How can you tell they’ve got it: Seeing Someone Else's Point of View?

If they’ve got it, you’ll see things like: Describe how a character in a story feels and give reasons based on the plot; Predict how another child would feel in a described scenario; Use perspective-taking during a real disagreement to understand the other person's view. Or just try it together: When reading a story together, can your child pause and explain how a character might be feeling and why — putting themselves in the character's shoes?

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

Seeing Someone Else's Point of View

Your child can imagine how someone else feels. In a story, they can pause and explain how a character feels, and why.

In curriculum terms

Practise perspective-taking by imagining how someone else might feel in a given situation — using prompts like 'How would you feel if that happened to you?' and applying this when reading stories or during real interactions

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 how a character in a story feels and give reasons based on the plot
Predict how another child would feel in a described scenario
Use perspective-taking during a real disagreement to understand the other person's view

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Try this together

When reading a story together, can your child pause and explain how a character might be feeling and why — putting themselves in the character's shoes?

Where this sits on the map

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

Builds on

Other People's Feelings and Thoughtsages 5–7Perspective-taking builds on knowing others have feelings

Emotion Vocabularyages 7–9Perspective-taking benefits from wider emotional vocabulary

Vocabulary: social awarenessages 7–11Perspective-taking practice is enriched by precise vocabulary including 'perspective', 'bias', and 'compassion'

Seeing Someone Else's Point of Viewthis skill · ages 7–9

Unlocks

Fairness, Equality and Equityages 7–9Fairness understanding builds on perspective-taking ability

Characters' Viewpoints and Responsesages 6–8Comparing characters' points of view in literature requires the perspective-taking ability developed through SEL — understanding that people genuinely experience the same events differently

Different Lives and Experiencesages 7–9Understanding different lives benefits from perspective-taking skills

Understanding Bullyingages 7–9Understanding bullying impact benefits from perspective-taking

Helping Others Resolve Conflictsages 9–11Mediating conflicts benefits from perspective-taking ability

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

VC2HH2S04low confidenceHistory · Foundation to Level 2 · Historical Concepts and Skills 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 Fairness, Equality and Equityages 7–9 Vocabulary: social awarenessages 7–11 Everyday Kindness and Careages 5–7

All Empathy & Social Awareness skills →