01 - Department of Education and Communities - NSW Government
01 - Department of Education and Communities - NSW Government
01 - Department of Education and Communities - NSW Government
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GETTING THE FOUNDATION RIGHTCITIZENSHIP AND CIVICSPreparestudents torecognise theirrights <strong>and</strong>responsibilitiesas citizens <strong>and</strong>promotegreaterawareness <strong>of</strong>the elements<strong>of</strong> goodcitizenship.Improving levels <strong>of</strong>civic knowledgeThe Civics <strong>Education</strong> Group wasappointed to extend the work <strong>of</strong> theCivics Expert Group with the aim<strong>of</strong> boosting the study <strong>of</strong> civics <strong>and</strong>citizenship in schools.The Discovering Democracyprogram was released in May <strong>and</strong>aims to teach students in depthabout Australian history <strong>and</strong>political <strong>and</strong> legal institutions withthe cooperation <strong>of</strong> states <strong>and</strong>territories.Discovering Democracy isprovided for students from Year 4to Year 10. The program willinclude four main themes:• the Principles <strong>of</strong> Democracy –where students study theorigins <strong>and</strong> principles <strong>of</strong>democracy <strong>and</strong> analysevarious systems <strong>of</strong>government• the <strong>Government</strong> in Australia –where students consider therole <strong>of</strong> the state <strong>and</strong>Commonwealth parliaments,the executive <strong>and</strong> the judiciary• the Australian Nation – wherestudents learn about the ideas,events <strong>and</strong> movements whichhave defined civic society inAustralia• Citizenship – where studentscan investigate the framework<strong>of</strong> laws, rights <strong>and</strong> civicresponsibilities which providea context <strong>of</strong> civic society inAustralia.Over the next four years, a total <strong>of</strong>$17.5m will be allocated on anational basis to raise the levels <strong>of</strong>civic knowledge <strong>of</strong> students.This will involve the four sectors<strong>of</strong> education: schools, highereducation, vocational education<strong>and</strong> training <strong>and</strong> adult <strong>and</strong>community education.Student achievement incivics <strong>and</strong> citizenshipeducationThe <strong>NSW</strong> DSE, the <strong>NSW</strong> Board <strong>of</strong>Studies <strong>and</strong> the University <strong>of</strong>Sydney are working together on theCivics <strong>and</strong> Citizenship <strong>Education</strong>Benchmarking Project, a researchproject to establish descriptions <strong>of</strong>student achievement in civics <strong>and</strong>citizenship education at the end <strong>of</strong>Years 6, 10 <strong>and</strong> 12.Consultation occurred witheducation <strong>and</strong> communityorganisations interested in civics<strong>and</strong> citizenship education. Afirst draft <strong>of</strong> the benchmarkswas prepared <strong>and</strong> circulated tothe consultative group. Thebenchmarks were trialled inschools in 1997. From the trials,work samples were collected toillustrate the st<strong>and</strong>ard <strong>of</strong> eachbenchmark.The next stage <strong>of</strong> the project is tocollect further work samples fromtrialling <strong>and</strong> to include examples ina second edition <strong>of</strong> the benchmarks.During 1998, a number <strong>of</strong> casestudies <strong>of</strong> implementation will bedocumented <strong>and</strong> work on theassessment instruments will begin.28 DSE Annual Report 1997
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