How can you tell they’ve got it: Fairness, Equality and Equity?

If they’ve got it, you’ll see things like: Explain the difference between treating everyone the same and treating everyone fairly; Give an example of a situation where equal treatment wouldn't be fair; Apply fairness thinking when sharing resources or making group decisions. Or just try it together: If a child with a broken arm gets extra time to finish a task at school, can your child explain why that's fair even though other children don't get extra time?

Personal & Social Development Empathy & Social Awareness Ages 7–9

Fairness, Equality and Equity

Your child knows that fair does not always mean the same for everyone. A child with a broken arm getting extra time can still be fair.

In curriculum terms

Understand what fairness means and why it matters — recognising that fair doesn't always mean equal (everyone getting the same) but can mean equitable (everyone getting what they need), and applying this understanding in group situations

Ages are typical, not deadlines — follow your child’s pace. How to help at home →

How to tell they’ve got it

Tick these off as you see them — no test required.

Explain the difference between treating everyone the same and treating everyone fairly
Give an example of a situation where equal treatment wouldn't be fair
Apply fairness thinking when sharing resources or making group decisions

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Try this together

If a child with a broken arm gets extra time to finish a task at school, can your child explain why that's fair even though other children don't get extra time?

Where this sits on the map

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

Builds on

Seeing Someone Else's Point of Viewages 7–9Fairness understanding builds on perspective-taking ability

Vocabulary: social awarenessages 7–11The distinction between fairness, equality, and equity requires knowing these three terms as distinct concepts

Fairness, Equality and Equitythis skill · ages 7–9

Unlocks

Systemic Inequality and Allyshipages 11–12Advanced empathy depends on earlier empathy foundations

The world contains many cultures, traditionsages 9–11Cultural appreciation benefits from understanding fairness

solid = must come firstdashed = helps

Curriculum alignment

Where this fits in the official school curriculum — our best automated guess, not yet checked by a person.

Show candidate curriculum codes · 2 VIC

Australian Curriculum v9 candidate

This skill sits outside the F–6 Australian Curriculum — no candidate code matched (v0.1).

Victorian Curriculum 2.0 codes & levels only

VC2HP4P05low confidenceHealth and Physical Education · Levels 3 and 4 · Personal, Social and Community Health – Health Education strand

VC2HC6K08low confidenceCivics and Citizenship · Levels 5 and 6 · Knowledge and Understanding 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

Different Lives and Experiencesages 7–9 Seeing Someone Else's Point of Viewages 7–9 Vocabulary: social awarenessages 7–11 Everyday Kindness and Careages 5–7

All Empathy & Social Awareness skills →