Schools and Early Childhood
TSEAA supports teachers and members of the community in schools and early childhood centres in Australia and overseas. SEAA offers workshops on practical teaching strategies as well as opportunities to discuss current and future developments in curriculum of interest to social educators at their biennial conference. SEAA is a participant in discussion about, and provides input into, the development of many resources to support social education. Comments and ideas about how we can further support the school and early childhood sector are always welcome.
Some useful links for schools and early childhood practitioners are noted below:
Timor-Leste curriculum units
SEAA helped support the development of some units of work to assist learning about Timor-Leste. Two of the units are aimed at upper primary and two are aimed toward lower secondary so they are very relevant to middle school programs. These units are also available through the Asia Education Foundation website at
http://www.asiaeducation.edu.au
Unit 1: Connecting with Timor-Leste (1.8 MB PDF)Unit 2: Timor-Leste: friends and close neighbours (989 KB PDF)
Unit 3: Timor-Leste: an integrated approach (1.0 MB PDF)
Unit 4: Timor-Leste: future scenarios (691 KB PDF)
Pacific Neighbours Resources
AUSAID, Global Education Project, Curriculum Corporation and Asia Education foundation have worked together to produce a resources to assist us better understand our Pacific neighbours. It is aimed at junior and middle secondary school but it is also a good read for us as teachers to improve our knowledge. There is a hard copy book and a CD but material is also available online for downloading. Also from the website indicated there is a professional training package to help you better understand the ways in which the material can be used and addresses by Professor Stuart Firth on Australia's historical ties with the Pacific and Dr Max Qanchie on Human rights issues associated with the Pacific. This is a great website.
http://www.ozprojects.edu.au/course/view.php?id=138
The Pacific resources are also now available from the Global Education website in a number of ways.
Home Page - click on 'People of the Pacific' in the Global Projects online section (dark blue):
Country Profiles:
Publications (scroll down as it is in alphabetical order):
Professional Learning:
Human Rights in the Classroom
July 5 -12. 2009 is NAIDOC week. Have students consider the future of a National Indigenous Representative Body and what it means for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples
http://www.humanrights.gov.au/social_justice/repbody/index.html
July 9, 2009 is Australian Constitution Day. Find out which rights are protected in the Australian Constitution in the Lets talk about Rights Toolkit for young people
http://www.humanrights.gov.au/letstalkaboutrights/toolkit.html
July 27 - August 2, 2009 is Enrol to Vote week. Why isn't everyone entitled to vote? Find out at
A new resource is available for ESL teachers. It's your Right has a DVD as well as teachers and student workbooks at
http://www.humanrights.gov.au/education/esl/index.html.
There are now more ways to stay in touch with the Australian Human Rights Commission.
Energy Safety Week
Energy Safety Week runs from 3-7 August 2009 and helps students in New South Wales, Victoria, South Australia and Queensland to understand energy and be safe and smart when using gas and electricity in the kitchen. Last year more than 100,000 primary and pre-primary students got involved through their schools. Involvement begins with a free toolkit which teachers can order from the Origin webpage. The toolkit hands on, has strong links to the curriculum, and comes with additional support materials.
More information on Energy Safety Week is available at http://www.originenergy.com.au/esw.
National curriculum initiatives
History
Details of the national history curriculum being developed by the National Curriculum Board are available here.
Geography
Details of the 'Towards a national geography curriculum for Australia' project being undertaken by AGTA, the RGSQ and IAG are available here.
Response to the national curriculum initiatives by SEAA is available here here
Response to the National curriculum initiatives by The Asia Education Foundation is available here
National Seminar on the Teaching and Learning of History: Teaching Asian History in Australia
View the workshop presentation titled 'The challenges involved in establishing on-line investigations of history and culture' presented 20-21 November 2006 by Dr Libby Tudball, Monash University here (158 KB PDF).
AFSSSE Australia-China project
Beijing 2008 Olympic Games
An exciting set of resources has been produced by AFSSSE to support teaching about the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games. Four units for environment education, history and culture, economics and business, and geography are available now. With the Olympic Games to be held in China in 2008, these resources can be used to build a better understanding of China and promote mutual understanding between Australia and China. The resource includes inquiry-based activities and resources enabling students in the middle years of schooling (Years 7-10) to develop a positive image of China and explore Australia’s relations with China.
Download all four units here. (1.18 MB Acrobat file) or download individual units from the links below.
- Economics/Business unit (63 KB Acrobat file)
- Environment unit (352 KB Acrobat file)
- Geography unit (705 KB Acrobat file)
- Historical and cultural unit (328 KB Acrobat file)
Educating for a Sustainable Future
A National Environmental Education Statement for Australian Schools
Educating for a Sustainable Future - A National Environmental Education Statement for Australian Schools provides a nationally agreed description of the nature and purpose of environmental education for sustainability through all years of schooling, including a vision and a framework for its implementation. It is intended for teachers, schools and their communities, education systems and developers of curriculum materials. It is also intended as a companion to existing State and Territory polices and programmes and does not replace them. Download the statement as a PDF document here.
For more cuyrrent resources visit the AFSSSE web site
http://www.afssse.asn.au/index.htm
