Human Rights Education in the Australian School Curriculum*
Nina Burridge, Andrew Chodkiewicz, Anne Maree Payne, Susan Oguro, Sally Varnham
and John Buchanan**I

n Australia a number of initiatives - the National Consultation on
Human Rights (nhrccc, 2009) and the Australian Human Rights
Framework (2010) - have acknowledged the importance of supporting
education about human rights in schools. The Framework:
encompasses a comprehensive suite of education initiatives toensure all Australians are able to access information on humanrights. This includes the development of human rights education programs for primary and secondary schools, the community and for the Commonwealth public sector (Commonwealthof Australia, 2010: 7).
In an address to New South Wales (nsw) teachers in 2009, prominenthuman rights barrister Geoffrey Robertson argued strongly for the importance of human rights education:…. they [human rights] serve to show that privilege is an anachronism, that dogma is destructive, that freedom is a birthrightand discrimination is a wrong that should never be suffered(Robertson, 2009)*This is a slightly edited excerpt of the 2013 research report by the same authors entitledHuman Rights Education in the School Curriculum, published by the Faculty of Arts and Social
Sciences, Cosmopolitan Civil Societies Research Centre, Sydney, Australia. For the full report,
go to this url: http://cfsites1.uts.edu.au/ccs/news/details.cfm?ItemId=35498.
**Assoc Prof Nina Burridge, School of Education, Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences andDirector of the Cosmopolitan Civil Societies Research Centre, University of Technology,
Sydney (uts)
Mr Andrew Chodkiewicz, Senior Researcher, Faculty of Arts and Social Science, uts
Assoc Prof John Buchanan, School of Education, Faculty of Arts and Social Science, uts
Prof Sally Varnham, Faculty of Law, uts
Ms Susan Oguro, PhD, School of International Studies, Faculty of Arts and Social Science,uts
Ms Anne Maree Payne, Researcher, Faculty of Arts and Social Science, uts.

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The Australian Human Rights Commission (ahrc) in its own position
paper noted that the goals of human rights education should include theacquisition of knowledge and skills about human rights; the development ofrespectful attitudes and changed behavior that reflects human rights values;
and the motivation of social action and empowerment of active citizenshipto advance respect for the rights of all (ahrc, 2010). Given the national andinternational developments in human rights education, there is an opportunity to meet Australia’s international obligations under the United Nations
Declaration of Human Rights Education and Training to build a culture ofrights in our schools as well as in the wider community, engendering respect
for individual and collective rights and encouraging collaborations between
schools and civic bodies that enhance social cohesion in our neighborhoods.
Now is a timely opportunity to expand our teaching and teacher training efforts to establish human rights education as an integral part of school
curriculum programs across the nation. What has been lacking is a comprehensive overview of what is contained in the curriculum in each state andterritory and in the available national technologies and materials to support
teaching about human rights.
State and Territory and Australian Curriculum documents were analyzed, using a conceptual framework that focused on the extent to whichhuman rights issues and topics were explicitly or implicitly addressed inthese curriculum documents. Qualitative feedback was obtained from key
education stakeholders – curriculum bodies, education authorities, teacher
associations and community organizations - who participated in roundtable(RT) discussions organized in each state and territory. This analysis provides
valuable information on the extent to which Australian schools are engaging
with human rights education.
Human Rights Education in the School Curriculum
A feature of Australia’s education system is its complexity, involving separate
national, state and territory educational systems, each with their own distinct administrative departments and curriculum authorities. The Northern
Territory draws on the South Australian syllabus documents for its Senior
Secondary Years curriculum.
At the state and territory level three distinct and separate school sectors - Government, Catholic and Independent - operate their own separate

Human Rights Education in the Australian School Curriculum

169

teaching and administrative systems. Nationally across the 9,468 schools,
among the 3.5 million students, 66 percent attend Government schools, 20
percent Catholic schools and 14 percent Independent schools (Gonski et al.,
2011:3-4).
The role of the Australian Government in schooling has increased
over time, taking on a greater funding and overseeing role, including in
the curriculum. In 2009, the Australian Government provided an averageof 15 percent of the Recurrent funding to Government schools, 57 percent
to Catholic schools, and 33 percent to Independent schools. Of Capitalfunding the Australian Government provided 46 percent of the funding
to Government schools, 49 percent to Catholic schools and 34 percent to
Independent Schools (Gonski et al., 2011:15-16).
Curriculum - National agreement
The Australian Government has also taken the lead on standardizing
the curriculum, with its Australian Curriculum initiative. Through a national education ministerial forum, the Ministerial Council on Education,
Employment, Training and Youth Affairs (mceetya), the AustralianGovernment gained the agreement of all states and territories to develop
a nationally agreed Australian Curriculum across eight main learning areas, as agreed in the Melbourne Declaration in 2008 (mceetya, 2008:13).
Note that from 2012 mceetya was known as the Council of AustralianGovernments (coag) Standing Council on School Education and Early
Childhood (scseec).
Australian School Curriculum
As mentioned earlier this study has been undertaken at an important transitional time when all states and territories are involved with the AustralianGovernment in a staged process of developing and implementing a common national Australian Curriculum. At the start of 2013 some key Subjects
had been fully developed and implemented, with a number of Foundation
to Year 10 Subjects in place. They included the Stage 1 subjects English,
History, Mathematics, and Science that had been developed by Australian
Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority (acara) and endorsed,
with agreements in place for their implementation across all states and territories by the end of 2013.

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The senior secondary curriculum for each of these four Subjects forYears 11 and 12 has been endorsed, and Australian Curriculum Assessment
and Reporting Authority (acara) has been working with the states and territories to integrate the content and agree on a timeline for their implementation (acara 2013). However no Stage 1 Senior Years 11 and 12 subjects had
been implemented and so separate state and territory subject curriculums
remained in place.
General Capabilities statements
Part of the development of the Australian Curriculum included a set ofagreed General Capabilities statements that were to be applied in the drafting of the curriculum for all Learning Areas/ Subjects. They included a specific focus on students learning about:• Literacy, numeracy, Information, Communication Technology(ict), critical and creative thinking, personal and social, ethical understanding and intercultural understanding.
• Although there was no specific statement related to human rights,
the term was explicitly mentioned in the statement referring to
Ethical understanding and human rights were implicit in theIntercultural understanding statement:◊ Ethical understanding – takes account of values, humanrights and responsibilities, animal rights, and global justice,and mentions the first three as an organizing element.
◊ Intercultural understanding - includes opportunities implicitly in the study of different cultural perceptions and practice and explicitly in the element of Recognizing culture anddeveloping respect, and Reflecting on intercultural experiences and taking responsibility.
Cross-Curriculum priorities
The Australian Curriculum also outlined three cross-curriculum priorities related to what it called important issues in contemporary society thatwould help equip young Australians with skills, knowledge and understanding to engage in a globalized world and they are to be embedded across alllearning areas (acara 2011). These cross-curriculum priorities are:
• Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander histories and cultures;

