The curriculum in Queensland, explained for parents.

Queensland doesn't write its own curriculum from scratch. Its schools teach the Australian Curriculum, the national one written by ACARA. In Queensland it goes by a slightly longer name, the Australian Curriculum in Queensland, and the current edition is Version 9.^[3]

You'll never need to read the whole thing. Knowing how it fits together, though, makes report cards and parent-teacher interviews a lot easier to follow.

Who does what

• ACARA writes the national curriculum: the content for each year and the standard children are expected to reach.^[6]
• QCAA, the Queensland Curriculum and Assessment Authority, publishes it for Queensland schools along with planning, assessment and reporting materials for teachers.^[3]
• The Department of Education sets what state schools must do and by when, through its curriculum, assessment and reporting framework.^[2]

When Version 9 reaches the classroom

Queensland is phasing Version 9 in rather than switching overnight. The department says the staged rollout began in 2024 and finishes in 2028.^[1] English and maths come first. State schools have to be teaching Version 9 English and Mathematics by the end of 2026, with every other learning area following by the end of 2028.^[2]

So from 2027, a child in a Queensland state school is learning maths and English from Version 9. Some schools started earlier. Catholic and independent schools set their own timing, so ask your school if you're not sure.

An earlier QCAA notice gave the end of 2027 as the finish date. That timeline has since been replaced, so if you see 2027 quoted for everything, it's out of date.

How maths and English are organised

The curriculum is written year by year, from Prep to Year 10. Each year has two parts that matter to parents.

• The achievement standard describes what a child should understand and be able to do by the end of the year.
• Content descriptions are the specific things teachers teach. Each one has a code.

Maths has six strands: Number, Algebra, Measurement, Space, Statistics and Probability.^[5][7]

English has three: Language (how English works, from grammar to how texts are put together), Literature (reading, responding to and writing stories, poems and plays) and Literacy (reading, writing, speaking and listening for everyday purposes).^[6] In Year 5, for example, that adds up to 24 English content descriptions.

How to read a curriculum code

Codes look cryptic, but they're built the same way every time. Take AC9M5N05:

Strands are shortened too. In maths, N is Number, A is Algebra, M is Measurement, SP is Space, ST is Statistics and P is Probability. In English, LA is Language, LE is Literature and LY is Literacy. So AC9E7LE04 is the fourth Literature content description in Year 7 English.

What an A to E grade means

Queensland state school reports usually grade each subject on a five-point scale, most often A to E.^[2] The key point is that C is the expected standard. All Queensland school sectors agreed that the achievement standard is the C standard, and teachers make their judgements against it.^[4]

A C means your child is where the curriculum expects them to be by the end of the year. It isn't a polite word for average. A and B mean they're working beyond it. D and E mean there are gaps to close, and that's worth a conversation with the teacher.

Where NAPLAN fits

NAPLAN is separate from school reports. It's a national test in Years 3, 5, 7 and 9, so it works the same way in Queensland as everywhere else. Our NAPLAN guide covers it.

What this means for your child

• Read the report against the standard. A C is a pass mark in the true sense: on track.
• Ask about specific content. "Which parts of Year 5 fractions is she finding hard?" gets a far more useful answer than "How is she going in maths?"
• Topics can sit in a different year from other states. Victoria, for instance, adapts the same national curriculum and moves a few topics between years. If you've moved interstate, a gap or a repeat is normal.

Want the detail? Our Year 5 maths and Year 6 maths guides put every content description into plain English.