On this page: Talkback Classroom 2003 | PEO reaps rich harvest in wheatbelt | Queensland teachers visit Parliament House | My Cockatoo Island home | Parliament of Wizards
Profiler Newsletter Issue 4: June 2003
From May 2002 to November 2004, the PEO produced a regular newsletter called Profiler. This publication has now ceased, but archived articles will continue to be made available here.
Articles on this page are in text only and are suitable for printing. The downloadable PDF version contains photographs.
Download Profiler Newsletter Issue 4: June 2003 [PDF 79KB]
Director's cut
It’s that time of the year when, as director of the Parliamentary Education Office, my thoughts turn to the next year. “But wait a minute!” I hear you say “It’s only May. How can you be thinking about the next year?” Well of course there are a number of types of new years, but the ones that affect us in the PEO are the calendar and financial years.
During the planning of the financial year, we decide on our program priorities and the funding of these programs during 2003/2004. As a team, we have spent some considerable time planning a busy and targeted set of programs for the new financial year. Even with cost pressures, we plan to continue to provide a wide range of programs covering schools, TAFEs, universities and community groups across Australia. We are pleased with a task well done.
Turning to the calendar year, already in the first half of 2003 we have criss-crossed Australia.
In this edition of PEO Profiler, we take a good look at how two PEO team members, John Studholme and Debbie Parish, worked with teachers and students in a number of regions throughout Western Australia.
An innovative project produced by the PEO is Cockatoo Island, a quite different approach to the teaching of citizenship and the challenges of living in a diverse society where everyone has rights and responsibilities. This teaching resource is pitched at Years 2, 3 and 4 and introduces young students to potentially difficult concepts. Ali Garnett, along with her colleague Kaye Kessing, joined forces to tackle this challenge. Ali's and Kaye's labour of love over a number of years culminates in the launch of their superb teaching resource in Parliament House this month.
Mary Fahey, program manager of the very popular Talkback Classroom, gives us an overview of the unique program which allows young Australian students an amazing opportunity to interview significant leaders of our community. Geoff Clarke reports on a highly successful fellowship program for six teachers and community leaders from the Lowood area near Ipswich in South East Queensland.
I hope you enjoy this edition of PEO Profiler.
Ann Owner
Director, Parliamentary Education Office
Talkback Classroom 2003
Talkback Classroom, a program jointly sponsored by the Parliamentary Education Office, the ABC and the National Museum of Australia, has been an important and highly regarded part of the PEO’s commitment to giving young people a voice for many years. Like any long-running program, Talkback Classroom has gradually evolved into its present format of a very successful television program broadcast on Fly TV (ABCdigital).
TBC provides senior secondary students with the opportunity to engage in serious investigation and discussion with key decision makers on a range of issues that are important to their lives and which are of national significance. Students from every state and territory can apply to be on the interview panel. For the student panellists selected for the program it is both a challenging and thrilling experience.
During the first half of 2003, students will have the opportunity to interview the following people:
- Minister for Defence, Senator the Hon. Robert Hill
- Leader of the Government in the Senate
- Prime Minister, the Hon. John Howard MP
- Minister for Education Science and Training
- the Hon. Dr Brendan Nelson MP
- Senator Bob Brown, Australian Greens
If past performance is any indicator we can be guaranteed that the interview panel members will bring their own energetic and refreshing points of view to the fore. These panellists research specific topics of interest, undergo briefing sessions from Parliament House staff and other visiting experts, and gain a working background in interview techniques used by the media. As well as the interview panellists, students from the local area form a discussion panel which precedes each interview. This panel ‘warms up’ the live audience in what is a very real media experience recorded in the National Museum of Australia’s studio.
The PEO is currently planning TBC for the second half of 2003. Interested students can apply to be on the interview or discussion panels through the Fly TV website, the PEO (email: info@peo.gov.au) or the NMA (email: erproductions@bigpond.com.au). Students interested in applying for the Semester 2 workshop need to apply by 19 July. The workshop will be held in Canberra from Saturday 9 August to Tuesday 12 August.
-Mary Fahey and Jane Teasey
PEO reaps rich harvest in wheatbelt
In 2002 the Parliamentary Education Office visited the WA South Coast area and found that there was considerable interest and demand for PEO programs amongst schools in the wheatbelt region. Schools in this remote area are very appreciative of the efforts made to bring resources to their classrooms.
For one week in April, PEO educators Deb Parish and John Studholme travelled 1500kms to conduct programs in nine schools. Their itinerary included primary and district high schools in Lake Grace, Newdegate, Pingrup, Gnowangerup, Ongerup, Kondinin, Kulin, Karlgarin, and Hyden. Each class participated in an extended version of the House of Representatives role-play. A Bill specially written for remote country districts,‘The Wildlife Export Bill’, was the subject for debate. Additional time was made available in all schools for giving guidance and advice to teachers on how to incorporate more parliamentary democracy activities into their classrooms.