Human Rights Education in the Australian School Curriculum

171• Asia and Australia’s engagement with Asia; and• Sustainability.
According to a number of roundtable participants the first two priorities were important - Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander histories and cultures, and Asia and Australia’s engagement with Asia. Neither priority contained an explicit mention of human rights, but both did have some implicit
opportunities for addressing a number of specific human rights issues. The
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander histories and cultures priority, in its
second key concept, highlighted examining experiences through “historical,
social and political lenses.” The Asia and Australia’s engagement with Asia
priority mentions study of the “social, cultural, political and economic links
with Asia.”
Learning About which Human Rights?
An important aspect in identifying curriculum opportunities is to consider
which human rights students should be learning about across their school
years. The starting point needs to be consideration of the United Nations’
Universal Declaration on Human Rights (1948) and subsequent United
Nations human rights conventions and treaties and recent Australian human rights legislation. This suggests a focus on a set of specific human rights
issues related to both individual and group rights that have been historicallyat the center of human rights discussions as well as newer contemporaryand emerging issues. Drawing on the Victorian Charter and the Victorian
Essential Learning Standards (vels) document they could include:• civil and political rights - rights to life, liberty, free speech, movement, political thought, religious practice, a fair trial, privacy, theright to found a family, to vote;• economic, social and cultural rights - such rights to adequate foodand water, health care, education, a clean environment, respect for
cultural practices, welfare assistance;• humanitarian rights - rights of those who are involved in, or affected by, armed conflict; the treatment of prisoners of war; of thewounded, sick or shipwrecked; of civilians; and of women and children in particular;

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H u m a n R i g h t s E d u c at i o n i n A s i a - Pa c i f i c•various group rights - the rights of workers, women, children, minority groups, refugees, Indigenous peoples, people with a disability (vels, 2009).
These set of rights are a starting point only. A curriculum paper would
need to be drafted as a result of Australia wide - state and territory – roundtable discussions involving curriculum authorities, teacher associations,and community and non-governmental organization (ngo) representatives
to help set out which specific set of rights would be addressed across each of
the key school Learning Stages and apply to which subject Learning Areas.
Key Curriculum Dimensions
Given this set of human rights issues, it is important to analyze the extent
of the school curriculum opportunities for students to learn about these issues. In doing so there are a number of key curriculum dimensions that alsoneed to be considered. They include:• Stages of learning – which school years, from Foundation/
Kindergarten to Year 12• Explicit or implicit topics - are human rights issues named explicitly and can they be specifically identified in the curriculum or are
they implicit opportunities, where human rights issues can be implied from the curriculum documents?
• Compulsory or optional - are topics mandatory/compulsory or optional, and are they available as a subject elective?
• Curricular or other learning opportunities (extra-curricular) –while the primary focus of this study is on the curricular aspects(what the curriculum documents reveal), what are the importantlearnings taking place through other kinds of learning opportunities that may be subject and curriculum related or may be extracurricular learning activities?
• School sector variations - what are the variations in subject offerings across school sectors (a few were highlighted in a number ofRoundtable discussions)?
Curriculum Opportunities in School Learning Stages
This part of our analysis considered the opportunities available in the curriculum by school years. The analysis drew on state and territory round-Human Rights Education in the Australian School Curriculum

173

table discussions and relevant curriculum and syllabus documents and was
greatly assisted by a few key staff from nsw, Victorian and South Australiancurriculum authorities.
The opportunities noted have been categorized as:• either explicit or implicit.
• by Subject and/or School Year/Unit.
• human rights issue/topic.
• the State or Territory where they are offered.
The rights issues or topics listed below were mandatory, except where
a topic was optional or part of an elective and in that case we have noted
the entry with an (E). While many states and territories are moving to an
F-10 and 11-12 year syllabus grouping, in line with Australian Curriculum
documents, this analysis has focused on the following three school learning
stages:• Senior Secondary - Years 11 and 12.
• Secondary - Years 7 to 10.
• Primary - Years F/K to 6.
Senior Secondary (Years 11 and 12)
Explicit
The Senior Secondary Subjects that explicitly addressed human rights
issues in almost all states and territories were: History; Geography andLegal Studies. A Senior Years 11 and 12 Civics and Citizenship Australian
Curriculum unit that will be optional is still in development and it is notclear how each state and territory will implement the unit for the study ofcivic and citizenship rights.

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Table 1. Senior Years 11-12 Explicit topics
Subject

Year / Unit

HR Topic / issue

State/Territory

History
Modern WorldHistory
Modern History

Year 12
Year 11
Options
Unit 2
Unit 1 (E)Unit 2 (E)Years 11/12

Universal Declaration of Human Rights,
Apartheid, Refugees (SIVEX)
Civil rights. National Studies & International
Studies in Peace & Conflict topics.
Oppression and struggle for human rights,
slave trade, suffragette movement, US civilrights movement, struggle for Indigenous
rights, Burma, Tibet, Tiananmen Square.
Experiences of Indigenous people, Ideas ofrace, Changes in values.
Forced & free migration, Slaves & forcedlabor.
History of women, Power & powerlessnessrights and freedom of oppressed.
Civil rights; Apartheid; Suffragist struggle; 2ndwave of feminism.

Victoria, NSW
Tasmania,
South Australia/
Northern Territory(SA/NT)
Australian Capital
Territory (ACT),
Western Australia(WA),
Queensland (QLD)

Geography

Unit 1
Unit 2

Movement of people, Issues for geographers.
Migration of people, Case study – water.
Globalization - movement of refugees(E), global phenomena and evaluation of
responses.

SA/NT
Tasmania, Victoria

Legal Studies

Unit 6
Year 11
Unit 2
Year 12Units 3,4

Human rights - nature & development of
human rights, Promoting & enforcing humanrights, Contemporary issue. (Core Part 220% of NSW course).
Case studies – Australian rights issue – e.g.
Mabo, gay rights.
International law –Treaties, Commonwealthpowers.
Young people & the law- rights of young
people, child (E).

NSW
Victoria,
SA/NT
Tasmania, ACT,QLD

Civics &CitizenshipYears 11 &
12 (20 hr.
unit)

Civic and political rights.

NSW

There was a further set of subjects that had relatively small enrolments
and were not offered widely or were available in only one or a few states andterritories:• Politics - Australian & Global Politics (Victoria); Australian &International Politics (SA/NT); Politics & the Law (WA).

