The program outlines the nature and sequence of teaching and learning necessary for students to demonstrate achievement of the outcomes for a unit. The areas of study describe the specific knowledge and skills required to demonstrate a specific outcome. Teachers are required to develop a program for their students that includes appropriate learning activities that enable students to develop the knowledge and skills identified in the outcomes in each unit.

This study examines outdoor environments from a breadth of perspectives and is underpinned by cross-study specifications of Indigenous Australians’ knowledge, culture, history, environmental citizenship and sustainability.

Teachers are encouraged to include Indigenous Australians’ knowledge and perspectives in the design and delivery of teaching and learning programs and wherever possible plan for Indigenous voice to be accessed as best practice to deliver this respectful learning.

Sustainability is presented throughout this study as a complex, holistic concept with environmental, social and economic dimensions. Opportunities exist for inclusion of sustainability as a concept through specific key knowledge and selected case studies across the entirety of the study design.

Teachers should aim to facilitate learning and inquiry by developing programs that enable students to apply and demonstrate key knowledge to visited or studied outdoor environments.

Attention should be given to developing a program that is relevant to students, is contextually based, employs a variety of manageable tasks and uses a variety of source material from a diverse number of providers.

Area of Study 3 in Units 1, 2 and 4 is designed for students to apply their learning through outdoor experiences.

A wide range of outdoor environments can be studied, ranging from those that have experienced minimal human influence, through to those that have undergone significant human intervention. To address the key knowledge and key skills in Units 3 and 4, it will be necessary to choose locations that have been subject to human intervention. Students of VCE Outdoor and Environmental Studies develop the knowledge, skills and understanding required to analyse and contribute toward the health of outdoor environments, preparing them for future opportunities as stewards of outdoor environments. It is these outdoor experiences that provide opportunities for them to best observe practices that care for or damage outdoor environments and thus build their knowledge of what stewardship looks like.

Practical application of key knowledge is an important feature of the study. Learning activities must include:

• practical activities that involve the visitation of at least two different environments
• spending between 25 and 50 hours of each unit participating in outdoor experiences (not inclusive of time spent travelling or sleeping).

Logbooks are referenced in this study as the means for students to keep their records of practical activities and observations of key knowledge. The logbook is maintained and cited as a:

• source of primary data
• requirement for satisfactory completion of each unit, rather than being used as a specific assessment task.

Teachers must regularly sight and monitor the logbook, particularly for the investigative task in Area of Study 3 of Units 1 and 2 and Area of Study 3 of Unit 4.

Samples of possible experiences are suggested below.

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Perspectives in the VCE
On-demand video recordings, presented with the Victorian Aboriginal Education Association Inc. (VAEAI) and the Department of Education (DE) Koorie Outcomes Division, for VCE teachers and leaders as part of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Perspectives in the VCE webinar program held in 2023.

Traditional Owner groups

A Traditional Owner group is defined as including any native title holders and any persons who are recognised by the Attorney-General as the traditional owners of the land, based on Aboriginal traditional and cultural associations with the land. [Traditional Owner Settlement Act 2010 (Vic)]
 

Environmentalism

Concern about and action aimed at protecting the environment.

Community Groups such as ‘Friends of’

Friends or Community groups are individuals that come together to share common interests and be part of valuable conservation work. Members of these groups share their skills and knowledge of the flora and fauna that their area supports.

Indigenous peoples

The term ‘Indigenous Australian’ is used to encompass both Aboriginal people and Torres Strait Islander people. However many Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people do not like to be referred to as ‘Indigenous’ as the term is considered too generic. Indigenous Australians: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people | AIATSIS

Kinship

Kinship is at the heart of First Nations society. A person’s position in the Kinship system establishes their relationship to others, to their Country and to the universe, prescribing their responsibilities towards other people, the land and natural resources.

Custodian

A person who has responsibility for taking care of or protecting something. Custodianship is the noun form of the word.

Country

Country is the term often used by Indigenous peoples to describe the lands, waterways and seas to which they are connected. The term contains complex ideas about law, place, custom, language, spiritual belief, cultural practice, material sustenance, family and identity: Welcome to Country | AIATSIS

Biome

A large naturally occurring community of flora and fauna occupying a major habitat; for example, forest or coastal.

