Australian Constitution Worksheet

[Kerby Kolpack]

Showstudents a copy of the Australian Constitution and ascertain their prior knowledge by asking what they know about the Constitution and what the Constitution does. Show the PEO The Constitution video (2 min 26 sec) and ask students to note the answers to the following questions while watching:

Distribute WS1 Power-sharing. Tell students that the Australian Constitution explains how power is shared in Australia. Small groups will research an aspect of this power-sharing arrangement and present their findings as a poster. Students will need to research the following topics:

As each group presents their poster and explains the feature they researched, ask the other students to note 3-5 points from each presentation to help them remember the key features of the Australian Constitution.

This research task can be used as an assessable portfolio item for this Unit of work. The task, together with the other suggested portfolio assessment items, align with the achievement standard of the Year 7 Australian Civics and Citizenship Curriculum, including the skills component. Teachers should use the curriculum content descriptions to develop an appropriate marking criterion and rubric.

The information brochure developed by students as part of the Hold a Referendum Classroom activity can be used as an assessable item for this unit. Students will develop an information brochure that demonstrates an understanding of constitutional change and uses information from a variety of sources to present a persuasive argument. This task forms part of a portfolio of items that together align with the achievement standard of the Year 7 Australian Civics and Citizenship Curriculum, including the skills component. Teachers will need to develop an appropriate marking criterion and rubric.

Give each student a copy of WS3 Inside the courts. Ask students to read the definitions of criminal and civil law, and then list 5 types of civil law cases and 5 types of criminal law cases. Ask students to annotate the drawing of a court room and correctly label the features and people.

Show the NSW Law Society What rights do you have when under arrest? video (4 min 14 sec). You may prefer to source an equivalent video from your own jurisdiction or use the NSW video as a point of comparison with the rights in your state/territory. Ensure students understand that in Australia there is a presumption of innocence until a court has proven guilt. Our legal system provides support to citizens who are arrested in order to provide equity and justice. Discuss with students why the presumption of innocence is important in a democratic system.

Alternatively you can distribute the what to do if charged with a criminal offence information sheet from the Frances Burt Law Education Programme. Students in states other than Western Australia can use the sheet as a guide to researching equivalent information about where they can get legal advice in their own state/territory.

Use the Australian Constitution online website to show students section 116. Discuss the meaning of the section, distribute WS4 A secular and multi-faith society and read the definitions of secular and multi-faith. Then ask students to complete the worksheet and share some of the examples they have listed with the whole class.

The PEO acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of Country throughout Australia and theircontinuing education of and connection to lands, cultures and communities. We pay our respects to Elders past and present.

The Constitutional Centre of Western Australia offers a diverse range of free, in person, educational programs for students from Year 4 to Year 9, all of which are linked to the WA Curriculum Civics and Citizenship outcomes. Information on each of these programs is available below, along with additional resources such as worksheets and lesson plans.

A series of online learning programs are also available to support those who are unable to attend the Centre in person. These programs are designed for students in Year 1 to Year 9 but can be adapted for other year groups and are also available for anyone keen to learn more about our democratic system of government.

These online programs have been designed to work well with a wide range of classroom and home-based technologies. While they are best suited to the age group mentioned in the program descriptions below, all online programs can be adapted to suit both younger and older students.

Through the use of storytelling and puppets, this program introduces students to the imaginary town of Parkesville and its inhabitants and discusses the concept of rules required to write a constitution, and the democratic process of voting to elect representatives. (EYLF Outcome 2; ACHASSK070; ACHASSK071)

A 60-minute excursion - through a class discussion, students will discover the differences and similarities between rules and laws and the role they both play in keeping people safe and maintaining order in our communities. The program culminates with students playing a game of bingo to consolidate their learning and reinforcing the need for rules and laws. (ACHASSK092).

