The Victorian Curriculum F–10 Explained: Levels, Learning Areas and Capabilities

The Victorian Curriculum F–10 is the curriculum taught in Victorian government and Catholic schools, set by the Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority (VCAA). It runs from Foundation to Level 10, covers eight learning areas plus four Capabilities, and is currently on version 2.0. It is built on the national Australian Curriculum but restructured in ways that matter when you plan, report or pick resources. This is a plain-English tour of how it works - Levels, learning areas, Capabilities and codes - for teachers, parents and homeschooling families in Victoria.

Who sets the Victorian Curriculum?

The Victorian Curriculum F–10 is set by the VCAA and is the mandated framework for every government and Catholic school in Victoria (independent schools may use it or an approved alternative). Version 2.0 is the current update, with the revised English and Mathematics content rolled out first and other learning areas following. Victoria starts from the national Australian Curriculum but adapts it rather than adopting it word for word - the differences are the subject of our companion piece, Victorian Curriculum vs the Australian Curriculum.

Levels, not year levels

The Victorian Curriculum describes progress in Levels: Foundation, then Levels 1 to 10, with a Level 10A offering optional extension content in Mathematics. In practice a Level roughly maps to a school year, but the distinction is deliberate: a student works at the Level that matches their learning, not automatically the one that matches their age. Reporting in Victorian schools is against the achievement standard for a Level, which is why you will hear “working at Level 4” rather than “doing Year 4 work”.

Not every subject sits on single Levels. English, Mathematics and Science do; subjects like The Arts and Technologies place their content on two-year bands (Foundation–2, 3–4, 5–6, 7–8 and 9–10). If a resource assumes one year level for every subject, it will not line up cleanly with the Victorian structure.

The eight learning areas

The curriculum is organised into eight learning areas: English, Mathematics, Science, The Humanities (Civics and Citizenship, Economics and Business, Geography and History), Health and Physical Education, The Arts, Technologies (Design and Digital) and Languages. These are also the learning areas a Victorian home education plan is expected to address, which is why the same eight names appear on VRQA registration paperwork.

The four Capabilities

Alongside the learning areas sit four Capabilities: Critical and Creative Thinking, Ethical, Intercultural, and Personal and Social. In the national curriculum the general capabilities are woven through other subjects; Victoria goes further and gives its Capabilities their own content and achievement standards, taught and assessed through the learning areas. It is one of the clearest structural signatures of the Victorian framework.

VCAA codes: how content is referenced

Every content description in the Victorian Curriculum carries a VCAA code (for example VCMNA107 in Mathematics), and these are the codes that belong in Victorian planning and records - not the AC9 codes used by the national curriculum. If you are keeping evidence for a school program or a VRQA home education review, quoting the Victorian codes makes the alignment checkable at a glance.

What it means for teachers and homeschoolers

For Victorian teachers, plan and report against the Victorian Curriculum’s Levels and achievement standards, and be aware of which learning areas have moved to version 2.0. For homeschooling families, home education in Victoria is registered with the VRQA, and your learning plan addresses the eight learning areas as Victoria defines them - the practical side (registration, free resources, what reviews look like) is covered in our Victorian homeschool guide and in homeschooling requirements in Australia.

The recurring practical trap is material built for the wrong framework. Worksheets written for the national curriculum, or for US grade levels, need cross-checking against Victorian Levels before you can trust them, and the checking often eats the time the resource was meant to save. If you are outside Victoria and wondering what applies to you, which curriculum does my state use maps every state and territory.

Generating lessons aligned to the Victorian Curriculum

The simplest way to stay aligned is to generate lessons against the Victorian framework directly. Sprout Lessons lets you choose your curriculum before it builds anything: pick the Victorian Curriculum F–10 (v2.0), set the Level and learning area, and the lesson is grounded in the matching VCAA content descriptions, with the codes recorded in the footer as evidence. Because each lesson is also built around the student’s own interests, a Level 5 kid obsessed with the AFL can meet the data strand through ladder and player statistics while the alignment stays exactly on the Victorian standard.

In short: the Victorian Curriculum F–10 is Victoria’s own framework - VCAA-set, organised in Levels and bands, with eight learning areas, four assessed Capabilities and its own codes. Anchor your planning to it if you teach or homeschool in Victoria, check that resources are genuinely Victorian rather than merely Australian, and let tools that support the framework handle the alignment. To see a Victorian-Curriculum-aligned lesson built around your student’s interests, try Sprout free - new accounts start with free lessons.

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