Australia

__**The Teaching of Civics **____**in Australia **__ Eliza Kelton

**Country Overview**

Geographical Setting
Australia is located in Oceania, a continent in the Southern Hemisphere between the Indian Ocean and the South Pacific Ocean. Overall, Australia has an arid climate; it is temperate in the south and east and tropic al in the north. Because of its location in the Southern Hemisphere, Australia's seasons are opposite of those in the United States. While Australia is the smallest continent, it is the 6th largest country. There are many natural and environmental threats to Australia. Natural hazards include cyclones along the coast, severe droughts, forest fires, and volcanic activity. Environmental threats include: soil erosion from over grazing, industrial development, urbanization, desertification, clearing for agriculture that threatens natural habitats for unique animals and plants, and destruction of the Great Barrier Reef from shipping and tourism.

Population
As the 55th most populated country, Australia has almost 22 million inhabitants. Australia's population is concentrated along the eastern and southeastern coasts. Some important figures include:

__Religions__: 25.8% Catholic; 18.7% Anglican; 5.7% Uniting Church; 3% Presbyterian and Reformed; 2.7% Eastern Orthodox; 7.9% other Christian; 7.9% Buddhist; 1.7% Muslim; 2.4% other; 11.3% unspecified; 18.7% none

__Languages__: 78.5% English; 2.5% Chinese; .6% Italian; 1.3% Greek; 1.2% Arabic; 1% Vietnamese; 8.2% other; 5.7% unspecified

__Literacy__: 99% of the population age 15 and over can read and write.

History
40,000 years before Captain James Cook and the first Europeans explored Australia in the 18th century, aborigines settled in Australia. By 1770 Captain Cook officially claimed the east coast of the continent for Great Britain. This was the first "official" claim in Australia. In 1788 Captain Arthur Philip and his First Fleet sailed to Botany Bay and established a correctional colony. By 1829 the entire continent of Australia was claimed for Great Britain and by 1868 transporting convicts anywhere in Australia was abolished. In 1901 the six colonies in Australia became the Commonwealth of Australia (Australia for short). Due to its natural resources and industries Australia greatly helped Great Britain in WWI and WWII. Contemporary Australia is an internationally competitive market. It is multiracial and multicultural.

Form of Government
The Commonwealth of Australia is a constitutional monarchy because there is a written constitution for Australia and because Queen Elizabeth II is the head of state. Australia's birth in 1901 is often referred to as a federation because Australia's constitution is based on a federal government. Powers are divided between the Australian government and the six state governments. According to Australia's Constitution there are three aims to their government: legislature (parliament); executive; and judiciary. Australia also has six state governments that make their own laws for matters not controlled by the Australian Commonwealth Government, they have their own constitutions, and their own aims like the Commonwealth Government (legislature, executive, judiciary). Australia also has territories, which are areas not controlled by any of the six states. Territories are either controlled by the Commonwealth government or are self-governing. Territories can become states granted they go through the proper process. Australia also has local governments established by state and territory governments. Theselocal governments have no judiciary but have a legislature and executive.

 **Context**

The Educational System
Australia's educational system is similar to the system the United States employs. Students go to school from kindergarten or preparatory year and then complete 12 years of primary and secondary school, named Year 1 to Year 12. There are three different sectors of education in all Australian states and territories: government, Catholic, and private. There are high levels of variance found between these different sectors and all sectors receive different amounts of government funding. The different sectors are similar in the fact that they all frame their schools around central curricula. In December 2008, Australian ministers of education in all states and territories adopted a national curriculum. Curricula was created for the Foundation (Kindergarten) to Year 10. Curricula is currently created for english, mathematics, science and history with the intent of eventually including health and physical education, information and communication technology (ICT), design technology, economics, business, and civics and citizenship. With this in mind, the goal of Australian Education is "to provide students with foundation skills, values, knowledge and understanding necessary for lifelong learning, employment and //full participation in society//" (Department of Education, Employment, and Workplace Relations Website, my emphasis). This goal seems to put civic and citizenship education at the forefront of the educational system, yet civic and citizenship education is variable, low achieving and not a part of the national curricula.

Grade Levels and Hours Per Week
Civic and citizenship education is not required in any particular grade level for any required hours per week. As mentioned earlier, the amount of civic and citizenship education received in schooling is variable between different schools. The teaching of CCE is found to be fragmented and uncertain despite the fact that there has recently been much funding and professional development for teachers in civic and citizenship education. The National Assessment Programme in Civics and Citizenship (NAP-CC) conducted and collected achievement data in 2004 and 2007 on knowledge and understandings in year 6 and year 10 students. The result of this large-scale project found students are low achieving in civics and citizenship education with nominal improvement noted between 2004 and 2007. However, researchers noted that there are clear solutions to improve achievement.

