Pacific Studies is a course that provides students with the opportunity to explore and understand the diversity of Pacific peoples, places and experiences. It provides Pacific Islander students an opportunity to engage with their learning through the close study of their heritage, and non-Pacific Islander students an opportunity to learn more about the vast sea of islands covering one third of the globe.

Students engage with indigenous Pacific ways of knowing, thinking, being, doing and valuing. They develop a culturally appropriate research skills to explore a range of topics and issues related to Pacific Islander peoples, places and cultures. Students appreciate their own culture and other cultures and will develop intercultural skills in moving between cultures and cultural understanding by learning about other ways of life.

Students have the opportunity to engage with a range of sources and perspectives to critically analyse the history, environment, geography, literature, communities, linguistics traditions, arts and popular culture of the region. They reflect on their own identity and relationships to communities in the Pacific. Students learn to use key terms in languages that reveal important concepts and ways of knowing, thinking, being, doing and valuing.

Students will be supported to become lifelong learners and knowledgeable citizens in relation to the Pacific. They will become culturally aware and competent to learn through communicating and interacting respectfully. Students use this learning as they engage with Pacific Islander peoples and cultures in Australia and internationally.

The Pacific Studies course is written under the Integrated Learning Framework.

Achievement Standards for INTEGRATED LEARNING courses can be found within the Framework.

Courses written under this framework promote interdisciplinary, multidisciplinary and transdisciplinary approaches. Students will learn how to transfer capabilities such as the research process, information management, critical thinking, creativity, effective teambuilding, leadership, collaborative decision making and communicate with a diverse range of people. Courses written under this framework are suited for students with diverse abilities, and learning styles including students preparing to enter the workforce, as well as those planning to study at university.

Places and Origins

Students will consider the scope, extent and nature of place and origin of the Pacific Islands and Pacific Ocean from the ancient period to the 19^th Century. They investigate methodologies for learning about and expressing understanding of Pacific places and origins. Students consider a range of perspectives on the place and origins of Pacific Islander peoples drawing on a range of culturally appropriate and scholarly resources.

(See the Implementation Guide for Program of Learning ideas)

The Modern Pacific

Students consider the significance of ancestral land to Pacific Islander cultures from the mid-19^th Century to the present, including the threat of climate change.  They investigate methodologies for learning about and expressing understanding of the Pacific from the beginning of colonisation, migration, diaspora and ongoing colonisation, decolonisation and neocolonialism, and globalisation. Drawing on multiple perspectives, students will also explore how the cultures of the Pacific have evolved, including resistance, adaptation, transformation and cultural synthesis.

Pacific Peoples and Communities

Students consider Pacific peoples and communities, including diaspora communities and the complexities of individual identity. They investigate methodologies for learning about and understanding and expressing knowledge of Pacific peoples and communities. Students analyse the ways of knowing, thinking, being, doing and valuing of the Pacific. They examine how people and communities live and relate to one another, in the Pacific and recognise their own place in those networks and relationships.

Pacific Popular Culture

Students consider Pacific popular cultures. They investigate methodologies for learning about and expressing understanding of Pacific popular cultures. They investigate contemporary social life and activities in the Pacific. Students read contemporary texts and access the extensive use of social media by Pacific Islanders with which they share their ideas, artistic and cultural practices.

Pacific Studies A-T-M (760 KB)

Pacific Studies A-T-M (1,190 KB)

Pacific Studies Implementation Guide (766 KB)