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Human Rights Education in the Australian School Curriculum••

Society and Culture – Sociology (Victoria, Tasmania, act); Society& Culture (nsw, SA/NT); Study of Society (QLD).
Aboriginal Studies; Women’s Studies; and Religion or Religious
Studies; Philosophy.

Table 2. Senior Years 11-12 Explicit topics - Smaller Enrolments
Year/Unit

HR Topic / issue

State/
Territory

Australian &Global Politics

Year 12Units 1 to 4

Respect for human rights, rights of child,refugees, gay rights, feminism, Indigenous rights,
Democratic rights and freedoms. Individual &minority rights, Australian Bill or Charter of Rights,
Human rights organizations, Global issues –human rights, people’s movement.

Victoria
ONLY

Australian &International
Politics

Year 11
Year 12 (E)Power, Community Politics, Government.
Australian Constitution, Voting, Parties.
International: UN & Human rights; UN Declarationon the Rights of Indigenous People.

SA/ NT

Politics & the Law

Unit 1
Unit 3Civil and political rights, Rights and governance,
Types of rights - civil, political, economic, social,
cultural, Protection of human rights - covenants,
treaties.

WA ONLY
For 2012

Sociology

Year 11-12
Units 1-4

Ethnicity, Indigenous – Inequality, age, gender,
ethnicity. Indigenous culture.
Social movements and social change.

Victoria
Tasmania, ACT

Society and Culture

Year 11
Year 12
Year 12Power & authority, Aboriginal and Torres Strait
Islander (ATSI) societies, Refugee & migrantexperiences, Australia as global citizens.
Global issues – A question of rights.
Equality & difference - human rights,
discrimination, race.

SA/NT
NSW

Study of Society

Year 11/12

Examining inequality.

Queensland

Aboriginal Studies

HSC-Part 1
Part 2Social Justice & Human rights issues: Global
understanding of human rights & social justice.
Land rights movement.

NSW

Aboriginal Studies

Year 12

Aboriginal land rights – land & sea rights.
Citizenship – Struggle for rights, UN Declarationon the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, Rights ofIndigenous people in a global context.

SA/NT

Subject

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Women’s Studies

Year 12
Topic 4 (E)Women & the law – women’s human rights.

SA/NT

Religious Studies
Religion Studies
Religion andsociety

Year 12
Year 11
Year 11
Unit 2

Religion & belief system/Religion & non-religion.
Work- rights, impact on social justice & humanrights.
Ethical or social justice issue (E).
Ethics and morality.

NSW
SA/NT
Victoria*Philosophy

Year 12
Unit 2

Ethical problems and political philosophy.

Victoria* Note: Unit 2 of the course replaced in 2013 by ‘On foundations of morality’ & ‘On rights and justice’.

Implicit
There were a number of Senior Years Subjects where there were implicit opportunities for students to learn about human rights issues. They
included: English; Science; and Economics & Business Management. Of theseEnglish was the most significant as it remains the subject across Senior andSecondary Stages of Learning with by far the largest numbers of student
enrolments.
English: The English curriculum did not explicitly include a discussion of any human rights issues, but rights could be addressed through thetexts that students chose for study. For example in NSW the High School
Certificate (hsc) English course texts were prescribed for Year 12 Stage 6
only and not for Year 11. Among these texts students are encouraged toread widely and can choose various electives and related texts drawn fromfiction, drama, poetry, nonfiction film, media or multimedia. For example
texts like the film Ten Canoes or the novel Swallow the Air could be related
to Indigenous rights. Further in one elective Module C - Texts and Society- Global Village and Into the World Electives there were opportunities forstudents to learn about specific human rights issues, depending on the texts
chosen. Also depending on which Area of Study, such as Belonging nominated for study in 2009-2014 Electives by all students, there was “the potential
to explore human rights issues” (Board of Studies nsw).
Science: The Science curriculum did not name any specific human rights
issues. One topic, such as Water for Living or Humans at Work in the nsw
hsc syllabus students could explore current issues and implications for society. One roundtable participant felt that the new Australian Science curriculum offered one strand focusing on “Science as a human endeavor [and]177

Human Rights Education in the Australian School Curriculum

it actually looks at social and political and economic connections to science”(act rt).
Economics and Business Management: The Economics curriculum did
not mention human rights, but a number of topics such as Government in
the Economy in the nsw Preliminary Course and each of the four topics intheir hsc course could provide opportunities. The sa/nt Stage 1 Economics
Syllabus mentioned “economic, social and political rights in industrial relations” as part of its capability statement, but did not specify them further inthe content. Implied rights issues featured in Globalisation and Poverty andInequality topics (Stage 1) and key areas (Stage 2).
Economics in Victoria did have a “part of the curriculum [that] refers
to income distribution, questions of equity, resource allocation with that
migration of population” and in Business management they cover the issue of corporate social responsibility - especially for big business in Year 12(Victorian RT).
Table 3. Senior Years 11-12 Implicit topics
Subject

Year/Unit

HR topic/issue

State/
Territory

EnglishYears 11 & 12

Texts and society.

NSW, Victoria,
SA/NT, QLD,
ACT, WA,
Tasmania

ScienceYears 11 & 12

Water for living, Humans at work.
Science as a human endeavor.

NSW,
ACT

Economics
Business Management

Year 12
Year 12
Year 11
Year 11
Year 12Government in the Economy.
Globalization. Poverty & inequality.
Poverty & inequality.
Economic choices and consequences andEconomic change: issues and challenges.
Economic activity, economic management,
Corporate social responsibility.

NSW
SA/NT
SA/NT
Victoria
Victoria

Numbers Studying Subjects in Year 12
It is important to determine how many students are able to take up particular Subject opportunities. Yet the available data on the numbers of students
studying across each state and territory, by each Subject, and Stage of learn-

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ing is limited. It has been possible to draw on an Australian Council for
Educational Research (acer) study (Wilkinson & Milgate, 2009) that compiled Year 12 study data for a few key subjects, English, History, Geography,
and a number of Other state specific subjects, as well showing the total number of Year 12 students. While only partial, the data does provide a usefulindication of the relative opportunities available for students of the Subjects
we have reported on in this section, particularly the percentages.
Table 4. Student numbers studying selected Subjects & Year 12 total (2007)
NSW

Victoria

Queensland

WA

Tasmania

SA

NT

ACT

English59,62140,73534,262

9,108

2,105

9,044

916

3,746

History

9,769
Modern2,278
Extension

4,543
Revolution
1,304
Australian

5,121

2,758

495
Modern1,594
Modern205
Australian

83
Modern26
Australian

629

Geography

4,561

2,416

4,364

2,973

208

1,223

80

164

123
Aust & Int
Politics

33
Aust & Int
Politics

12,056

985

Other

Total
Year 12
students

1,765
Int’l Studies
591
National
Politics
67,18947,06941,59911,765

4,947

3,998

Secondary (Years 7 to 10)
ExplicitDuring the Secondary Years 7 to 10 our analysis showed that Years 9
and 10 offered a set of explicit opportunities for students to study a range ofhuman rights issues. The main Subjects and unit were: History; Geography;
Aboriginal Studies; and the Civics and Citizenship unit. It is worth noting
here that Civics and Citizenship is a key human rights Learning Area acrossYears 3 to 10 that does include explicit study of civic and political rights aspart of a mandatory twenty hour learning unit.

