Week 2 - Civics and Citizenship
Students
in the school are currently learning about Civics and Citizenship from the
Australian Curriculum. Our class, along with the other year 4 classes have a
specific focus on learning about democracy within our society. This includes
strands of democracy such as local government and the services they provide,
the importance of laws within our society and how they affect students.
By the end of year 4 students are expected to be able to 'identify structures and decisions that support their local community and recognise the importance of laws within our society' (ACARA, 2016). We as a school believe that the earlier students are encouraged
to ask questions and learn about their community, the better. Mellor, Kennedy
and Greenwood (2002) conducted a study on fourteen-year-old students which showed
that although most of these students had a basic idea of the government roles
and responsibilities, some were still not clear. We want to change this. This
gives them more opportunity to question our society about the rules and laws we
have and why Australia as a country, is the way that it is.
Active
citizenship and community involvement are an extremely positive way for
students to learn about democracy. Therefore, we will be having an excursion to
both the local council chambers and the local police station. At both places we
will be given a tour and activities have been organised. Touring the council
chambers gives students the opportunity to learn more about our local
government and the decisions they have control over and how they affect our
lives. The police station will go more into depth about the laws and rules and
why they were created. Visiting both places gives students the opportunity to
ask questions to the people who enforce the rules and regulations every day.
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| From "Councils across Northern Tasmania ahve a range of goals for 2018" by The Examiner, 2018. (https://www.examiner.com.au/story/5193836/big-year-ahead-for-councils-across-the-northern-region) |
As parents and carers, you can support the
children in furthering their learning through encouraging them to ask questions
about our society and the way we do things. Feel free to answer the questions
yourself or encourage the students to record their questions to ask during
class! This will generate more questions for our question board and more topics
for the students to research. You are also welcome to encourage students to be
more involved in the community through ways such as volunteering or visiting an
aged care facility (with permission). These would be some excellent ways of prompting
active citizenship by the students.
On a
study conducted by David Zyngier (2016) 70% of respondents agreed that teachers
should promote a sense of democracy to students.
References:
Australian
Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority (ACARA). (2016). HASS. Retrieved from https://www.australiancurriculum.edu.au/f-10-curriculum/humanities-and-social-sciences/hass
Commonwealth of
Australia. (2011). Connecting with Communities.
Retrieved from https://www.civicsandcitizenship.edu.au/cce/connecting_with_communities,22588.html
Mellor,
S., Kennedy, K., & Greenwood, L. (2002). Citizenship and democracy: Australian Students’ knowledge and beliefs: The
IEA Civic Education Study of fourteen year olds. Retrieved from https://research.acer.edu.au/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?referer=https://scholar.google.com.au/&httpsredir=1&article=1000&context=civics.
The Examiner. (2018). Councils across Northern Tasmania have a range of goals for 2018. Retrieved from https://www.examiner.com.au/story/5193836/big-year-ahead-for-councils-across-the-northern-region/
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