The curriculum will be an adapted version of the Australian Curriculum and is in response to local feedback from students, teachers and employers. It is being developed for every subject, with English and Mathematics a key focus, along with Arts and Languages.

SA Education Minister Blair Boyer said the Government had listened to a wide variety of stakeholders, including Educators SA, the South Australian Primary Principals Association and the South Australian Secondary Principals Association, and the result brings together “what we want students to know, what they need to be able to do, and who we want them to be”.

“South Australia led the nation with our focus on phonics,” he said.

“Now we’re leading the nation with a focus on maths improvement – and that means making sure students have the numeracy and financial literacy skills for everyday life.”

SA Education Department Chief Executive, Professor Martin Westwell, said the release of Version 9 of the Australian Curriculum, in tandem with the department’s new strategy for public education, had provided a timely opportunity to adapt the curriculum for SA’s public schools.

“This is a significant step and means we can focus on what is most important for our children and young people to learn, enhancing student agency, and enabling them to apply their learning to real-world situations,” Westwell said.

“Subject learning remains crucial, but the emphasis needs to shift from the passive reproduction of processes and facts to capabilities, both general and subject-specific, conceptual understanding, deep thinking and the ability to apply knowledge across various situations.

Key changes to the SA curriculum include a stronger focus on reading, with students to read more and use their literacy skills on a daily basis, more inclusion of financial literacy and a decluttering of the curriculum to give teachers more time  to cover topics in depth.

The new curriculum will incorporate resilience and empathy into each subject area for the first time – qualities employers are increasingly demanding of graduates - and there will be a stronger focus on the creative arts.

It comes as grants worth more than $12 million are being provided by the State Government to two leading South Australian arts organisations – Carclew and Patch Theatre.

Both organisations support schools by delivering arts education, opportunities and experiences to students, which included Boyer visiting Kilkenny Primary School to view a ceramics workshop provided to students through what is called the Carclew in Schools program.

Kilkenny Primary School principal Alex Narcys said the Arts provides a platform for students to express themselves, to express their ideas, thoughts and feelings, to be imaginative, to play and to be creative and to engage their hands, bodies, hearts and minds as they learn.

“Kilkenny Primary School and Preschool is committed to providing all learners with a vibrant and engaging arts curriculum and opportunities to experience the joy of the arts,” he said.

The four-year funding announcement comes as the first iteration of key components of the new curriculum is being shared with teachers across the state for their feedback.

Boyer said the arts and languages are important because they teach students how to think about the world around them and their place within it.

“In the updated arts curriculum for example, we want to teach students about being creative, empathetic, respectful and confident – all qualities they will need in other areas of their lives,” he said.

“This important work will support teachers in delivering teaching that connects across multiple curriculum areas, and in a way that’s engaging for their students, rather than delivering rigid blocks of information.”

This is the first time since the Australian Curriculum was developed and released in 2010, that a new version has being comprehensively adapted by the SA education department to fit within the state’s context.

The first four subject areas will be made available through a newly developed website that will be a hub for teachers, allowing them to provide feedback and support pilot work.

The adapted curriculum, developed for Reception to Year 10 in 8 learning areas, will be introduced and refined in a phased approach, expected to be completed in 2027.