Case study: Cultural Understanding and Racism Education
THE TEAM
Eltham High School’s Teaching and Learning Team (TLT) are a student focus group whose role is to promote student voice and agency across the school. They aim to improve student learning experiences in class and narrow the gap between students and students.
THE PROJECT
The TLT developed a unit on cultural understanding and racism and delivered the unit to every year 8 class.
Students had identified that a unit on racism hadn’t been part of their curriculum and they felt that they haven't had opportunities to learn about and reflect on cultural understanding and racism. The TLT’s goals were for students to build a better understanding of this prevalent issue in society and be more aware of their actions and their impact towards others.
The TLT members researched current resources, articles and videos on cultural understanding and racism and then generated lesson ideas which were tested on their peers. They collaborated with a range of students and teachers to create their final unit content.
You can download the resources the students created and used below!
THE CULTURAL UNDERSTANDING AND RACISM UNIT
The unit started with a presentation covering different types of racism with Adam Goode’s interview used to spark discussion and reflection.
Students were then required to create a one-minute video to educate others on racism and enable them to develop empathy towards others from different cultural backgrounds. The video project is a competition to be able to celebrate the video which conveys the most powerful message as chosen by the students. The TLT members prepared instructions, criteria, and resources for the video project.
After the video competition, a reflection session is run to wrap up the unit and a survey is sent out to collect feedback to improve.
THE IMPACT
The TLT were very pleased to receive encouraging feedback from their fellow students and teachers. Students reported that their thinking was challenged by the unit and teachers commented how inspired and empowered students were by the discussions.
The calibre of videos created from the unit confirmed the impact the unit had on the participating students.
This case study is drawn from VicSRC's Student Voice Awards, an annual celebration of best practice student voice, amplifying the important contribution of students to Victorian education and acting as a catalyst for change within Victorian schools.