Kerre Woodham: Schools need to be teaching civics

There are a lot of things parents can teach children without schools needing to get involved. Basic hygiene, reading, physical education, even driving – parents should and could teach their children these skills. And I know schools already have a lot to be dealing with as regards to the needs of our children in their classroom, they've got a lot of changes to the curriculum happening. But one area where I would totally jump on my soapbox and say the schools need to be teaching is civics education.   

It's come to the forefront because while the NSW Government understands the importance of young people having a working knowledge of democracy and the legal system, it announced last year that studying civics would be compulsory in primary schools from 2027. Critics are saying that the subject is too important to be included within a wider syllabus. At the moment, what the NSW Government is doing is putting civics in with human society and its wider environments syllabus, along with other things. Critics argue that civics is so important it should have its own standalone status, with its own standalone support material, and specialist teachers, and the like.  

I couldn't really agree more, because when you look at everything we talk about on this show, when you look at the subject matters that are dear to our hearts, the genesis of all of the issues that come up comes down to decisions made by people voted by us or people choosing not to vote. So a small number of people get to choose individuals who will make decisions that impact us all, be it local bodies or government.  

Or we're talking about issues because decisions are made by people who don't understand the social contract and what it means to be a citizen, and that's what civics is all about: understanding that when you are a citizen within a civilized society you have rights certainly, but you have duties and obligations. So if there was a greater understanding of civics, a greater understanding and appreciation of what it means to be involved in a democracy, a greater understanding of the way our governments work, both central and local government, the way our laws work, we would have a more civilised society.    

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:06):
You're listening to the Kerrywood and Morning's podcast from News Talks, he'd.

Speaker 2 (00:10):
Be there are a lot of things parents can teach
children without schools needing to get involved. Every time there's
a gap or a parental deficiency, people say, oh, it
should be taught in schools, but really, basic hygiene, reading,
physical education, even driving. Parents should and could teach their

(00:38):
children these skills. And I know schools already have a
lot to be dealing with as regards the needs of
our children in their classroom. They've got a lot of
changes to the correc culdum happening. But one area where
I would totally jump on my soapbox and say the
schools need to be teaching this is civics education. And

(01:00):
we might have touched on this before, but it's come
to the forefront because while the new South Wales government
understands the importance of young people having a working knowledge
of democracy in the legal system, it announced last year
that studying civics would be compulsory in primary schools from
twenty twenty seven. Critics are saying that the subject is

(01:24):
too important to be included within a wider syllabus at
the moment. What the New South Wales government is doing
is putting CIVICS and with human society and its wider
environments syllabus along with other things. Critics argue that CIVICS
is so important it should have its own standalone status,

(01:47):
with its own standalone support material and specialist teachers and
the like. And I couldn't really agree more because when
you look at everything we talk about on the show,
when you look at the subject matters that are dear

(02:08):
to our heart, the genesis of all of the issues
that come up come down to decisions made by people
voted by us or you know, people choosing not to vote.
So a small number of people get to choose individuals

(02:28):
who will make decisions that impact upon us all, be
it local bodies or government or we're talking about issues,
because decisions are made by people who don't understand the
social contract and what it means to be a citizen.
And that's what CIVICS is all about, understanding that when

(02:51):
you us as citizen within a civilized society, you have rights, certainly,
but you have duties and obligations. So if there was
a greater understanding of civics, greater understanding and appreciation of
what it means to be involved in a democracy. A

(03:13):
greater understanding of the way our governments work, both central
and local government, the way our laws work, we would
have a more civilized society, I would argue. I mean,
you might be able to point to other countries or
why don't know, like the United States and say they
teach civics there, and you haven't seen a lot of

(03:35):
civilization there. But more education is not going to be
a bad thing. It's not going to make us worse
off to understand a how it works and b what
our obligations are. And the reason for this is because
nominations for the forthcoming local elections officially opened yesterday and

(03:57):
potential candidates have until the horses birthdays to throw their
hat into the ring, which is August the first. So
from now to August the first, you can put up
your hands and say yes, I'd like to put myself
forward to stand for election in the local body elections.
But voting in local body elections has fallen from the

(04:18):
fifty seven percent in the late eighties forty two years ago,
higher in some areas, lower than others, so around forty
one percent, and so much of what our local body
politicians decide impacts on us all. And yet we don't vote.
When I say we, I mean you. I did, and

(04:39):
probably a lot of you who listened to the show did,
because that's what you're interested in. You know, you're interested
in your community and your society. You don't want to
settle for the lowest common denominator. The reason we get
so exercised and so uptight is because we want better
for ourselves, for our kids, and for the future. So

(05:02):
we're not willing to go, oh, well, that's just the
way it is. That's good enough. So surely one of
the most important things we can do is understand how
government works and understand our obligations and our duties. I

(05:23):
think I think we've got our rights pretty much nailed.
I think even the most uneducated oath within this community
seems to have a particular understanding of what their rights
are in this society. Obligations, though, need to be drilled home.

(05:43):
It'll be fairly easy to teach you to be fairly
fun to teach. You know, from a very early age,
young people understand about forming themselves into groups and alliances.
So I'd be really interested to get your thoughts on this.
Should it be a compulsory subject within the New Zealand curriculum.
And when it comes to voting, do you understand the

(06:06):
way the voting system works? What do you need to
know in the forthcoming local body elections to feel confident
about casting your vote and knowing that it's not going
to be wasted and know that it's not going to
be cast for the wrong person, and know what the
ramifications of your vote and the election of your person

(06:29):
is going to mean.

Speaker 1 (06:30):
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