At all schools, the level of anticipation and preparation for the PEO visit was high. This included each group creating their own mace for the House of Representatives role-play. As a result of the enthusiasm about the program, many schools are now determined to find ways to make the long journey east to Parliament House in Canberra.
-John Studholme
Queensland teachers visit Parliament House
Lowood Fellowships program 2003
The PEO often works with local groups of educators and community leaders to raise the profile of parliament and democratic activities. Six educators from Lowood and Laidley, northwest of Ipswich (Queensland), visited Parliament House during late March to deepen their knowledge of what they had read in text books and newspapers and seen on TV. Not surprisingly, they found the real life even more interesting!
The three educators from Lowood State High School included Leon Steinhardt, Nicole Lusk and Karen Raabe. Leon is the Head of Social Science at Lowood and was the national winner in the secondary teacher category of the 2002 Discovering Democracy Awards. Shane Browne, the Program Leader and community educator at the Shopfront and Community Hub, completed the Lowood team.
Also in the team were Katrina Birch from nearby Laidley State High School and Rosalie Shawcross who is the Senior Project Officer for the Discovering Democracy Project Queensland.
During their week in Parliament House the team watched, at close quarters, the many activities of parliament. They discussed the work of the Speaker of the House of Representatives with the Hon Neil Andrew MP, and the President of the Senate, Senator the Hon Paul Calvert. Senator Jennie Ferris, the Government Whip, amazed them with her many stories of how she organises the daily activities of the Senate and the senators in her charge!
The Lowood-Laidley team began to understand that parliament consists of a diverse group of informed and hard working people who actually enjoy their work and are dedicated to achieving benefits for the people they represent. Direct evidence of this was their meeting with their local member, Mr Cameron Thompson MP (Member for Blair) and Senator Claire Moore (Senator for Queensland), and the planning they made for future programs with their representatives in the Lowood and Laidley areas later in the year.
-Geoff Clarke
My Cockatoo Island home
The PEO is delighted to launch a wonderful new resource for very young citizens. Cockatoo Island is an imaginary world run by a parliament of Australian birds. It is an exciting and superb teaching pack which includes a shared book and teacher’s guide for each title within the series. At the launch, students from three schools will be conducting a colourful and somewhat noisy session of parliament and performing the Cockatoo Island Parliament Rap! All senators and members have been invited to the launch of Cockatoo Island in Parliament House on Wednesday 16 June 2003.
Schools can order Cockatoo Island from the Cengage Learning website.
-Ali Garnett
Read more about Cockatoo Island.
Parliament of Wizards
They gather in the marble foyer of Parliament House. They don’t know each other, or what to expect. The atmosphere is mixed – hushed, excited, expectant, unsure. They are students, gifted and talented, from a range of local primary schools. Before the end of this session they will create their own unique parliament of wizards. But how?
Well, every parliament needs a well thought out Constitution. (How are decisions made in this land?) A set of Standing Orders will guide chamber behaviour. (Are owls or magic allowed in the chamber?) A set of portfolios will surely help distribute the huge task of governing the wizard land. (Who is the Minister responsible for Magical Creatures?) And about that land… (Where is it, what does it look like and what is it called?) Finally what are the national symbols? (Perhaps a flag or a mace or a fierce dragon called Princess?) After all anything is possible. And so it is: welcome to the Parliament of Wizards!
So it’s off to the wizards’ chamber. The Minister for Magical Transport is about to introduce the Broomstick Regulation Bill. The Bill is read a first time and then the second reading debate begins. Positions are stated, explained and the Bill is agreed to, in principle. The Bill is read a second time. Wizards don’t forget you have other work to do. Hop on your broomsticks and head back to school!
The wizards assemble and consideration in detail begins. Bit by bit, clause upon clause, the details of the Broomstick Regulation Bill are discussed, amended and voted on. The Minister for Magical Transport defends the clause which states that ‘Wizards may try for a licence of a full-speed broom at the age of 15’. However, the Minister for Sport argues that exceptions for wizard athletes should be made. Then the Minister for Youth Affairs defends the rights of young wizards to ride full-speed brooms at any such time as they are shown capable. Time is short. There is other parliamentary business to be conducted. A decision must be made, and so a vote is taken on the Bill, as amended.
Whether or not it passes or fails is beside the point. During this program, the structures and processes of federal Parliament have been practised. Students, who have not known each other before, have come to know each other and feel accepted. They have engaged with a deep learning experience that explores the very meaning of democracy. They are on their way to becoming Austn
14-Jul-2008