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179

History: The History Syllabus in nsw for Year 10 covered such topics as
Rights and freedoms, human rights and the Universal Declaration of Human
Rights, Australia’s civil rights, Aboriginal rights including the citizenshiprights referendum 1967, the Stolen generations, and Decolonisation. Also inYear 9 there were topics dealing with the Movements of people, Slavery, andProgressive ideas and movements addressing democratic rights.
Geography: The Geography Syllabus Year 10 in nsw had as one of its
mandatory focus area – Australia and its Regional and Global Contexts which specifically included a topic on Human rights and Reconciliation.
There was also a set of important electives. Oceanography included a focus
on Indigenous rights to the oceans. Development Geography looked at patterns of global inequality including optional development issues of politicaland human rights, refugees, role and status of women. Global Change also
covered fundamental human rights to food, shelter, water, clean air, health,education, global human inequalities, and how citizenship protects fundamental human rights. Political Geography included topics referring to social
justice, and humanitarian aid.
In Year 9 the Global Change included Globalization, Global inequalities
and Global organizations topics. Global inequalities specifically referred to
extremes of poverty & wealth, variations in access to education, food, health,shelter and water. The Global Geographical Issues area had optional issues ofstudy that included human rights, Indigenous people and self determination
topics. There was also a Geography Life Skills course that included topics
such as Global Change covering the Fundamental human rights to food,shelter, water, clean air, health, education; and Global human inequalities;
and How citizenship protects fundamental human rights.
Civics and Citizenship: The Civics and Citizenship unit in Year 10 included important topics on the United Nations and Australia as a Global
Citizen where various human rights issues were addressed. The Community
Engagement topic included a study of rights “where students look at United
Nations and the United Nations agreements and Australia as a global citizen,
so that brings in the consideration of ethical global issues that are very muchhuman rights related” (Victoria RT). Although the major focus of Civics andCitizenship was on civic rights, it was still seen as a vital unit for all students.
One roundtable participant said that “one of the key areas would be in the
Civics and Citizenship type subject. I think that basically should be com-

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H u m a n R i g h t s E d u c at i o n i n A s i a - Pa c i f i cpulsory for all students… I think it’s so important for young people to learn
about their rights and the responsibilities within our society.” (act rt).
Table 5. Secondary Years 9 and 10 Explicit topics
Year / Unit

HR Topic / Issue

State/
Territory

Year 10
Year 10
Year 10
Year 10
Year 9Struggle for Rights & Freedom - Terra nullius, Landrights, Native title.
Changing rights & freedom of groups, Active &informed citizens.
Crime punishment, slaves, women (E).
Struggle for rights & freedom of marginalizedgroups.
Gender discrimination, Rights & freedom of womenin 20th century Australia.
Cultures of people - rights & responsibilities.

NSW
NSW

Year 10
Year 9Rights & freedom- UN human rights declaration, &Australia’s role, civil rights. Aboriginal rights, US civilrights movement.
Movement of people: Slavery, Progressive ideas:
democratic rights, UN Declaration on Rights ofIndigenous People.
Globalised world: Migration: refugees.
Australia & Asia: Making a nation: women’s rights.
Making a better world: movement of people (E).

Victoria,
SA
ACT, WA, NT

Geography

Year 10(E) Elective
Year 9Years 9& 10

Australia and its Regional & Global Contexts: Humanrights & reconciliation.
Oceanography: Indigenous rights. Development.
Geography: Patterns of global inequality, political &human rights, refugees, role and status of women.
Political Geography: social justice, humanitarian aid.
Life Skills course: Global Change: Fundamental
human rights to: food, shelter, water, clean air,health, education, Global human inequalities, How
citizenship protects fundamental human rights.
Global Change: Globalization, Global inequalities,
Global organizations. Global GeographicalIssues: human rights, Indigenous people and self
determination.
Development Geography: development issues &formulation and evaluation of policies.

NSW
Victoria

Civics & Citizenship- Community
Engagement

Year 10

United Nations agreements, Australia as a global
citizen.

Victoria, NSW,
SA, Tasmania
ACT, WA

Subject
History- Aboriginal &Indigenous
History – Civics &Citizenship (C&C)
History-Difference &diversity
History- Gender
History – Civics &Citizenship (C&C)

HistoryHuman Rights Education in the Australian School Curriculum

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We need to mention two further Subjects or units of study: Aboriginal
Studies; and the Personal Learning Plan.
Aboriginal Studies: In Years 7 to 10 in NSW the Aboriginal Studies
Syllabus had an elective that focused on students gaining knowledge and understanding of Aboriginal people and includes among the Course Options
a topic - Aboriginal Interaction with Legal and Political Systems - wherestudents learn about key Australian institutions impacting on the rights andfreedoms of Aboriginal people.
Personal Learning Plans (plp): There was also one standalone unit inboth the South Australian and Northern Territory Curriculum - Personal
Learning Plans (plp) - that was compulsory for all students and was normally studied in Year 10. The syllabus contained one topic – Work skills –with a specific focus on the rights and obligations of workers (SA &nt rt).
Implicit
Roundtable participants and curriculum specialists helped by making
suggestions about the existence of implicit opportunities available in following Subjects – English; Science; Economics.
English: The English Years 7-10 curriculum did provide a range of implicit opportunities to link the study of texts that could be potentially related tohuman rights issues. In the nsw and Victorian English Syllabus there were
implicit opportunities to address rights issues through the choice among the
Suggested texts in nsw and vels Syllabus in Victoria (nsw, Victoria RT).
The newly developed English K-10 curriculum did include texts that related
to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, intercultural and migrantexperiences, insights into peoples and countries of Asia that could be potentially related to rights issues (Board of Studies nsw, Victorian Curriculum
Assessment Authority).
Science: The Science Years 7-10 Syllabus in nsw included three areas among its Prescribed Focus Areas – Applications and uses of science;
Implications for society and the environment; and Current issues, researchand development - where there was potential to study human rights issues(nsw). One roundtable participant felt the new Australian Curriculum“provides a positive opportunity for the integration of issues relating to human rights…science as a human endeavour and the relationship between
science and society … provide openings” (act rt).

