Personal & Social Development Self-Awarenessusually ages 5–10

Vocabulary: self

Know and use the vocabulary of self-reflection — self-awareness, reflect, pattern, trigger, assumption, impact, perspective, and notice — and understand that having precise words for these inner experiences makes them easier to understand and talk about

How to tell they’ve got it

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

Use words like 'reflect', 'pattern', and 'trigger' accurately when describing their own behaviour — e.g. 'I notice a pattern: I get frustrated when I rush'
Explain what 'self-awareness' means in their own words and give a personal example
Use the word 'perspective' correctly — e.g. 'From my perspective it felt unfair, but I can see theirs too'

🖨 Print this page to keep the checklist — it prints beautifully.

Try this together

After a difficult moment — a falling-out with a friend or a frustrating task — can your child talk about what happened using words like 'trigger' or 'reflect', showing they're thinking about their own reactions rather than just what the other person did?

Where this sits on the map

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

Builds on

Nothing on the map comes before this — it’s a starting point.

Vocabulary: selfthis skill · ages 5–10

Unlocks

Naming Your Feelingsages 5–6Noticing and naming feelings requires the basic vocabulary of self-awareness and reflection

Feelings Versus Actionsages 6–8Understanding the feelings-actions separation requires vocabulary to distinguish and name each component

Patterns in Your Own Reactionsages 7–9Noticing own patterns requires vocabulary of 'pattern', 'trigger', and 'reflect'

Your Impact on Othersages 8–9Reflecting on impact on others requires vocabulary of 'impact', 'perspective', and 'reflect'

Questioning First Impressionsages 9–10Questioning own assumptions requires precise vocabulary of 'assumption', 'bias', and 'perspective'

solid = must come firstdashed = helps

Curriculum alignment

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

Show candidate curriculum codes · 2 NSW

Australian Curriculum v9 candidate

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

NSW syllabus codes & stages only

PH2-SMI-01medium confidencePDHPE K-6 · Stage 2

PHE-SMI-01low confidencePDHPE K-6 · Early Stage 1

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

Naming Your Feelingsages 5–6 Feelings Versus Actionsages 6–8 Patterns in Your Own Reactionsages 7–9 Your Impact on Othersages 8–9

All Self-Awareness skills →