Civics and citizenship course, a nation leader, for South Australian public schools to stop falling democracy trust
The civics and citizenship course to be introduced into South Australian public schools aims to stop the falling trust in democracy.
All years 7 and 8 South Australian public school students would study civics and citizenship for an hour per week as part of a nation-leading civics education programme announced by the state government in 2024.
The South Australian government said that civics would be overhauled in public schools with an $18.4 million investment to stop falling trust in democracy. The goal was to make South Australia the first state with a specialist civics teacher in all B-12 classrooms.
The national education curriculum mandated the teaching civics as part of the years 3-8 curricula. This included learning about the role of the public service and other government institutions.
Specific changes in South Australia, besides the hour of civics and citizenship lessons for year 7 and 8 students, would include:
- Every subject in years 9 and 10 to have civics and citizenship incorporated into it.
- Public schools to be supported to introduce students to school-based democratic opportunities.
- All public school students to participate in an annual three-day active citizenship convention, starting in 2025, putting their education into practice
Specialist civics training for existing humanities and social sciences teachers would take up the most of the $18.4 million government funding for the civics and citizenship course.
South Australian government education minister Blair Boyer said the reforms would better prepare South Australians to combat misinformation: “Things really start to unravel when people think there’s no point in engaging in government or politics in any way.”
The misinformation environment during the 2023 Voice to Parliament referendum started a national conversation about civics education. Data from the national assessment programme on civics and citizenship showed that in 2019 just 38% of Year 10 students and 53% of Year 6 students achieved the proficient standard.
