How can you tell they’ve got it: Questioning Your Own Biases?

If they’ve got it, you’ll see things like: Describe a time they made an assumption about someone that turned out to be wrong; Explain what unconscious bias means in simple terms; Describe a strategy for checking their own assumptions, such as asking questions before judging. Or just try it together: Can your child catch themselves making an assumption about someone — like assuming a quiet child is unfriendly — and then question whether that assumption is fair?

Personal & Social Development Empathy & Social Awareness Ages 9–11

Questioning Your Own Biases

Your child can catch their own quick guesses about people. If they think a quiet child is unfriendly, they ask whether that is fair.

In curriculum terms

Reflect on their own assumptions and biases — recognising that everyone carries unconscious assumptions about others, and that actively questioning these assumptions is an ongoing practice that leads to greater fairness and empathy

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.

Describe a time they made an assumption about someone that turned out to be wrong
Explain what unconscious bias means in simple terms
Describe a strategy for checking their own assumptions, such as asking questions before judging

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Try this together

Can your child catch themselves making an assumption about someone — like assuming a quiet child is unfriendly — and then question whether that assumption is fair?

Where this sits on the map

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

Builds on

Stereotypes and Individual Differencesages 9–11Examining own biases builds on understanding stereotypes

Prejudice and Discriminationages 9–11Examining biases benefits from understanding prejudice impact

Questioning First Impressionsages 9–10Reflecting on unconscious assumptions and biases towards others builds on the foundational habit of questioning your first reading of social situations

Questioning Your Own Biasesthis skill · ages 9–11

Unlocks

Sympathy Versus Empathyages 12–13Advanced social awareness depends on earlier empathy skills

Ethics in Real-World Issuesages 9–11Evaluating ethical issues benefits from examining own biases

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 · 1 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

VC2HP4P03low confidenceHealth and Physical Education · Levels 3 and 4 · 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

Prejudice and Discriminationages 9–11 Stereotypes and Individual Differencesages 9–11 The world contains many cultures, traditionsages 9–11 Different Lives and Experiencesages 7–9

All Empathy & Social Awareness skills →