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Economics: The Economics course in Years 9 and 10 in Victoria addressed Consumerism and ethical consumption and this was considered to
be a big rights issue (Victoria RT).
Table 6. Secondary Years 7 - 10 Implicit topics
Subject

Year / Unit

HR Topic/Issue

State/
Territory

EnglishYear 10
Year 9

Aboriginal and multicultural experiences in Australia.
Aboriginal Australians in texts.

NSW
ACT

ScienceYears 9 & 10

Applications and uses of science, Implications forsociety and the environment, Current issues, researchand development.
Science as human endeavor, Science & society.

NSW
ACT

Economics

Levels 9 & 10

Consumerism – ethical consumerism and the ways
values.

Victoria

Primary (Years F/K to 6)
A feature of the debate about the place of human rights education in theschool curriculum has been the call to include teaching about human rightsfrom the early school years – i.e. from Foundation/Kindergarten through toYear 6 (ahrc 2011; 2010).
A number of participants at the roundtable discussions said that humanrights education needed to start in the early school years, as they saw it as a‘life long process’ (Victoria, Tasmania RT). Roundtable discussions also suggested that during Years K to 4 rights issues were not explicitly named or addressed in any subject areas across this stage, and there were more implicit
opportunities in Subjects in Years 5 to 6.
A number of participants also highlighted the need for students to be
introduced specifically to the issue of child rights, during these years and forchild rights to feature as the main human rights issue that students learned
about during their Primary school years.
There were a number of Subjects that implicitly addressed human rights
issues in the Primary school years. As a Learning Area – Human Society
and Its Environment – was identified as the main one to focus on. Within
this area the Subjects considered relevant were: History; Geography; Civics

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183

and Citizenship; and pdhpe [Personal Development, Health and Physical
Education]:• History: Aboriginal culture & histories from Year 3 to 6 (nsw, act);
Year 5 Colonial history – Eureka Stockade (Victoria).
• Geography: the Social Systems and Structures area – in Stage 2 investigate rights, responsibilities in school & community - and Stage
3 includes rights and responsibilities within social systems andstructures (nsw).
• Civics and Citizenship (Years 3 to 6).
• Physical Development, Health and Physical Education (pdhpe) K- 6:
respecting diversity (Victoria), human sexuality, and values (nsw).
As mentioned above, a feature of the new Australian curriculum wasthat the English (F/K- 6) years curriculum also provided implicit opportunities, as a result of the General Capability statements and the recommended
texts to support the teaching. The study of particular texts could involve a
focus on a specific human rights issue, but these opportunities were never
explicitly stated as human rights issues in any of the curriculum, syllabus or
support documents.
Catholic and Independent schools
Catholic Schools - Social Justice and Social Responsibility
A feature of the Catholic Education system was its focus on aspects ofSocial Justice and Social Responsibility. Roundtable participants highlighted
the fact that the ways in which each state and diocese across each state andterritory applied these principles varied considerably and it was difficult togeneralize. Therefore we have only been able to highlight a few examples
that we were made aware during this study.
In nsw in 2002 the Catholic Education Commission issued a Social
Responsibility document – one for Years K-6 and another for Years 7 to 12- that was described as a resource to assist schools to promote a sense of social responsibility. In Years K-6 among the four main themes set out was one
focusing specifically on Rights and Responsibilities and it suggested theseissues could be explored in English, Human Society and its Environment(hsie), and pdhpe subjects.
In Years 7 to 10 Rights and Responsibilities also applied to English,
Geography, History, Commerce, Studies in Society, Community and Family

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Studies and pdhpe subjects. In Years 11 and 12 they were suggested as relevant to English, Legal Studies, Society and Culture, and pdhpe.
Significantly, neither document specified particular human rights issues that could or should be addressed. This meant that it remained up to
individual teachers and schools to see how and what social responsibility orsocial justice rights issues should be addressed.
Social Justice – Community Projects
Women’s refuge - In the act one participant suggested that “social justice was very well developed in Catholic high schools.” One example of thekind of Community Projects that students had taken part in over a numberof years was visiting a women’s refuge for young women. The practical involvement helped raise a range of issues and made a real impact “Like, they
don’t just take the money there. They actually work there and see how it
operates. It’s quite powerful” (act rt).
Restorative justice
A further example was the way one Catholic primary school in the act
had involved its students in a restorative justice project. The project had
served as a “really powerful tool for talking to students about human rights”(act rt).
Catholic Social Justice agencies
Another important feature of Catholic schools was their ability to engage in social justice activities through a number of Catholic organizations
in each state, linking students to the work of Catholic agencies such as
Caritas and the St Vincent de Paul Society (wa rt).
Studies of Religion
A feature of most non-government schools (both Catholic andIndependent) was that they required students to study religion, as a result a
subject like Studies of Religion was seen as important. It provided “a numberof opportunities where human rights could be embedded in some of the key
topics, such as, religion, state relations, ethics and spirit learning” (qld rt).
Impact of Human Rights Legislation
An important development at both a state and territory level has been thepassing of the act Bill of Rights (2004), and the Victoria’s Charter of Human

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Rights (2007). Importantly both pieces of legislation have outlined a set ofhuman rights that now have statutory protection in their state or territory.
Unfortunately to date there appears to have been little impact of the legislation on their respective school sectors or on student learning, with mostof the rights education efforts taking place across the public sector or thewider community.
ACT Bill of Rights (2004)
The importance of the act Bill of Rights (2004) was noted by act
roundtable participants and they felt that passing the legislation had helped
to raise the profile of human rights in schools. However no specific act curriculum initiatives were mentioned. Instead it was suggested that students
needed to have human rights issues integrated formally into the school curriculum, together with informal opportunities for students to engage withhuman rights issues while they attended school (act rt).
Victorian Charter of Human Rights (2007)
There was strong state government support for the role of education
about the Charter of Human Rights during the period 2008 to 2011 (Victoria
RT). However few resources have been devoted to educating teachers andstudents about the rights covered by the Charter and bringing about changes
to the Victorian school curriculum: “After the Victorian Charter was passed
there was significant activity within government, including training of public servants, training school leavers, ensuring that the Victorian Charter was
taken account of in school policy documents and the like” (veoc Interview).
One roundtable participant and a representative from the VictorianCurriculum Assessment Authority suggested there were a few places inVictoria’s Australian Curriculum syllabus documents that are located under
the Victorian Essential Learning Standards (Ausvels) F to 10 Curriculum.
The documents had specific references to the rights set out under theCharter. As part of its Teacher Support documents, the Human Rights inthe Victorian Essential Learning Standards section refers to the VictorianCharter, a set of key human rights to address and provides examples of elements across a few selected subjects across school Levels 1 to 6. Significantly,
rights feature most specifically at the higher levels, in Levels 4, 5 and 6, andacross the Civics and Citizenship units.

