negotiate and resolve disputes is crucial to building and sustaining relationships with peers and supervisors

Design, Creativity and Technology

The Design, Creativity and Technology (DCT) domain emphasises ‘engagement in designing, creating and evaluating processes, products and technological systems using a range of materials as a way of developing creativity and innovation’. Similar to Interpersonal Development, DCT requires students to be autonomous and creative problem solvers, working as individuals and as members of a team.

Design, Creativity and Technology can develop young people’s capacities to act based on practical skills. Organisations working with young people at risk of disengaging from learning often facilitate programs that work to enhance young people’s ability to work with a range of technologies and think practically (for example, Hands on Learning Australia). This builds their Capacity to act using a range of tools and materials.

Building Resilience

To support the implementation of the Physical, Personal and Social Learning strand of the AusVELS curriculum, the Department of Education and Early Childhood Development and external organisations, including the Youth Research Centre at the University of Melbourne, developed the Building Resilience: Social and Emotional Learning Materials. The project Building Resilience: A model to support children and young people is based on research which emphasises the importance of a multi-dimensional school-wide approach to building resilience and developing programs to support student’s social and emotional learning. The project defines resilience as the ability to cope and thrive in the face of negative events, challenges or adversity. On an individual level, key attributes of resilience include:

  • Social competence;
  • A sense of agency or responsibility;
  • Attachment to family, to school and to learning;
  • Optimism and a sense of purpose or hope for the future;
  • Problem solving skills;
  • A sense of self-efficacy; and
  • Positive self-regard.

The curriculum materials involve a wide range of evidence-based materials and resources to assist teachers across key health and well-being areas, including: social and emotional learning, positive social relationships, drug education, sexuality education, mental health and health promotion. The project’s literature review, Building resilience in children and young people, provides the evidence base for effective social and emotional learning (SEL) curricula to guide the development of new lesson plans for Victorian schools. It was developed by Helen Cahill, Sally Beadle, Anne Farrelly, Ruth Foster and Kylie Smith from the Youth Research Centre. Further resources about the Building Resilience: A model to support children and young people project and the Building Resilience: Social and Emotional Learning Materials can be found here.