Personal & Social Development Emotional Literacyusually ages 11–12

Brain Science of Emotions

Understand how the amygdala triggers emotional responses and how the prefrontal cortex (still developing in adolescence) regulates them; explain why stress hormones (cortisol, adrenaline) affect thinking and memory; understand that the adolescent brain's dopamine system makes feelings more intense; distinguish between emotion regulation (managing feelings effectively) and emotion suppression (pushing feelings down, which is counterproductive); introduce cognitive reappraisal as a research-backed technique for changing how we interpret a situation

Try this together

Can your child explain, in basic terms, why teenagers tend to feel emotions more intensely than adults — what's happening in the developing brain that makes feelings so powerful during adolescence, and what's the difference between managing a feeling and suppressing it?

Where this sits on the map

Stuck here? Check the skills it builds on first. Confident? Here’s what it unlocks.

Builds on

How Emotions Feel in Your Bodyages 7–9Advanced emotional literacy depends on earlier foundational emotional skills

Emotions and Decision-Makingages 9–11Advanced emotional literacy depends on earlier emotional awareness skills

Good Stress and Bad Stressages 11–12Neuroscience of adolescent emotion (particularly the stress response) provides the biological basis for the stress and coping topic in a neighbouring SEL domain

Brain Science of Emotionsthis skill · ages 11–12

Unlocks

Identity and Belonging in Adolescenceages 12–13Advanced emotion regulation depends on foundational advanced emotional literacy skills

solid = must come firstdashed = helps

Curriculum alignment

Candidate matches to official curriculum codes — machine-suggested, unreviewed (v0.1).

Show candidate curriculum codes · 1 ACARA · 1 VIC

Australian Curriculum v9 candidate

AC9HP6P06low confidenceYear 5–6 · Personal, social and community health

apply strategies to manage emotions and analyse how emotional responses influence interactions

Victorian Curriculum 2.0 codes & levels only

VC2HP6P06medium confidenceHealth and Physical Education · Levels 5 and 6 · Personal, Social and Community Health – Health Education strand

These are candidate alignments generated by semantic matching — machine-suggested and unreviewed (v0.1), not official or verified mappings. For official curriculum content see australiancurriculum.edu.au, curriculum.nsw.edu.au and f10.vcaa.vic.edu.au. Don’t rely on them for registration or compliance purposes.

Nearby on the map

Identity and Belonging in Adolescenceages 12–13 Culture and Experience Shape Emotionsages 9–11 Emotional Intelligenceages 13–14 Emotional Patterns Over Timeages 9–11

All Emotional Literacy skills →