DISCOVERING DEMOCRACY UNIT

QUEENSLAND AND VICTORIAN SOSE OUTCOMES

LINKS TO CURRENT TOPICS/PROGRAMS AND ADDITIONAL RESOURCES

1. What sort of nation has Australia been? What sort of nation is it today?

Australian identity – yesterday and today

2. How has immigration shaped the kind of nation we are?

The make-up of Australia’s population: Interpreting data

Australia’s immigration policies

Marketing an immigration policy

Your class population

Advice for new immigrants to Australia

Assimilation to multiculturalism

Conditions of citizenship

Essential values

3. How do economic factors shape and reflect the kind of nation we are?

Changes to the economy – good or bad?

Changes to the workforce

Careers teacher

Education and work

Types of work

Jobs and their value

Controlling the market

Should the same laws and regulations apply to all workplaces?

International trade

Trade and work

4. What responsibilities do individuals, communities and governments have for the welfare of Australian citizens?

Income distribution

Social security – different kinds

What are the government’s responsibilities?

An international comparison

Budget simulation

Debate

5. What kind of country do we want Australia to ber?

What do you value?

The unit begins with a number of ‘images’ of Australia. Examples include Aboriginal art, extracts from speeches, poetry, early Australian art, drawings and photographs.

Students then interpret data to decide how immigration has helped shape the type of nation Australia is today, and then analyse articles on immigration policies. Students investigate the difference between assimilation and multiculturalism.

The next section uses statistics and stimulus material to analyse the economic factors that shape the nation. The unit concludes with the question ‘What responsibilities do individuals, communities and governments have for the welfare of Australian citizens?’

Teacher should appreciate having the illustrations and questions for students to reflect on their own and others ideas of Australia as a nation.

TCC6.1

Students evaluate evidence from the past to demonstrate how such accounts reflect the culture in which they were constructed.

TCC6.3

Students collaboratively identify the values underlying contributions by diverse individuals and groups in Australian or Asian

environments.

TCC6.5

Students develop criteria-based judgments about the ethical behaviour of people in the past.

TCCBY6.1

Students evaluate evidence of the ways in which their personal history and the history of others have been constructed.

TCCBY6.2

Students produce or perform an account that links their own histories and those of others.

PS6.4

Students use maps, tables and statistical data to express predictions about the impact of change on environments.

PS BY6.4

Students use maps and graphs that interpret data to suggest links between geographic features of places and changes occurring within these places.

CI6.2

Students develop a proposal to promote a socially just response to perceptions of culture associated with a current issue.

CI6.4

Students describe specific instances of cultural change resulting from government legislation or policies that have impacted on other cultural groups.

CIBY6.1

Students use surveys and structured interviews to analyse community attitudes towards cultural diversity.

SRP6.2

Students make practical suggestions for improving productivity and working conditions in an industry or business.

SRPBY 6.4

Students propose changes to economic, political or legal systems to make them more democratic and socially just.

SRP6.5

Student suggests solutions to problems involving inequitable distribution of power and resources in a global context.

TCC5.2

Students represent situations both before and after a period of rapid change.

TCC5.3

Students collaborate to locate and systematically record information about the contributions of people in diverse past settings.

PS5.4

Students use maps, diagrams and statistics to justify placing value on environments in Australia and the Asia-Pacific region.

CI5.3

Students share their sense of belonging to a group to analyse cultural aspects that construct their identities.

CI5.4

Students describe how governments have caused changes to particular groups.

CI5.5

Students express how dominant and marginalised identities are constructed by influences including the media.

SRP5.1

Students evaluate the relationships between government, economic or ecological systems.

SRP5.3

Students use a structured decision-making process to suggest participatory action regarding a significant current environmental, business, political or legal issue.

Economy and society

• Describe the development of the Australian economy

• Illustrate how local, state, national and international issues, elections and party policy differences influence the development of the economy

6.3 Analyse vocational pathways and education and training requirements to develop possible career paths and work opportunities

• Identify future job opportunities and predicted labour market changes in Australia

5.3 Explain key factors that influence the Australian economy

• Analyse the role and impact of the government, individuals and organisations on economic activity including how they interact to produce, market and consume goods

• Explain the elements of economics and the factors that affect resource use

• Discuss how and why technology and changing community values affect resource use

Budgets

Economics

Work

Statistics

Interrelationship between economic government and legal activity.

Small business studies.

Taxation

• Parliament at Work CD ROM. Budget simulation – play the role of the Treasurer.
• Stories of Democracy CD ROM. Begins with visuals and text on British heritage, and then provides opportunities to investigate immigration debates, women’s political issues, Aboriginal issues, and unemployment. No game.