That being said, there is a definite push to incorporate more civic and citizenship education in Australia. While none of this is mandated at this point in time there are clear focal areas where civics and citizenship education has a real connection to the curricula. The Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relation's division of Civic and Citizenship Education (CCE) has found that "Years 3, 5, 7 and 9 have been designated as the junctures at which opportunities to develop civics and citizenship knowledge, skills, understanding and capacities exist in the curriculum in the respective jurisdictions. The Statements therefore describe opportunities to learn at those levels of schooling, and are followed by the professional elaborations which explain how those opportunities may be achieved in the curriculum." The Statements that they refer to are equivalent to content standards in the United States. With the idea that civics and citizenship education will become a part of Australia's National Curriculum, the fact that Statements are already identified is very promising.

**Subject Content Standards** As stated previously, there are four years where civics and citizenship education seems to fit into the current history curricula. //The Statements of Learning for Civics and Citizenship// see three major aspects of civic and citizenship curriculum: 1) Government and Law; 2) Citizenship in a Democracy; and 3) Historical Perspectives. Throughout the four years where civics and citizenship is a part of the curriculum, students advance their understanding in terms of these three aspects. //The Statements of Learning for Civics and Citizenship// created learning objectives for the four years that students will be introduced to civic and citizenship education based on the major aspect of CCE.

While //The Statements of Learning for Civics and Citizenship// is an excellent resource and helps the national agenda for civics and curriculum education it is important to note that civics and citizenship is not a mandated curricula. All schools do not incorporate this into their curricula although it is supposed to eventually become a part of Australia's National Curricula.

**Materials** Despite the fact that civics and citizenship is not a part of Australia's National Curricula there are a wealth of resources in Australia on the subject. A large distributor of these resources is the Department of Education, Employment, and Workplace Relations. They link further materials for teachers to peruse from their website. These resources are not solely made for teachers but for parents and students as well. Listed below is a sample of many valuable resources I came across in my research. > The Australian Government website provides links to further one's inquiry on CCE. The links offered by the government include resources for school but they also provide information about becoming an Australian citizen and a link to the Australian Constitution.
 * Australian Government

This is another government sponsored website providing a wealth of information about the Statements. The website also offers information about incorporating a National Assessment for Civics and Citizenship, Case Studies for incorporating CCE in various forms, teaching and learning activities, digital resources, further resources on CCE (including democracy, current events, human rights, etc.), and professional development.
 * Statements of Learning for Civics and Citizenship

This is another website driven by teaching resources and examples of projects. It also suggests further websites that will be useful for teachers.
 * The Common Good

This is a government website focused on providing resources for schools. This website is excellent because it is geared for both teachers and students. This website was used in the NAP-CC study on CCE. It offers a host of teaching material as well as professional development. This includes kits for primary and secondary schools, posters, and textbooks.
 * CCE
 * Discovery Democracy

Overall, Australia has a great breath and depth of resources for CCE despite the fact that it is not yet required in any formal sense of the word. These resources are easily accessible, easy to navigate and a good starting point for teachers of CCE.

**Nature of Curriculum** According to //The Statements of Learning for Civics and Citizenship,// Australia does attempt to incorporate different models of civic education. Below I will describe how the Standards incorporate the different models, however, it is important to keep in mind that while they may be apparent in the Standards that does not necessarily translate into the classroom. Australia has not nationally adopted CCE and the NAP-CC report makes it apparent that CCE is variable in different school districts. Some districts have very limited, if any, civics and citizenship curricula.

Liberal Civic Education
The liberal model is apparent throughout the four different years that CCE is suggested to be incorporated into schools. This model is specifically evident in the Government and Law aspect of CCE. Each year students develop a deeper understanding of the functioning of Australia's government and law system. Students will know specific terms as they apply to Australian government as well as study the significant features and principles of such a government. For example, in Year 5 students, "understand that Australia is a democracy with key civic features including elections, parliaments, political parties, a constitution, freedom of speech and citizen participation."

Republican Civic Education
The Citizenship in Democracy aspect of CCE attempts to promote feelings of belonging to both a larger community and a local community. Students examine throughout the four years, although they are emphasized more in the early years, ways to connect to their local community and explore their own identity in this community. On a larger scale, students in Year 3 will "recognise that voting is a way that groups make decisions."

Diversity Civic Education
This model of civic education becomes apparent in the Standards as students progress to Year 7 and Year 9. Students explore the past of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. One standard in Year 7 states, "They [students] have the opportunity to investigate how British colonisation of Australia affected the lives of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples." This is important to diversity civic education because these peoples have a significant contribution to Australia's past and are a severely marginalized group in Australia. This is teaching the majority of the population to look at history from the perspective of the other.

Critical Civic Education
The later years also give some mention to the critical model of civic education. Year 7 has students "analyse media portrayal of current issues to explore viewpoints, bias and stereotypes," and "investigate ways in which the media and ICT are used to influence citizens’ views." This brings in the critical model because students are scrutinizing how viewpoints can be manipulated by the media, or the voice of the dominant group in Australia. In Year 9 students again have the opportunity to explore this model of civic education. Students will "recognise that acts of racism and prejudice constitute discrimination and participate in appropriate ways to prevent or counter these." The action in this statement is most significant and brings in the critical model because students are going to look at how to prevent oppression and marginalization. It seeks to transform citizens, making them more critical citizens, which is important in a democracy.

