CIVICS AND CITIZENSHIP - LEARNING ABOUT DEMOCRACY

Dear Parents/Carers,

This term, students in Year 6 will be exploring what democracy is and what the roles and responsibilities of the different levels of government are. Students will also find out how laws are developed in Australia, as well as the responsibilities of the representatives and electors in Australia’s democracy (see Knowledge and Understanding Content Descriptors below). The Melbourne Declaration (Ministerial Council on Education, Employment, Training and Youth Affairs, 2008) (a governmental requisite) promotes active and informed citizens, as it is important to provide our students with decision making opportunities that will contribute to a better future and influence further endeavours. 

Active citizenship is based on a pedagogical method of inquiry-based learning (Ribeiro, Rodrigues, Caetano, Pais, & Menezes, 2012). This unit of work links also with English and History (Figure 2) learning areas and focuses on enhancing student questioning, researching, evaluating and reflecting, and communicating skills (Figure 3) throughout the upcoming weeks. Together we will strengthen our literacy, critical and creative thinking, personal and social capability, and ethical understanding General Capabilities.

Figure 1  (Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority (ACARA), 2017)

Figure 2 (Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority (ACARA), 2017)

Figure 3 (Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority (ACARA), 2017)

Students will collectively watch videos provided by the Parliamentary Education Office in relation to the different levels of government, as well as how laws are made and role play videos of other students putting what they learnt about Australian democracy to practice. As parents feel free to watch these videos with your children at home, so that you can have discussions at home in relation to democracy, that can solidify your child's perspective and beliefs that can be further expressed in the classroom. I encourage that you as the carer(s) and your children engage in the quizzes to challenge and remind yourselves of the learning done in the classroom. Students will also access the Bills and Legislation website to follow the progress of live bills in Australia. Through this they will be able to see how many bills are rejected or make it into a law.

When students show sufficient understanding of the Australian Government, they will learn to apply it in their own school government context. The students will represent local government, the teachers will represent state government and the principal will represent federal. The students will be split into three separate local councils, each focusing on different issues of their choosing (eg. layout of classroom, sporting activities, or canteen). Each council will gather together once per week to respectfully discuss their perspective on the chosen issue and collectively come to a consensus on the best solution/improvement. Students will then present their points of view to the rest of the class and myself in any form (eg. poster, powerpoint, verbal, video) of their choosing. This kind of participation where students showcase leadership improves students' self esteem (Tudball & Forsyth, 2002).

The goal of this unit is to ignite students' passion for civics and citizenship and that they would see the vital role they play and influence they have for our future, in the hope that they would be motivated to make a difference for the better.

Word Count: 499

References

Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority (ACARA). (2017). HASS.Retrieved from Australian Curriculum: https://www.australiancurriculum.edu.au/f-10-curriculum/humanities-and-social-sciences/hass/?year=12101&year=12102&strand=Inquiry+and+skills&strand=Knowledge+and+Understanding&capability=ignore&capability=Literacy&capability=Numeracy&capability=Informatio

Commonwealth of Australia. (2016). Snapshots - Three levels of Government.Retrieved from Parliamentary Education Office: https://www.peo.gov.au/multimedia/videos/snapshots-three-levels-of-government.html

Ministerial Council on Education, Employment, Training and Youth Affairs. (2008). Melbourne Declaration on Educational Goals for Young Australians.Retrieved from http://www.curriculum.edu.au/verve/_resources/national_declaration_on_the_educational_goals_for_young_australians.pdf

Ribeiro, A. B., Rodrigues, M., Caetano, A., Pais, S., & Menezes, I. (2012). Promoting "active citizens"? The critical vision of NGOs over citizenship education as an educational priority across Europe. International Journal of Progressive Education, 32-47.

Tudball, L., & Forsyth, A. (2002). Listening to the voices of teachers: How should we define and implement civics and citizenship education in schools?Retrieved from http://www.aare.edu.au/data/publications/2002/for02438.pdf