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H u m a n R i g h t s E d u c at i o n i n A s i a - Pa c i f i cOther Learning Opportunities
Although the main focus of this study is on the opportunities available in the
School Curriculum, participants at the roundtable discussions also highlighted a range of other important learning opportunities that were occurring in schools. These opportunities were not specifically mentioned in any
curriculum or syllabus documents, but arose out of individual school, teacher or student interest and often involved school involvement with their local
community and various community-based organizations. This part of theanalysis has been assisted greatly by the presence of representatives froma range of ngos at the roundtable discussions. Their input, together with asearch of their websites has helped outline some of these opportunities. We
have classified the activities noted into the following categories:• Community-school initiatives;• Special events and festivals;• School excursions and camps.
Community-School Initiatives - Projects, Programs, Campaigns
A number of government human rights agencies such as the ahrc andngos play an important role in schools, helping to raise awareness of rights
issues and assisting students and teachers to take action on specific humanrights issues.
The work of a number of prominent ngos is important because they doprovide opportunities to address a range of rights issues. Here we have categorized the main activities of the ngos we have become aware of as being:• Broadly based rights;• Civil, political, humanitarian rights and/or Refugee rights;• Children’s rights;• Economic rights;• Humanitarian rights;• Indigenous rights.
Within these categories the human rights issues that have the highest
profile in schools relate to - Indigenous rights, asylum seekers and refugees,
famine, poverty, the rights of children, and prisoners of conscience and tor-

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ture. In most cases these issues are addressed through ngos being invited
into a school for a class presentation or workshop to talk about their projects
or campaigns, or raise awareness about specific rights issues. In a numberof cases longer term projects or schools groups have been established, involving students and staff over a longer period. Among the most active andinvolved ngos working with schools in various states and territories are:Broadly based rights• UN Youth Australia
Civil, Political, Humanitarian rights and/or Refugee rights• Amnesty International Australia• Asylum Seeker Resource Centre (Melbourne)Child rights• Save the Children Australia
Economic rights• Global Education Project (aus aid)
• World Vision• Oxfam Australia• Caritas
Humanitarian rights• Red Cross Australia• care Australia• Engineers Without Borders (Victoria, act)
Indigenous rights• Reconciliation Australia• antar• Fred Hollows Foundation.
Information gained from roundtable discussions and website searches
has helped in outlining below some of the human rights activities being carried out by these ngos that are specifically relevant to schools, teachers andstudents.

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Broadly based rights
UN Youth Australia
UN Youth Australia is a national youth led charity focusing on students aged 15 to 19 years. The program aims to educate Years 10-12 students about the UN and international relations, inspire them to take action
on rights issues about which they are passionate and equip them with theskills they need to take effective actions. They organize the Australian Youth
Forum, nominate each year an Australian Youth Representative to attend
the UN General Assembly, hold a National Youth Conference and the Evatt
Competition (a national Model UN debating competition for students in
Years 9 to 12 which runs in all states and territories).
Civil, Political, Humanitarian rights and/or Refugees
Amnesty International Australia
Amnesty International began in the UK in the 1960s focusing on theplight of prisoners of conscience around the world. Among its current campaigns in Australia are those on refugees’ human rights, Indigenous People’s
rights, Individuals at risk of detention and torture, violence against women,
ending the death penalty, and ending the Arms Trade. With offices in moststates, mostly run by volunteers, part of its work focuses on involving young
people and working with schools. For example in NSW it visits almost twenty-five secondary schools each year giving talks or presentations on specifichuman rights issues. Almost sixty secondary schools have students attend
Amnesty’s annual schools conference (nsw rt).
In Victoria Amnesty International’s Schools Network operates mainly
in Independent and Catholic schools involving few government schools.
Although a recent ban on Amnesty International by Catholic schools in
Victoria over its (Amnesty International’s) stand on abortion rights has limited its work with Catholic school students in Victoria (Victoria RT).
Amnesty International offices in smaller states like South Australia,
Tasmania and Western Australia are less able to work directly with schools,
due to a smaller level of staffing and volunteer pool (Amnesty International).
Asylum Seeker Resource Centre (Melbourne)
The Asylum Seeker Resource Centre (asrc) in Melbourne focuses on
the rights issues of asylum seekers and refugees and responds to requests

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from a school or a teacher to visit their school and give a presentation about
the issues associated with asylum seekers. Most requests come from independent secondary schools.
The presentations generally last from one to one and half hours andwhile most of the students are in secondary school, there have also been
visits to primary schools – classes upwards from Year 3. Generally the asrc
receives requests from Civics & Citizenship and History classes, as well assome English classes that are studying texts such as The Rugmaker of Mazare-sharif in Year 11 or 12 (Victoria RT).
Child rights
Save the Children Australia
Save the Children Australia is a “leading independent emergency relief
and development organisation for children” that also works internationallyin over one hundred twenty countries. A major part of its work is on childrights. Led by its Victorian office Save the Children has been working toensure school students learn about child rights and human rights from theirearly school years, by trying to embed a study of child rights issues into allschool learning. The main Save the Children office in Melbourne office does
not have a person dedicated to working with schools, although staff in both
NSW and South Australia do have a role in working directly with schools(Save the Children).
The South Australian office of Save the Children has led a numberof school initiatives, such as the Speaking Out program exploring childrights, child labor, and child soldiers; the Global Peace program for secondary schools, taking a whole-schools approach to peace. Their most recent
program is a child rights education resource Finding My Magic, released
in 2011 that targeted K-6 primary school children. In South Australia Save
the Children distributed almost a thousand copies of the dvd and print resource to SA schools during Children’s Week (sa rt).
Economic rights
Global Education project (Ausaid)
The Global Education project (GE) is funded by the AustralianGovernment’s Australian Agency for International Development (Ausaid)
and works with the support of Education Services Australia. Centers in the

