The Earth and Environmental Science 11–12 Syllabus (2025):

• has been streamlined by removing peripheral content. Its revised structure now divides the material into seven focus areas: three (3) for Year 11 and four (4) for Year 12
• changed depth study requirements, including programmable outcomes and instruction length
• includes clearly defined content that improves student access to rich learning opportunities at school and pathways after school
• offers increased opportunities to apply scientific concepts and ideas to real-world situations
• includes assessable, specified scientific investigations that provide accessible opportunities for the development of knowledge, understanding and skills
• includes Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples’ content that provides all students with opportunities to explore Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples’ Knowledges and Cultures
• increases the focus on scientific concepts rather than named scientists.

Earth and Environmental Science 11–12 Syllabus (2025) © NSW Education Standards Authority (NESA) for and on behalf of the Crown in right of the State of New South Wales, 2025.

Before implementing the Earth and Environmental Science 11-12 Syllabus (2025), leaders will need to consider the following:

• complexities for staff working across 2 different earth and environmental science syllabuses, as they will teach different courses to their Year 11 and Year 12 cohorts. The implementation of the Earth and Environmental Science 11-12 Syllabus (2025) coincides with that of the Chemistry 11-12 Syllabus (2025)
• building teachers’ understanding about working with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander content when designing and delivering biology content and assessment
• supporting teachers’ understanding of the principles of inclusive education, adjustments and access to the biology curriculum for all learners
• resource and budget implications, including:
  • providing time for staff to engage with the expectations of the Earth and Environmental Science 11-12 Syllabus (2025), especially the novel content contained in it, so that they are best prepared to teach the course in 2027
  • reviewing the course requirements, including mandatory practical investigations, to identify new equipment and other resources that may need to be purchased
• all decisions about curriculum options for students with disability should be made through the collaborative curriculum planning process
• leaders will need to consider the eligibility of students for a Life Skills pattern of study.

The syllabus for Earth and Environmental Science 11–12 (2025) is based on evidence summarised in the bibliography published by NESA. The evidence base highlights that:

• students need to make connections across scientific concepts that facilitate the application of knowledge to new scenarios (Bravo González and Reiss 2021; Harlen et al. 2015)
• although built on prior knowledge and understanding, the learning of new abstract concepts is aided by the multisensory input inherent in modelling and practical experiences (Essex, 2018)
• student performance at multiple levels of sophistication is supported by a learning progression framework that identifies and fuses core disciplinary ideas and scientific practices (Corcoran et al., 2009; Gotwals & Songer, 2013)
• the syllabus should be knowledge-rich, as disciplinary knowledge is liberating and enables students to make sense of the physical world (Young, 2014)
• the syllabus should distil scientific knowledge into big ideas and guiding principles for students to be able to explain and make sense of a diversity of physical phenomena (Harlen et al., 2010).

Earth and Environmental Science 11–12 Syllabus (2025) © NSW Education Standards Authority (NESA) for and on behalf of the Crown in right of the State of New South Wales, 2025.

• How will the new syllabus affect classroom practice? What measures are in place to support and evaluate this practice?
• What school practices and systems are in place to support teacher professional learning? How are these evaluated to maximise support for teachers?
• To what extent are staff ready to undertake syllabus implementation? How is that readiness determined?
• How has the school engaged with departmental resources and support for curriculum implementation, such as Curriculum networks, curriculum resources, professional learning, and DEL network initiatives?
• What enablers and barriers to successful curriculum implementation have been identified? What plans are in place to overcome the barriers and leverage the enablers?

• NSW Department of Education Planning, programming and assessing science 11–12
• NSW Department of Education Professional learning science K–12
• NSW Department of Education Science 11–12 curriculum resources
• NESA Earth and Environmental Science 11–12 Syllabus (2025)
• NESA Earth and Environmental Science – Teaching and Learning Support