Navigating the HMS Curriculum Together: Key Insights & Planning Support
Last week, we hosted our first HMS Q&A session—a dedicated forum for teachers to collaborate, share insights, and navigate one of the most significant curriculum reforms PDHPE has seen in decades. It was encouraging to witness educators openly discuss both their successes and challenges, reinforcing the incredible power of collective learning in shaping student outcomes.
Early in the session, a common theme emerged: pacing and content depth. Teachers raised pressing questions: How many determinants of health should we cover? How deep should we go into body systems? Will I have enough time to cover everything? These concerns resonated across the group, and as discussions unfolded, there was a collective sense of relief—we’re all in this together.
As the session continued, it became clear just how invaluable professional learning communities (PLCs) are, particularly during times of curriculum change. Michael Fullan’s research highlights that sustainable educational change doesn’t happen in isolation—it thrives in a culture of collaboration, shared expertise, and collective problem-solving. When teachers actively engage in professional discussions, they draw upon a broader network of knowledge and experience, reducing the burden of navigating new curriculum demands alone.
Beyond immediate problem-solving, using each other as resources enhances efficiency, strengthens teaching practices, and ultimately benefits students. Instead of reinventing the wheel, teachers can build upon effective strategies, lesson structures, and assessment approaches that have already been tested in real classrooms. This type of collaborative professionalism not only deepens our understanding but also ensures that students receive high-quality, well-sequenced learning experiences.
By embracing professional learning communities and fostering a culture of shared expertise, we ensure that curriculum reform is not just implemented but meaningfully embedded. Together, we can streamline our approach, enhance student learning, and make the transition to the new HMS syllabus both effective and sustainable.
Based on key takeaways from the Q&A session, here are some practical strategies to help navigate pacing and content depth in the HMS curriculum:
1. Mapping content links from Year 11 to Year 12
To make the most of teaching time and avoid unnecessary repetition, having a clear understanding of how Year 12 content builds on Year 11 can offer valuable insights into pacing and the depth of coverage needed. A well-structured approach ensures that foundational knowledge is deeply embedded in Year 11, allowing Year 12 to focus on higher-order thinking, application, and critical analysis rather than revisiting basic concepts.
By deliberately scaffolding learning across both years, teachers can frontload key ideas in Year 11, reducing cognitive overload in Year 12 and enabling students to engage more confidently with complex content. This not only streamlines revision but also maximises classroom time for refining skills, consolidating knowledge, and deepening understanding—ultimately leading to stronger academic outcomes.
Download a copy of the Year 11 to Year 12 content links document used in the Year 11 HMS workshops delivered in 2024.
2. Structuring the learning sequence
When designing teaching and learning experiences, it’s essential to keep two key questions at the forefront of your planning: What do I want students to know? and How will they demonstrate their understanding? Maintaining this focus helps streamline content delivery, ensuring that each lesson builds purposefully toward student outcomes.
By structuring learning in this way, you can reduce cognitive load, making it easier for students to process, retain, and apply new knowledge effectively. Breaking content into manageable chunks, reinforcing key concepts over time, and sequencing topics logically all contribute to deeper understanding and long-term retention. This approach not only enhances student learning in Year 11 but also saves valuable time in Year 12, as students will already have a strong foundation to build upon—reducing the need to reteach content from scratch and allowing for deeper exploration of complex concepts. Our Programming Year 12 HMS workshops take participants through this process to develop efficient sequences of learning that allow the time required to build depth of understanding.
It is also beneficial to identify and explore the connections between content areas in Year 11. Many concepts naturally overlap across different content questions, providing opportunities to deepen student understanding and streamline planning. By recognising these links, teachers can build on key ideas and reinforce relationships between concepts. Have a look at the organisation of the FA units in the Year 11 programs examples below.
3. Knowledge organisers
Knowledge organisers provide a clear and focused overview of the most important content, helping students to prioritise their learning. Research suggests that reducing extraneous information and presenting key content visually can improve cognitive processing and retention.
For students, they are excellent tools for supporting revision, promoting retrieval practice, and enabling students to make connections between ideas. For teachers, knowledge organisers offer a shared resource to align instruction, ensure consistency across classes, and scaffold independent learning.
How to use this strategy?
- Identify the core content
- Organise visually
- Include definitions and examples
- Make it accessible
- Integrate into learning
- Revisit and revise
Want to see what these practical strategies look like in a program?
Our Year 11 HMS Program Package is a comprehensive suite of materials to help you deliver the Year 11 HMS course. It includes scope and sequences, a full set of knowledge organisers for each unit and learning sequences that demonstrate how to organise and pace the delivery of the content to ensure students have the pre-requisite knowledge required to be ready for Year 12.
