2006 news from the PEO
September 2006
Interest rates high: students attend Reserve Bank hearing
The room was full—not one spare seat! The occasion was the public hearing between the Governor of the Reserve Bank of Australia, Ian Macfarlane (and senior officials) and the House of Representatives Economics Committee.
The Parliamentary Education Office (PEO) coordinated the involvement of over 200 senior economics students and their teachers from the Sydney region. Members of the public and a large media contingent were also in attendance. Five promising economists, all from different schools, were able to get closer than most senior economists to ask the Governor a question. One teacher quietly mentioned that his students all watched the news that night, rather than The Simpsons!
Students from East Hills Girls Technology High School pictured with Bruce Baird—committee chair (left) the Governor (centre) and their teacher (right).
Students from East Hills Girls Technology High School noted in an article for their newsletter that they found the hearing to be ‘an excellent opportunity to enhance their economic understanding of the inner workings of the Reserve Bank’ including its role in managing the Australian economy. They also noted that ‘the practical information allowed students to extend their knowledge well beyond the text book theory’ and that ‘gaining access to the Governor was considered a prestigious and highly educational experience.’
This was an historic occasion—the last official appearance of Mr Macfarlane as the Governor of the Reserve Bank prior to his retirement. One committee member payed tribute in an amusing if slightly unorthodox way: He said ‘You [are] the Yogi Bear of central banking: you are smarter than the average bear and you have not made any boo-boos.’
Hearings between the Reserve Bank and the House of Representatives committee occur twice a year. The hearings are an opportunity for the federal Parliament and the Australian financial sector to monitor the Bank’s management of inflation and monetary policy. This year the committee was particularly interested in recent interest rate rises and their underlying cause.
A complete transcript of the hearing, including students’ contributions can be downloaded at http://www.aph.gov.au/hansard/reps/commttee/R9522.pdf [PDF file, new window].
The PEO actively encourages the participation of teachers, students and interested members of the community in the development of this website. If you have a story, photograph, piece of news or a bright idea to share, we want to hear from you!
July 2006
Masterly mace machinations!
Making a mace for a class parliament is fast becoming Australia’s latest craze … well not quite the latest craze but it is an assignment that students are embracing with enthusiasm and innovation!
In many schools across Australia students are learning about our parliamentary democracy by creating their own school parliaments. Students become members of parliament and role-play the cut and thrust of parliamentary debate; the anxiety and tension of a committee of inquiry and the bravado and excitement of Question Time. The contested issues may be real or imagined; national or parochial; generated by students or taken from the curricula. Whatever the particular circumstance, making a mace enhances this parliamentary experience.
Rutherglen Primary School students with their mace
Assisted by educators from the Parliamentary Education Office (PEO), year six students from Rutherglen Primary School organised a competition to make a mace for their school parliament. The Serjeant-at-Arms was given the honour of choosing the winning mace from a number of excellent entries and this mace was used for the first session of the parliament. The other maces were held in reserve for future parliaments.
In country Western Australia smaller schools met the visiting PEO presenters at the school gate with their hand-made maces in preparation for their program about parliament.
At the University of Tasmania in Launceston, fourth year pre-service teachers made a mace for their role-play on parliament as part of a special unit called Acting Democratically. They later arranged for students in their host school to do the same in preparation for their internship program.
The PEO actively encourages the participation of teachers, students and interested members of the community in the development of this website. If you have a story, photograph, piece of news or perhaps an image of a mace that has been made for your parliament, we are keen to share it with viewers of this page.
Parliamentary Educators Conference 2005
Parliamentary educators representing the nation as a whole, New Zealand and each Australian state and territory, meet annually for the Parliamentary Educators Conference. This year the conference was hosted by the Parliamentary Education Office (PEO) in Canberra and focused on parliamentary education and its relationship to the curriculum and Australasian parliaments and clients.
One of the highlights of the conference was sharing new and in the pipeline learning resources, strategies and programs. It would seem that this small but dedicated group of professionals has been busy! These new initiatives include:
- a number of CDs and DVDs dealing with parliamentary themes
- parliamentary activity books, posters and fact sheets
- several youth initiatives including dedicated websites, lesson plans, forums and parliaments
- new ways of reaching audiences including outreach programs, travelling exhibitions and interschool parliamentary debates
- a totally redeveloped PEO website, including an interactive subsite, due for launch in October this year.
Other aspects of the parliamentary educator’s work was discussed, including how to apply new theories of learning to parliamentary education, strategies to maintain contact with clients and ways to address confusion about parliamentary democracy and politics and three levels of government (a misleading title in itself). At the end of the conference, the educators returned to their offices full of optimism for the year ahead.
The PEO actively encourages the participation of teachers, students and interested members of the community in the development of this website. If you have a story, photograph, piece of news or a bright idea to share, we want to hear from you!
For more information, or to discuss a contribution please contact the PEO by phone, email or fax.
Ph: 02 6277 3147 or 02 6277 3508
Fax: 02 6277 5775
Email: info@peo.gov.au