While all four models of civic education can be found in the Standards, they are largely based on the liberal and republican models. What I find mostly lacking from the Standards is a critical look at the Australian government. There is not room for students to explore or critique how their government worked against the aborigines for so long. Additionally, while students do study about the aborigines in terms of their past contribution to Australian, their current impact on Australian society is missing. This makes diversity civic education incomplete in this curriculum.

**Main Issues and Challenges** Australia has some obvious issues and challenges to overcome in terms of the civic and citizenship education. What one can learn from Australia is not all negative however. There is an obvious national effort in Australia to make CCE a part of the national curriculum as well as make it relevant and meaningful to students.

Many issues and challenges become apparent through Suzanne Mellor's article, "Insights from formal testing of civics and citizenship learning in Australia." She highlights that student achievement is generally low. No significant gains were noticed between 2004 and 2007 when the study was conducted and the assessments given. As I've alluded to several times earlier, the implementation of civics is variable in schools despite the high caliber resources available. One factor contributing to this is the fact that the Australian government does not make CCE a key learning area, although there is some hope that this will change in the future. Another factor contributing to this is the fact that teachers are uncertain about teaching civics and their instruction is very fragmented. This is somewhat surprising due to the fact that the Discovery Democracy Program implemented much professional development for teachers on civics.

Mellor also finds that a students socio-economic background contributes to a students achievement in CCE.When analyzing parents occupation and student achievement in civics it was found that "...a student whose parent is in the top occupation group, the likely effect of this variance is that they will achieve 40 points higher on the C&C literacy scale than a student whose parent was in the second occupation group" (32-33). Mellor notes that this statistic is also in accordance with other national assessments given in Australia. This is a specific challenge to CCE because schools have a social justice obligation to compensate for students who do not have much knowledge of CCE because of their socio-economic background and this obligation is obviously not met (39). Mellor fails to make any connections between low socio-economic status and aborigines in her article. With much respect to the work that Mellor and others have contributed through the NAP-CC, I find this omission to be a fault in her scholarship.

While Australia has much to overcome in regards to these issues and challenges, there are some positives to be taken away from the current situation of Australia's civics and citizenship education. Through the NAP-CC students indicated that they have learned how to work cooperatively with other students at school. This is an important part of civic education as well as extremely important for a multicultural nation such as Australia (34). While it is hopeful that CCE will become a part of Australia's National Curricula, that is not a reality at present. Mellor notes that until this is a reality, civics will be seen as a secondary subject. Yet this does not mean CCE cannot be improved in school. Her research specifically shows how schools can improve their CCE without making changes to the curricula. Actively encouraging engagement in civic activities in school is an excellent way to promote more achievement in CCE. She cites many ways that school governance can be used to meet this end in schools (35). Examples can range from voting for class representatives to discussing politics and current events in class.

I believe Australia is on the right track with //The Statement of Learning for Civics and Citizenship// as well. While they are not mandated by the Australian government yet they seem to be very succinct and teachers and school districts can begin incorporating them in their curricula. Australia also has a host of information and resources available to teachers on civic education.

**Resources**

Country Overview
Australian Government. About Australia. http://australia.gov.au/about-australia CIA: The World Factbook. https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/as.html

Context
Australian Curriculum, The. http://www.australiancurriculum.edu.au/Home Australian Government. Overview. http://www.deewr.gov.au/Schooling/Pages/overview.aspx Mellor, Suzanne. (2010). Insights from formal testing of civics and citizenship learning in Australia//. Citizenship Teaching and Learning//. 6(1), 25-42.

Subject Content Standards
Australian Government. Civics: Statements of Learning for Civics and Citizenship. http://www.civicsandcitizenship.edu.au/cce/national_statements_of_learning,8990.html

Materials
Australian Broadcasting Corporation. The Common Good: Civics and Citizenship Education. http://www.abc.net.au/civics/ Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Curriculum Resources. http://www.abc.net.au/civics/democracy/curric/default.htm Australian Government. Australian Citizenship: Resources for Schools. http://www.citizenship.gov.au/learn/schools/ Australian Government. Civics: Statements of Learning for Civics and Citizenship. http://www.civicsandcitizenship.edu.au/cce/national_statements_of_learning,8990.html

Nature of Curriculum
Australian Government. Civics: Statements of Learning for Civics and Citizenship. http://www.civicsandcitizenship.edu.au/cce/national_statements_of_learning,8990.html Mellor, Suzanne. (2010). Insights from formal testing of civics and citizenship learning in Australia//. Citizenship Teaching and Learning//. 6(1), 25-42.

Main Issues and Challenges
Australian Government. Civics: Statements of Learning for Civics and Citizenship. http://www.civicsandcitizenship.edu.au/cce/national_statements_of_learning,8990.html Mellor, Suzanne. (2010). Insights from formal testing of civics and citizenship learning in Australia//. Citizenship Teaching and Learning//. 6(1), 25-42. the educational system