WEEK 2- CIVIC AND CITIZENSHIP

Civics and Citizenship

Year levels of focus: Year 5 & 6

Curriculum Areas: Citizenship, diversity and identity– Who can be an Australian citizen, the formal rights and responsibilities, and shared values of Australian citizenship (ACHCK038) (Year 6)

Communication and reflection– Reflect on personal roles and actions as a citizen in the school and in the community (ACHCS034) (Year 5)

Civics and Citizenship education (CCE) is just one aspect of learning for students under the Humanities and Social Sciences area of learning. CCE is a valuable area of integrated learning for students so that they can learn about their place in their community and how they can help maintain and protect the environment around them. Reynolds (2012) states that citizenship education is providing students with understanding about why and how their society works. Although civics and citizenship education is a valuable area of learning, there is some stigma around this area and students see this unit of work ‘boring’. It’s our job as teachers to plan and develop a unit or project about civics and citizenship that is educational and engaging for students to reduce that stigma.

 

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An active citizenship project that would effectively represent the year 5 and 6 area of Civics and Citizenship in the Australian curriculum is a community awareness project. This project allows students to be able to experience a snippet of someone in their communities’ everyday life. Each student will be given a scenario outlining their occupation, age, marital/family status, their living arrangements and weekly/monthly bills; for example; retailer, 25 years old, living in a rental property with your partner and young daughter who is 5.

This project coincides with other areas of the curriculum such as mathematics and literacy. This project incorporates mathematics by giving students the responsibility of maintaining a “bank book” that they must work out the ingoing and outgoing money, what bills they must pay and how much they get paid. Students may come to realize that some people in their community are quite different to their own families. The community project gives students the opportunity to this globally and how they fit into their communities.

According to Reynolds (2012) it’s important for students to have cultures education and teaching students about how to interact and engage with many different groups in their community. This community project allows students to understand different cultures and learn how to interact and engage with others in their community. Kriewaldt & Taylor (2012) explains that teaching with a global perspective in geography is closely interwoven with citizenship education, as global citizens will attend to social justice, diversity, interdependance, sustainable development and peace through critical thinking framework.

The learning outcome’s of this community project is for students;

• To gain an appreciation for others in their community
• To learn about the community around them
• To learn how to be a global citizen within their community
• To gain perspective on another persons everyday/weekly/monthly life
• To learn about the different cultures within their community
• To learn about counting/spending money and how to manage it effectively.
• To learn about how they fit into their community and how to be an effective member of their community

Although this community project is based more closely about how students can view the community around them, it can effectively helps students to think about how they can fit into their community and how they can protect and develop the world around, essentially make a change!

Wilks & Rudner (2013) explain that young people are generally excluded from planning processes in the community and globally based on a socio-cultural assumption. Based on this comment, why would young people want to be involved in community projects if they are continually put into the corner because of their ‘age’ and ‘community status’.

As teachers we need to develop global thinkers and motivate them to stand up, have a voice and want to make a change in the world around them!

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3 Questions That Could Change the World –

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0sbG-172e_Y

 

“Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world”- Nelson Mandela

References

• Australian Curriculum Assessment and Reporting Authority [ACARA], 2014.Humanities and Social Sciences; introduction.  Retrieved from:http://www.australiancurriculum.edu.au/humanities-and-social-sciences/introduction

• Taylor, T., Fahey, C., Kriewaldt, J., Boon, D. (2012) Place and Time-Exploration in Teaching Geography and History. Frenchs Forest;NSW; Pearson Australia

• Reynolds, R. (2009). Teaching studies of society & environment in the primary school. South Melbourne, VIC: Oxford University Press Australia and New Zealand

• Wilks, JL. & Rudner, J .(2013) ‘A voice for children and young people in the city’, Australian Journal of Environmental Education,[Electronic version] vol. 29 (1) pp. 1-17.