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H u m a n R i g h t s E d u c at i o n i n A s i a - Pa c i f i cmajor states work to address a range of global development issues such as
food security, water security, and the rights for women. Their materials andprograms do help address human rights issues in History and Geography
subjects (sa rt). The project provides school teachers with a range of resources to address global issues and the emerging field of global education
across the school curriculum. Most of its activities are focused on teacher
professional development and providing teaching resources.
The Global Education Centre in South Australia focuses on assistingteachers to address development issues, by developing teaching resources,
organizing seminars and teacher professional learning sessions, generally
for one hour after school, whole days at school or through annual teacher association conferences, English and History (sa rt). According to theCentre about two thousand South Australian teachers take part in their sessions each year. Human rights and social justice are covered as one of fivemain areas addressed by GE centers. Among a number of school case studies, one that focused on human rights was a Year 5/6 class at Beachlands
Primary School in Western Australia (Global Education).
World Vision
World Vision is a Christian voluntary organization working to improve“the lives of disadvantaged and at-risk children and communities” throughChild Sponsorships, the 40 Hour Famine, other campaigns and advocacy
and its Global Leadership Convention. Students and young people are encouraged from an early age to make a commitment to financially sponsor achild in a developing country to help meet their basic needs.
The 40 Hour Famine organized each year by World Vision in each
Australian state and territory was mentioned as an exemplar for involving
school students in actively learning about a human rights issue such as hunger (act page 12). In nsw more than five hundred fifty schools, mostly secondary schools, are involved each year in the 40 Hour Famine. The Global
Leadership Convention involves students in Years 10 to 12 in an annual event
held in six states and territories focusing on specific issues like child laborin India and developing and inspiring students to work for justice in theworld. World Vision also involves young people aged 15 to 25 years throughits VGen youth movement that works actively against social injustice andpoverty. A few VGen groups have been set up in nsw schools. Young people
and students have also taken up ongoing rights issues through recent World

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Vision campaigns such as Don’t Trade Lives - a campaign against humantrafficking and slavery or Child Health Now - a campaign to reduce child andmaternal mortality (World Vision).
Oxfam Australia
Oxfam Australia has been working to fight poverty and injusticethrough campaigns and responding to emergencies in third world/developing countries around the world for more than fifty years. Based in
Melbourne, it has offices in nsw, Queensland, South Australia and Western
Australia. Among its current campaigns are those focused on addressing
poverty (Make Poverty History), addressing famine and hunger, growing
food sustainably, climate change, fair trade (grow, Climate Change, Make
Trade Fair), Indigenous health (Closing the Gap). The 3 things Oxfam youth
movement “offers opportunities for secondary students to think and behave
as ethical global citizens,” engaging young people to ask questions, support
actions, and spread the word among their peers. It also organizes the annual
Walk Against Want that attracts many secondary and primary school students, and Oxfam’s International Youth Partnerships. Oxfam also provides
a number of education resources for teachers to involve students in Oxfam
projects (Oxfam).
Caritas Australia
Caritas Australia is the Catholic Church’s international aid and development organization that works in over thirty developing countries.
Grounded in the Catholic Social Justice Teaching tradition it supports longterm development programs in impoverished communities in Africa, Asia,
East Timor, the Pacific, Latin America and Australian Indigenous communities. Among Caritas’ school resources are curriculum and topic specificresources for primary and secondary schools, including for its annual fundraising and community engagement project - Project Compassion (Caritas).
Humanitarian rights
Red Cross Australia
Red Cross Australia, which celebrates its centenary in Australia in
2014, and says it is the largest humanitarian organization in the world. Red
Cross works as an impartial, neutral and independent charity helping out

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in natural disasters, crises and emergencies, acting to uphold the Geneva
Conventions or ‘rules of war’, collects blood through its Blood Service, andtrains and provides first aid. The only program aimed at young people is
the Red Cross Young Humanitarian group where young people can join on
Facebook and participate through donations, volunteering, or getting involved in their national youth leadership networks (Red Cross).
care Australia
Care Australia is an Australian non-denominational charity, part ofa network of twelve national care organizations providing humanitarianaid, emergency relief, development assistance and fighting poverty. Among
its long-term projects are helping families produce food, improve health ofcommunities especially mothers and children, clean water, sanitation andenvironmental health. A special focus is on women’s empowerment – educating women and helping women out of poverty. One of its fundraisers is the
Walk in Her Shoes Challenge (care Australia). It provides care speakers fortalks in schools focusing on aspects of global poverty and care Australia’s
Global Poverty: Teacher’s Toolkit is a resource to help teach students about
poverty, through case studies and planned lesson activities (Care Australia).
Engineers Without Borders Australia
Engineers Without Borders Australia (ewb) is a not-for-profit organization focused on involving young people in practical hands-on actions bringing about change through “humanitarian” engineering. Based in Melbourne
Engineers Without Borders operates a High Schools Outreach Program where
its members, mostly in major capital cities, lead a science education programfor secondary school students. The focus is on addressing real humanitarian
engineering issues in developing country communities, such as the need for“clean water, sanitation and hygiene, energy, basic infrastructure, waste systems.” They apply engineering knowledge and work on projects with otherngos in South Asia, South East Asia and Australian Aboriginal students andin 2012 its schools program won ‘Science Engagement Initiative of the Year’in the 2012 Western Australian Science Awards.
One example mentioned in the act roundtable was the organizationof workshops involving students tackling a real life engineering project fora developing country. In this case the project had students investigate andcome up with a way of making water filters for a village. According to one

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roundtable participant the students were looking at how they could apply
the local technologies and the local knowledge to build up something thatwas sustainable. He felt this approach worked because for students “that’s
where you could make connections between technology and science content, and understand science as a human endeavor, and [go] back to humanrights” (act rt).
Indigenous Rights
Reconciliation Australia
Reconciliation Australia (RA) is a national organization promoting reconciliation between Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and theAustralian community. RA organizes Reconciliation events across Australia,
Closing the Gap Conversations, celebrations during National Reconciliation
Week, and a schools Reconciliation Action Plan program. In nsw it also
stages a Schools Reconciliation Challenge that showcases a school’s commitment to reconciliation, focusing on children aged 10 to 16 years. A major recent campaign is their You Me Unity campaign, which is working to support
the recognition of Indigenous Australians in the Constitution.
antar ((Australians for Native Title and Reconciliation)
antar is a national advocacy community-based organization dedicatedto working to achieve justice, rights and respect for Aboriginal and Torres
Strait Islander peoples. One of the activities organized by antar that has
involved school students is the Sea of Hands and has produced a schools kit
to help students create their own Sea of Hands installation. More recently
antar has been organizing Constitutional Recognition presentations aspart of a national effort to have Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island peoples
recognized in the Australian Constitution.
Fred Hollows Foundation- Diplomacy Training Program (nsw/nt)
The Fred Hollows Foundation works to end avoidable blindness, restore sight in Aboriginal communities in Australia, and developing countries in Africa, South Asia, Southeast Asia and the Pacific. Young people areable to get involved in various fundraising activities and volunteering. The
Foundation celebrates the UN’s International Day of the World’s Indigenous
Peoples and as part of its work to empower Indigenous advocates for the194

