Equipping all Australians with the knowledge and skills required to live sustainably: a look at the new draft Australian curriculum- technologies

What is known is that along with the climate, the curriculum is changing (IPCC, 2007 & BAMS, 2012). To enable people to react and adapt to the uncertainties of climate change, Australia –and the rest of the world - have identified “the critical role of education in achieving sustainable development” (UNESCO, 2007, p.5). To realise this, the Australian Government published the Living Sustainably National Action Plan to support a coordinated effort through “Reorienting education systems to sustainability” (DEWHA, 2009, p. 23), with the aim of equipping “all Australians with the knowledge and skills required to live sustainably” (DEWHA, 2009, p. 4). This paper will review the food and fibre production context of the Draft Australian Curriculum: Technologies document (ACARA, 2013), to specifically look for ‘environmental enablers’ or desired educational outcomes, that will determine whether students will gain the skills and knowledge to satisfy the Living Sustainably Nation Action Plan. To determine how we should prioritise this knowledge, it will be mapped against the basic needs deemed important to human interest by Maslow’s (1943) A Theory of Human Motivation.