Literacy encompasses the knowledge, skills and dispositions that students need to use language for different purposes in a range of contexts.
The Literacy general capability is organised into three elements:
- Speaking and listening
- Reading and viewing
- Writing.
Advice
The following advice provides background to the Literacy general capability, including the literacy progression. It supports teachers to use the general capability across all levels of schooling and all learning areas.
The following resources support schools to embed the general capabilities in their teaching, learning and assessment programs.
Resources
The following progression resource for the literacy general capability is labelled from Level 1a–6 to present a sequence of detailed, observable, evidence-based indicators of literacy development.
Reading and viewing includes four sub-elements:
- Phonological awareness
- Phonic knowledge and word recognition
- Fluency
- Understanding texts.
Strategies and resources are available to support the teaching of the Understanding texts sub-element.
Writing includes five sub-elements:
- Creating texts
- Grammar
- Punctuation
- Spelling
- Handwriting and keyboarding.
A resources list is available to support the teaching of the Writing sub-elements across Prep–Year 10 phases of schooling and learning areas.
The following resources map the alignment between content descriptions and general capabilities within phases of learning.
Phases
- Mapping the general capabilities: Prep–Year 2 (PDF, 187.4 KB)
- Mapping the general capabilities: Years 3–4 (PDF, 186.6 KB)
- Mapping the general capabilities: Years 3–6 (PDF, 187.8 KB)
- Mapping the general capabilities: Years 5–6 (PDF, 181.7 KB)
- Mapping the general capabilities: Years 7–10 (PDF, 210.6 KB)
Primary
- Mapping the general capabilities: Prep (PDF, 205.0 KB)
- Mapping the general capabilities: Year 1 (PDF, 195.1 KB)
- Mapping the general capabilities: Year 2 (PDF, 190.5 KB)
- Mapping the general capabilities: Year 3 (PDF, 202.5 KB)
- Mapping the general capabilities: Year 4 (PDF, 201.4 KB)
- Mapping the general capabilities: Year 5 (PDF, 202.5 KB)
- Mapping the general capabilities: Year 6 (PDF, 202.5 KB)
Secondary
- Mapping the general capabilities: Years 7–10 — Chinese (PDF, 221.6 KB)
- Mapping the general capabilities: Years 7–10 — Civics and Citizenship (PDF, 219.3 KB)
- Mapping the general capabilities: Years 7–10 — Dance (PDF, 198.0 KB)
- Mapping the general capabilities: Years 7–10 — Design and Technologies (PDF, 198.3 KB)
- Mapping the general capabilities: Years 7–10 — Digital Technologies (PDF, 197.8 KB)
- Mapping the general capabilities: Years 7–10 — Drama (PDF, 198.7 KB)
- Mapping the general capabilities: Years 7–10 — Economics and Business (PDF, 215.8 KB)
- Mapping the general capabilities: Years 7–10 — English (PDF, 217.1 KB)
- Mapping the general capabilities: Years 7–10 — French (PDF, 220.3 KB)
- Mapping the general capabilities: Years 7–10 — Geography (PDF, 215.4 KB)
- Mapping the general capabilities: Years 7–10 — Health and Physical Education (PDF, 202.8 KB)
- Mapping the general capabilities: Years 7–10 — History (PDF, 229.9 KB)
- Mapping the general capabilities: Years 7–10 — Italian (PDF, 219.3 KB)
- Mapping the general capabilities: Years 7–10 — Japanese (PDF, 220.6 KB)
- Mapping the general capabilities: Years 7–10 — Mathematics (PDF, 227.0 KB)
- Mapping the general capabilities: Years 7–10 — Media Arts (PDF, 198.2 KB)
- Mapping the general capabilities: Years 7–10 — Music (PDF, 199.2 KB)
- Mapping the general capabilities: Years 7–10 — Science (PDF, 217.7 KB)
- Mapping the general capabilities: Years 7–10 — Visual Arts (PDF, 198.4 KB)
- Last updated:
- 24 January 2025