H u m a n R i g h t s E d u c at i o n i n A s i a - Pa c i f i crights of their people in health, education and social justice issues (Fred
Hollows Foundation, Darwin RT).
Special Events and Festivals
Another important way school students are able to learn about a range ofsocial issues is through class involvement in local or national community
based special events or festivals. Schools are able to choose from a numberof special events and festivals that take place over the school year and focus
on particular rights and social justice issues. We have listed a number of themost prominent events that do involve schools.
Human Rights Day (December 10)
Human Rights Day is the day that marks the adoption in December
1948 when the United Nations adopted the Universal Declaration of Human
Rights. In Australia the ahrc encourages the commemoration and celebration of the day. Ahrc has also produced a set of resources aimed atYear 9 and above classes in subjects such as Civics and Citizenship, Society
and Environment, Design and Technology, English, Legal Studies, andInternational Studies (ahrc).
National Reconciliation Week (27 May to 3 June)
National Reconciliation Week is an annual week of celebrations to recognize the place of Aboriginal and Torres Islander peoples within Australia
and marks two important events in Australia’s Indigenous history – the 1967
Referendum and the 1992 Mabo decision in the High Court. Celebrations
are organized in schools and across the Australian community.
naidoc Week (7- 14 July)naidoc Week is a national event in July that celebrates the history, culture and achievements of Aboriginal and Torres Islander peoples. Schools
celebrate aspects of Aboriginal history and culture and cover the history ofreconciliation (act rt).
Refugee Week (16 to 22 June)
The Refugee Council of Australia organizes Refugee Week events andcelebrations nationally for a week in mid June as a way of raising publicHuman Rights Education in the Australian School Curriculum

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awareness about refugees and celebrating their positive contributions toAustralian Society. The week always includes World Refugee Day (June 20)
and a Refugee Week Resource Kit is produced to help organizers including
teachers to prepare for the week.
Harmony Day (March 21)
Harmony Day is part of an Australian Government funded initiative
to promote community harmony and address racism and involves schools
across the country as a day to celebrate cultural diversity. The day coincides
with the UN’s International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination.
Fairer World Festival (Hobart)
An example of an annual festival that involves school aged children is
the Fairer World Festival in Hobart that specifically involves children aged
9 to 11 years (nsw rt).
School Excursions or Camps
An important and continuing form of other learning opportunities outside
the classroom is school excursions or school camps. A few examples havebeen listed below.
Parliament House Canberra visits
One of the excursions that involve many primary school students in
nsw and Victoria during their upper primary years is visiting Parliament
House in Canberra and the Democracy Museum in Old Parliament House
as part of their learning about civic and political rights.
Melbourne school visits
In Victoria schools, especially those outside Melbourne, arrange school
excursions that last a week in Melbourne, enabling students to visit places
like the Immigration Museum, the Asylum Seeker Resource Centre, andCourage to Care (an exhibition on Holocaust Awareness and bystanders
coordinated by the Jewish community). Also as the Eureka Stockade rebellion of 1854 is an important part of Victoria’s colonial history and Australia’s
struggle for democracy, many schools also organize an excursion to Ballarat

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to visit the Eureka Centre’s Museum of Australian Democracy at Eureka andlearn about the struggle for rights in the 19th Century (Victoria RT).
The Big Issue visits
School students in Melbourne and Sydney are able to learn about issues
related to homelessness through a schools program run by The Big Issue,
which involves homeless people talking about their experiences of homelessness with school children (nsw & Victoria RT).
Conclusion
Analyzing the curriculum opportunities for the teaching of human rights
across Australian state and territories remains a complex and multi-dimensional task that has not been attempted in any previous study, prior to thisone. Given the difficulties of engaging with all curriculum authorities, syllabus and curriculum documents across each school sector, and taking into
account the changing landscape of the Australian Curriculum process, anumber of insights can be drawn from our analysis.
Before setting out any learning opportunities it is important to consider
which human rights students are expected to learn about across their school
learning stages. Among the key curriculum dimensions to consider acrosseach of three key stages of learning are whether: human rights topics are explicit or implicit, compulsory or optional elective, sector specific initiatives
and the range of other curricular learning opportunities. The main findings
are:
•
•
•

the Senior Years 11-12 provide the most explicit and implicit learning opportunities to study topics that are clearly related to humanrights issues.
only a small number and proportion of students are likely to study
human rights issues to any significant extent across their school
years
study of human rights issues takes place without any clear overall
definition of rights, and mostly without any overarching context
or link back to UN declarations, treaties, conventions or recent
Australian rights legislation.

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Senior Years• the main explicit opportunities found in this study are in History,
Geography, Legal Studies subjects and the Civics and Citizenshipunit.
• a number of subjects with small enrolments, and not widely available, also provide explicit opportunities. The subjects are in a few
learning areas – Politics; Society and Culture; Aboriginal Studies;
Women’s Studies; and Religious Studies.
• implicit opportunities were found in English; Science; Economics &Business.
• only a few Subjects – History, Australian & Global Politics,
Australian & International Politics, Aboriginal Studies - specifically mention any UN human rights declarations, treaties or conventions or Australian legislation.
Secondary Years• across the Secondary Years 7 to 10, it was mainly Years 9 and 10 thatoffered the main explicit opportunities – in History, Geography,
Aboriginal Studies and Civics and Citizenship units.
• the main implicit opportunities across Years 7 to 10 were in English,
Science, and Economics subjects.
Primary Years• human rights did not appear to be explicitly mentioned across thePrimary school years. Implicit opportunities were found mostly in
the Human Society and its Environment (hsie or its equivalent)
Learning Area.
• the main relevant subjects included History; Geography, English,
Physical Development Health & Physical Education (pdhpe); andCivics and Citizenship units.
Impact of state and territory human rights legislation
Despite the act in 2004 and Victoria in 2007 enacting important statebased human rights legislation, these legislative steps have generally had
little impact on their schools – although Victoria has provided some links
to a number of syllabus documents and a set of teacher support documents.

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Valuable, interesting and wide-ranging human rights education work is
being undertaken in schools by a number of government agencies and key
ngos.
• the types of activities they provide include community-school initiatives (projects, programs and campaigns); special events and festivals; and school excursions and camps.
• the human rights issues addressed by key ngos can be categorized
as being broadly rights-based; addressing civil and political rights;
children’s rights; economic rights; humanitarian and Indigenous
rights.
While it is recognized that individual ngos are undertaking valuable
work in promoting human rights in schools, this tends to happen on an ad
hoc basis, and it is difficult for sustained relationships to be developed between ngos and schools.
Importantly, while all together these findings show a set of fragmented
and somewhat limited opportunities that are concentrated in the last few
years of schooling and studied by a only a relatively small number of students overall, what is already in place does provide a basis for building up a
more detailed and comprehensive approach to human rights education in
the Australian school curriculum.
Any initiatives will need to be led by a number of key staff with a knowledge of the curriculum development process, have an understanding of thecomplexity of Australian school sector and be aware of the valuable role ofgovernment agencies and ngos in providing a range of key other learning
opportunities to schools.
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