The Australian Children's Television Foundation have launched a new resource for teachers, working with SCEAA's own Keith Heggart.
Looking for an engaging way to teach democracy, rights and responsibilities? This collection is packed with short Australian television clips and ready-to-use activities that spark discussion and critical thinking. Aligned to the Australian Curriculum V9, it helps students connect everyday experiences with big civic ideas.
Explore here:  https://education.actf.com.au/civics-and-citizenship-curated-clip-collection

ACTF and Keith are also running professional learning sessions for teachers in November - see below for details.

Civics and Citizenship Primary Teachers Professional Learning
Tuesday 11 November
Bring civics and citizenship to life in your primary classroom with Australian screen stories. In this 30-minute session, Dr Keith Heggart shares practical strategies, curriculum links and ready-to-use activities that make big ideas like democracy and rights engaging for young learners. Join live or register to access the recording and resources anytime. Register here:  https://education.actf.com.au/civics-and-citizenship-teacher-professional-learning/primary-classroom
 
Civics and Citizenship Secondary Teachers Professional Learning
Thursday 13 November
Screen stories can spark powerful conversations about democracy, justice and identity. Join Dr Keith Heggart for a 30-minute session designed for secondary teachers, exploring how to use Australian screen texts to build students’ civics knowledge, media literacy and critical thinking. Can’t make it live? Register to access the recording and resources. Register here: https://education.actf.com.au/civics-and-citizenship-teacher-professional-learning/secondary-classroom

The Social Educator, the official journal of SCEAA, serves as a dynamic forum for sharing innovative practices, exploring new teaching methodologies, and presenting scholarly research in social and citizenship education. This peer-reviewed journal provides a collaborative space for practitioners, researchers, and anyone engaged in social and citizenship education to share ideas, research, and practices.

We are now accepting papers for the second issue of The Social Educator in 2025.
 
Please submit manuscripts by November 21 2025.

Theme: Place, connection, democratic participation and the futures of citizenship education

Sub-themes:

1. The role of place and local contexts for socio-ecological connection, fostering belonging, citizenship and democratic practice
2. Engaging young people democratically and actively as citizens 
3. The future(s) of democratic and citizenship education in regional and urban contexts

Manuscripts should be a maximum of 6000 words excluding abstract and references. Please include an abstract of 150 words. All referencing is APA 7th Edition.

Held in partnership with James Cook University (JCU) in Townsville, our mid-year conference was a vibrant gathering of over 40 school students, educators, teachers, researchers, and advocates from across Australia. In response to 2024 feedback, we included dedicated networking sessions, which turned out to be a real highlight. Thank you to everyone for showing up so generously and making the space meaningful. 

Thank you to our partners and collaborators:

• Our partnership with colleagues at JCU Townsville, who provided our venue and wonderful local support in the coordination of our conference 
  
• Students and teachers from Enkindle Village School, the independent democratic school on campus at JCU Townsville, which provides students a voice and choice in their learning journey. Enkindle focuses on inspiring their community of learners to grow with curiosity and joy. 
  
• Professor Stewart Riddle, whose keynote and provocations on social justice and schooling continue to resonate. He shared his views on democratisation of schooling systems, increasing access and equity in education and how schooling can respond to critical social issues in complex contemporary times. 
  
• Professor Phillippa Collin, whose What Matters to Young People report challenges us to listen more deeply and act more meaningfully to respond to what young people believe, say and do.  In her provocation she drew on Isin’s work, ‘Being political: genealogies of citizenship. University of Minnesota Press, 2002; Theorizing acts of citizenship. In: Isin E, Nielsen G (eds), Acts of citizenship. Palgrave Macmillan, London, pp 15–43, 2009. She proposes that shifting the focus from children’s and young people’s “citizenship status” to their “acts of citizenship” can unsettle the dominant assumptions about what counts as citizenship, how it comes to be, and with what consequences.

Read SCEAA Vice President Caroline Ferguson's recent piece published on the Australian Association for Research in Education's (AARE) EduResearch Matters blog.

Caroline's blog post, based on her research in global citizenship education, explores how global citizenship education is practiced in schools, how students perceive it and the contrasts between their perceptions and their teachers'.

Read it now on EduResearch Matters via the button below.