Outcomes, Competencies and Big Ideas: Reading a Provincial Curriculum

Quick answer: Different provinces name the same thing differently. Saskatchewan writes outcomes with indicators beneath them, Quebec's programme is built on competencies, Nova Scotia sets Essential Graduation Competencies above subject outcomes, and Yukon uses British Columbia's curricular competencies and content. Read the verb in whichever wording you have been given, because that is what decides the evidence a unit must produce.

What do outcomes, competencies and big ideas actually mean?

An outcome states what a student should know or be able to do by the end of a grade. Saskatchewan pairs each one with indicators that describe how much breadth and depth counts as evidence, and teachers there may add their own. Newfoundland and Labrador organizes subject outcomes under seven Essential Graduation Learnings, while Nova Scotia places Essential Graduation Competencies above its subject outcomes.

Competency-based documents work the other way around, describing what a student can do across contexts rather than listing content. Quebec's programme is built on cross-curricular and subject-specific competencies, and jurisdictions using British Columbia's redesigned model, including Yukon and increasingly the Northwest Territories, describe curricular competencies alongside content. Teachers in those systems talk about the big ideas of a grade, meaning the broad statements the specifics hang from.

How do I turn any of this wording into a physics unit?

Underline the verb before anything else. Analyze, explain, investigate and describe each demand a different artifact, and a unit that teaches the topic but produces the wrong artifact will not satisfy the document however good the lessons were. Write the verb at the top of the plan, decide what student work answers it, and only then choose activities.

Levers & Pulleys – Physics Resource for Middle School (Grades 7–10) is a straightforward example for grades 7 to 10: measured trials answer an investigate verb, while the summary questions answer an explain verb, so one purchase covers two kinds of demand. Similar material for other topics is listed on the Canadian Curriculum Navigator: Resources by Province, grouped by province so you can start from the wording your own ministry uses.

How does assessment differ between these systems?

More than the planning vocabulary does. Quebec still runs mandatory ministerial examinations, counting for twenty per cent of the final grade in some earlier years and fifty per cent at Secondary IV and V, where they are required for the diploma. Saskatchewan has no universal provincial graduation examination at all and awards its certificate on a twenty-four credit requirement instead.

The Northwest Territories has replaced subject diploma examinations with literacy and numeracy assessments that appear on a transcript without counting toward course grades. Where no external exam carries weight, your unit records are the whole story, which is an argument for units like Pressure, Buoyancy & Fluids | Archimedes' Principle & Hydrostatic Pressure | Physics Unit | Grades 8–10 that end in a marked task rather than a demonstration nobody wrote down.

What should I do when the curriculum changes under me?

Renewal is normal here. The Northwest Territories is converting from Alberta's programs of study to British Columbia's model with completion targeted for 2028, Nunavut is rolling out new Inuktut-language curriculum within a programme framed by Inuit Qaujimajatuqangit, and New Brunswick maintains separate Anglophone and Francophone sector documents. Plans tied to a document version age badly.

Keep your map at topic level, with one column for whatever the current wording calls the requirement, and only that column changes when a renewal lands. A resource like Physics Complete – Ready-to-Use Curriculum for Middle School Physics helps here, because a complete middle-school physics program keeps notation, lab format and sequence stable while the paperwork above it is being rewritten around you every few years.

Frequently asked questions

Is an outcome the same thing as a competency?

Not quite. An outcome usually names knowledge or skill tied to a grade and subject, while a competency describes something a student can do across contexts and over time. In practice you plan the same way for both: read the verb, decide what work demonstrates it, and record that work against the wording.

Do indicators have to be used exactly as published?

That depends on the province. Saskatchewan explicitly allows teachers to add indicators where the published set does not fit their students, provided the outcome itself is still met. Elsewhere the published wording carries more weight, so check your own curriculum guide before treating an indicator list as a menu.

Are these resources approved by any ministry or department of education?

No. They are independent teaching materials and are not affiliated with, approved by, or endorsed by any provincial or territorial ministry, department of education, school division, or assessment body. Everything downloads instantly for you to review and adapt; for questions about a purchase, see the store's refund policy.

Related reading

• Teaching in a New Province: What Transfers and What Does Not
• Cross-Canada Planning for Teachers Who Change Schools
• Canadian Curriculum Navigator: Resources by Province