The cross-curriculum priorities address the contemporary issues that students face in a globalised world. Teachers may find opportunities to incorporate the priorities into the teaching and learning program for The Arts. The cross-curriculum priorities are not assessed unless they are identified within the core content.
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander histories and cultures
In the Western Australian Curriculum: The Arts, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander histories and cultures enrich understanding of the diversity of arts practices in Australia. Exploration of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander histories and cultures provides a rich opportunity to build a greater understanding of Australian history as well as fostering mutual understanding and respect between cultures. The study of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander histories and cultures for making and responding should be undertaken by teachers and students in ways that are culturally sensitive and responsible through the support of relevant elders and communities.
Asia and Australia's engagement with Asia
In the Western Australian Curriculum: The Arts, the Asia region represents a highly diverse spectrum of cultures, traditions and peoples with a third of the world's population located immediately north of Australia. Engaging in a respectful exploration of particular traditions from countries like China, India, South Korea and Japan, for example, will enable students to understand more deeply the values and histories of our near neighbours with whom it shares important interrelationships. The study of the Arts from the Asia region provides further opportunities for partnerships with relevant practitioners to develop arts practices.
In the Western Australian Curriculum: The Arts, the sustainability priority provides engaging and thought-provoking contexts in which to explore the nature of art-making and responding.
The sustainability priority enables the exploration of the role of the Arts in maintaining and transforming cultural practices, social systems and the relationships of people to their environment. Through making and responding in the Arts, students consider issues of sustainability in relation to the resource use and traditions in each of the Arts subjects. The Arts provides opportunities for students to express and develop world views, and to appreciate the need for collaboration within and between communities to implement more sustainable patterns of living.