Aboriginal Land and Water Councils

Australian community organisations, generally organised by region, that are commonly formed to represent the Indigenous Australians (both Aboriginal Australians and Torres Strait Islander people) who occupied their particular region before the arrival of European settlers. They have historically advocated for recognition of traditional land rights, and also for the rights of Indigenous people in other areas, such as equal wages and adequate housing. Land councils are self-supporting, and not funded by state or federal taxes. They are also known as Aboriginal land councils, or land and sea councils.

Pillars of Sustainability

The three pillars are meant to work in connection to one another with true sustainability occurring when the three pillars are balanced.

Social sustainability includes environmental justice, human health, resource security, and education, among other important social elements of society. Under the three pillars concept, efforts to promote social sustainability should also aim to foster economic and environmental benefits, too.

Economic sustainability includes job creation, profitability, and proper accounting of ecosystem services for optimal cost-benefit analyses.

Environmental sustainability focuses on the wellbeing of the environment. This pillar includes water quality, air quality, and reduction of environmental stressors, such as greenhouse gas emissions.

Environmental advocacy

Environmental advocacy refers to activities that aim to protect the environment by influencing business and government decisions. The most powerful tool available to environmental advocacy campaigns is people power – the change-driving force of many people speaking and acting together in support of a campaign goal.

Environmental advocacy describes social action that occurs when communities are compelled by a tension between desired and actual environmental management.

Environmental advocacy can take many forms and opens doors to careers focused on conservation, alternative energy sources, policy-making, consulting and research.

Environmental activism

Environmental activism is defined as the actions of individuals or groups that aim to protect or support the environment. It is the implementation of direct action such as demonstrations or lobbying to pressure governments or organisations to enact policy changes. It can also involve the policy or action of using vigorous campaigning to bring about political or social change.

Sustainable consumption

Sustainable consumption is about doing more and better with less. Its aim is to increase resource efficiency and fair trade while helping to alleviate poverty and enable everyone to enjoy a good quality of life with access to food, water, energy, medicine and more.

• buying local and seasonal produce
• following zero waste principles
• changing energy consumption habits
• swapping commercial experiences for meaningful hobbies.

Regenerative farming

Regenerative farming is a system of farming principles and practices that seeks to rehabilitate and enhance the entire ecosystem of the farm by placing a heavy premium on soil health with attention also paid to water management, fertiliser use, carbon sequestration and more.

Relationships

Human-nature relationships are very complex. There are many types of relationships including social, cultural, spiritual and physical. The following diagram represents one way of studying relationships within Australian outdoor environments. Perceptions of, interactions with, and impacts on outdoor environments are part of an interconnected understanding of these relationships.

Students are encouraged to go beyond this simplified diagrammatic approach in their understanding of, and writing about, these relationships. One useful way of doing that is to consider the use of metaphors as useful descriptors of and analogues for these relationships. Some examples that can be helpful include:

• the outdoors as a mother
• the outdoors as an adversary
• the outdoors as a museum
• the outdoors as a gym
• the outdoors as a cathedral.

Primary data

Data collected in the field or outdoor environments that is reflective of the key knowledge and skills reported. Multiple sources of data collection provide credibility of findings. Examples of primary data collection may include field observations, participation in outdoor experiences and environments, photographs, sketches, interviews and reflections.

Secondary data

Information that someone else has collected and made available; for example, a teacher, CSIRO or Department of Energy, Environment and Climate Action. When using secondary data it is imperative that the source is referenced and credible. Students may choose to justify their choice of secondary data.

This study offers a number of opportunities for students to develop employability skills. The Support materials provide specific examples of how students can develop employability skills during learning activities and assessment tasks.

The VCE Outdoor and Environmental Studies course provides students with the opportunity to engage in a range of learning activities. In addition to demonstrating their understanding and mastery of the content and skills specific to the study, students may also develop employability skills through their learning activities.

The nationally agreed employability skills* are: Communication; Planning and organising; Teamwork; Problem solving; Self-management; Initiative and enterprise; Technology; and Learning.

*The employability skills are derived from the Employability Skills Framework (Employability Skills for the Future, 2002), developed by the Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry and the Business Council of Australia, and published by the (former) Commonwealth Department of Education, Science and Training.