A 75-minute excursion - through group discussion and small group activities, students will study key features of the Australian Constitution and discover the requirements and process for undertaking a referendum. Students will examine previous attempts to change the Constitution including the successful 1967 referendum and the unsuccessful vote on the Establishment of a Republic held in 1999. The program culminates with students participating in a referendum vote and count. (ACHCK049)

The Government of Western Australia acknowledges the traditional custodians throughout Western Australia and their continuing connection to the land, waters and community. We pay our respects to all members of the Aboriginal communities and their cultures; and to Elders both past and present.

We were married in early 1972 and with no jobs in Marine Biology anywhere, I decided to do a Dip Ed - sound familar? Why not, I'll try teaching for a year and wait for a job as a marine biologist to come up.

Paula had to resign when our first child was born and was given back exactly the amount of superannuation she had deducted from her salary. With that we sent shopping and bought some furniture and a dining room table from a second-hand store in Woolangabba. $15 - you beauty, paid cash, only to find it had a hole under the price tag. I guess when you are 21 you learn the hard way. We inherited an old bassinet and Paula's wedding veil was used for a mosquito net.

We lived under a house in St Lucia so I could walk to uni and Paula could have the car until our first child was born. A $30 a week teaching scholarship gave us $15 for rent and $15 for food and baby supplies (thank goodness for grandparents). I managed to get some old single beds from somewhere, only problem was they were different heights and one would crash into the other when you rolled over at night.

For extra cash, my father gave me his old mower and I had a small mowing business in St Lucia and Indooroopilly and on vacation I worked as a builder's labourer and steel fixer on the South East freeway and Captain Cook bridge. Hard long days, great pay at $5 per hour but you never got the rust from the steel off your skin and Paula ended up throwing away our sheets at the end of the year.

You never had to lock your car or house and everyone knew what everyone was doing without any facebook or instagram. One time we were both really sick. My neighbour had found out by 7am and rang the school. Within half an hour someone else appreared at the door, took the washing and at about 3.30 the Deputy Principal's wife dropped by to see if you were ok. A casserole would appear about 4.30 along with the ironed washing - that was door dash in the 1970's.

Another time the school was short of an accounting teacher and I told the Principal Paula had taught accounting at Beenleigh, so he immediately got in his car and drove around to see her. Only thing was he ran into her in the main street, offered her a part time job, had arranged for child minding and had reorganised the timetable geared for breast feeding.

Paula supported me in every-way possible, while she completed her arts degree externally. In those days your assignment reference books took two weeks to come by snail mail and you sat your exams in the local church hall.

A salary for a third-year science teacher in those days was about $2,200 per year and with 2 kids now under 3 we needed a better salary. The position of science subject master had just been gazetted and was offering a starting salary of $4,400. So after 3 years of teaching and being involved in just about everything, I got my promotion to Gladstone - a town I later found out had no applications (!).

At the time, the Government owned the railways and so all teachers got moved by rail. So from Kingaroy our humble furniture was loaded at Kingaroy, then to a rail junction at Miriam Vale where it waited 5 days till another train could pick it up for Gladstone.

We were very lucky to be able to rent a housing commission house at Toolooa Estate because we were a married couple with children, so we got priority. No phone to the estate and so we all shared a phone box at the end of the street.

It was cyclone season and we arrived just as one was approaching the coast, so finally when our furniture arrived we tied it all up with builders plastic in the lounge room, got out the camping stove and esky, filled the bath with water and hoped Q build had used cyclone bolts in the house.

The school had over 1200 students, 5 principals in as many years, rows and rows of temporary buildings and was built on a dust bowl carved out conglomerate. But it had a commonwealth science block and a lab assistant.

My science staff were either in their first, second or their third years making me the most experienced! At the end of the previous year I went up early to the staff break up and was given the "Moses Award" so as to lead the Science Staff into the promised land as they had been without a subject master for 2 years. Staff parties and weekend trips were great and if you had a birthday you had to put on a keg at the local pub, so we all bonded really well.

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