Supporting active citizenship
Rosehill Secondary College undertook the Passport to Democracy program in Term 4, 2011 with all of their Year 10 students.
I just thought I’d give you my feedback on the resources and democracy course. It was all of high quality, relevant and engaging. My Year 10′s loved it. They were telling their friends about ‘the election’. As a teacher I also enjoyed to teach it. Election day was so much fun! Students had baked cup cakes and made posters.
Teacher, Rosehill Secondary College
Congratulations to Jessica Edwards at Wangaratta High School who has won 2 movie tickets. Jessica filled out her teacher survey online after completing the Passport to Democracy program with her students. Another draw will be held at the end of Term 4 so if you have run the program with your students fill out the survey for your chance to win. It will only take a few minutes and your feedback is very valuable for the further development of resources. http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/LL7XKV8
Photo Credit: worradmu Free Digital Photos
In 2010 the VEC partnered with AMES (Adult Multicultural Education Services) to provide 18 young people from diverse cultural backgrounds an opportunity to develop digital storytelling skills. Participants spent three days working on stories about their personal experience of democracy in their homelands and Australia. The digital stories are an excellent teaching resource and are now available online along with a handy activity sheet.
Teachers who have taught the Passport to Democracy program can now fill out their feedback forms online, saving both time and trees. All feedback contributes to the continual development and improvement of the program so make sure you have your say. Survey respondents go into a draw for free movie tickets so if you’ve taught the program within the last year, jump onto the survey now.
An active citizenship conference for young people and youth organisations…
The Hard Knock Life conference (9-10 September at Gasworks Art Park) aims to provide young people with the opportunity to create a better world for themselves, now and in the future. The conference hopes to leverage the creativity of young minds to create meaningful participation and effective change in local communities.
Day one of Hard Knock Life will bring together individuals who engage with and involve young people in projects, programs and organisations to discuss how young people can make their voices heard and how they make a very real and practical difference: from the street to the Board Room.
The second day will be run by young people who will be invited to decide what topics and sessions they want to discuss. These sessions will result in the sharing of ideas, inspirations, shared goals and connections.
For more information visit hardknocklife.info
Our new contact details are:
Level 11, 530 Collins St
Melbourne VIC 3000
Telephone: 13 18 32
Fax: (03) 9629 8624
vec.vic.gov.au
What do you think the outcome will be?
Civics and Citizenship with a focus on global citizenship and social justice within a multi-cultural community
Teachers are invited to join the Education Officers from the Old Melbourne Gaol – Crime and Justice Experience, Old Treasury Building, Parliament of Victoria, Law Institute of Victoria, Public Record Office Victoria, Social Education Victoria, Victorian Electoral Commission, Immigration Museum, Big Issue Classroom, Department of Education and Early Childhood Development and other relevant organisations to hear about the services and resources on offer.
Tours of some of educational sites and participation in some of the experiences offered to school groups will be a feature of the day with a focus on global citizenship and social justice.
CRT payment is available to government schools for teachers to participate in this event. Download the flyer for more information or to book a place.
“What is democracy?” is a question we are often asked by students. The current political upheaval and struggle for democracy in the Middle East provides an ideal opportunity for investigating this question, so we’ve found a couple of links that might be of interest:
Feel free to recommend any other useful resources by adding your comments!
The Passport to Democracy videos are back online, we had some technical difficulties and had to move them over to YouTube. If you can’t access YouTube at your school let us know and we will send out a DVD for you. If anyone has any hints about the best way to stream video to get around those impenetrable school firewalls please let us know!
