Whole school priorities Archives

Educating for Peace: How the Sydney Peace Foundation Builds a Culture of Peace with Justice

Melanie Morrison outlines the importance of education in the pursuit of peace, advocating for a ‘peace with justice’ model for our turbulent times…

In a world plagued with conflict, rising inequality, and eroding human rights, the work of civil society groups and movements dedicated to peace, justice and human rights has never been more important.

Since its founding in 1998, the Sydney Peace Foundation (the Foundation) has been advocating for ‘peace with justice’ recognising that to achieve true and lasting peace, society must go beyond ending war and violent conflict and must also address deep injustices and structural inequality.

The ‘peace with justice’ philosophy distinguishes the Foundation from more conventional peace organisations. Peace is not a passive condition but an active project— one that requires dismantling the systems of poverty, racism, and exclusion that generate violence and inequality in the first instance.

As Emeritus Professor Stuart Rees who co-founded both the Centre for Peace and Conflict Studies at the University of Sydney in 1988 and later the Sydney Peace Foundation, has said, considerations such as access to health care, education and housing are central to building a better world. It is these fundamental human rights and values that are essential foundations for a more peaceful and just society.

Through education, public engagement, and advocacy, the Foundation has worked with a broad coalition of individuals and organisations committed to peace and social progress to reimagine what a truly peaceful and just society might look like.

This excerpt from the Universal Declaration of Human Rights underscores the centrality of peace education in building these foundations.

“Education shall be directed to the full development of the human personality and to the strengthening of respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms. It shall promote understanding, tolerance and friendship among all nations, racial or religious groups, and shall further the activities of the United Nations for the maintenance of peace.” – Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

Central to the Foundation’s work has been its commitment to education as a transformative tool. The Foundation has encouraged people in Australia and abroad to think about the meaning of peace, justice, and alternatives to violence. It is about building a culture of peace with justice where these concepts should not only be taught as a theory but as an active practice.

Teaching from theory to practice

The partnership with the NSW Teachers Federation combines both these elements. How do we embed theories of peace and justice in professional teaching practice? The University of Sydney’s Dr Jake Lynch, also a former director of the Sydney Peace Foundation, has run several sessions with Federation peace delegates on the academic approach that connects the theory and practice of nonviolence, human rights, and conflict transformation. By outlining the distinction between ‘positive peace’ and ‘negative peace’, these sessions encourage a deeper understanding of the necessary conditions for true and sustained peace.

These concepts were developed by Norwegian sociologist Johan Galtung where ‘positive peace’ goes beyond the absence of armed or weaponised conflict, which he refers to as ‘negative peace’, and incorporates the attitudes, institutions and structures that create and sustain peaceful societies. Dr Jake Lynch elaborates on his article entitled Peace and Conflict Studies – Teaching Peace (Journal of Professional Learning 23)

This partnership builds on the NSW Teachers Federation’s long-standing commitment to peace and peace education as fundamental to the ethos of public education. At its very core, public education promotes just and equitable societies in its advocacy and support for access to high quality education for all. No matter where you come from, how much money you have or who you are, you are welcome in public schools. It goes without saying that in the public school sector themes of social justice, human rights, reconciliation, and nonviolence are intrinsically embedded into teaching practice across a range of curriculum areas.

Over recent years, the Teachers Federation has strengthened engagement with the Sydney Peace Foundation and other organisations committed to building a safe, more equitable and more peaceful society. During Peace Week, for example, teachers and students become active contributors to building a culture of peace primarily through the schools program at Cabramatta High School and the Sydney Peace Prize Lecture and Award Ceremony.

The Cabramatta High Peace Day is a highlight of Peace Week. For over 20 years, Cabramatta High, located in Sydney’s multicultural heartland, brings together thousands of students for a celebration of diversity and inclusion. Many students wear traditional cultural dress— from Ukraine to Iraq, from Afghanistan to Ghana— with colourful performances from across the globe. Sydney Peace Prize laureates find it one of the most meaningful parts of Peace Week with the regional head of International Federation of the Red Cross, Alexander Matheou, saying in 2024, “I’ve worked in peace for 25 years and it seems I should have come to Cabramatta High to see what peace really looks like.”

The purpose of education, as defined by UNESCO, is to empower individuals, strengthen communities and fosters inclusive societies. “It is one of the most powerful tools to lift marginalised children and adults out of poverty, and it also helps to uphold other basic human rights. It is the cornerstone of peace, justice and resilience in the face of the world’s most pressing challenges. This is the basis of any democratic society, and the right to education is protected by international law.”

Inherent in these concepts is the process through which students become informed citizens with the knowledge and skills, coupled with the practical experience to participate in the civil society and our democratic processes.

Emeritus Professor Stuart Rees stated in a Honi Soit article last year, in reference to student participation in civil society action when the Centre of Peace and Conflict Studies still existed, “Students spent time on the picket line to learn about labour, to learn about the rights of workers, to learn about the consequences of privatisation, to learn about the apparent power of trade unions. More was learned in a couple of nights huddled around fires with workers than from just theory alone.”

The Sydney Peace Prize as Pedagogy

The Foundation is perhaps best known for the annual Sydney Peace Prize, Australia’s only international prize for peace. The Prize is not merely an award— it is a pedagogical tool, designed to shift public conversation and inspire debate.

The Sydney Peace Prize laureates represent a remarkable collection of moral and intellectual courage. Their philosophies and values embedded in their lives and their work hold invaluable pedagogical lessons.

The jury assesses nominees’ efforts to promote peace with justice and awards the Prize to individuals or organisations that have made significant contributions to global peace, through challenging systems of structural violence, inequality, gender discrimination and racism in all its forms.

Recipients have ranged from Muhammad Yunus, the Foundation’s inaugural laureate, who reimagined finance as a tool for the poorest, to feminist and environmentalist Vandana Shiva’s championing of Indigenous agricultural knowledge in India as scientifically valid and continues to be a strong proponent of non-violent community action.

Also, laureates including the late Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Patrick Dodson and the Uluru Statement from the Heart, all proposing that reconciliation is not the erasure of painful history but its honest reckoning. When Tutu was in Australia, he urged the then Prime Minister John Howard to apologise to Aboriginal Australians for the discrimination they suffer.

Both Patrick Dodson and the Uluru Statement from the Heart highlighted strong themes of respect, recognition and reconciliation for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders. For educators, the message of these powerful Indigenous individuals and movements is that you cannot move forward without an acknowledgement of the past. Genuine peace cannot be built on silence. It must be firmly grounded firmly in the rights of Indigenous people.

And the many women who have received the Sydney Peace Prize who have refused to be silent as they challenge power structures, the patriarchy, climate justice and inequality.

Naomi Klein, Arundhati Roy, and Irene Khan all connect the dots between capitalism and climate disaster, between the patriarchy, freedom of speech and human suffering, between corporate power and the erosion of democracy. They fearlessly identify who holds power, who benefits from existing power structures, and who pays the price.

I will make special mention here of our 2026 Sydney Peace Prize Laureate, Australian international human rights lawyer Jennifer Robinson. Her work also traverses climate and gender justice, human rights, press freedom and the rights of marginalised communities, Importantly, she is also a strong advocate for public education recognising the fundamental role it plays as a foundation for a more equal and fair society. Also, Dr Hanan Ashrawi, a Palestinian Christian lawmaker, who continues to act as a role model for courage. She has maintained her principled, evidence-based advocacy in the face of Israel’s occupation of Palestine and brutal personal attacks.

Professor Joseph Stiglitz, who received the Sydney Peace Prize in 2018 and the Nobel Prize in economics in 2001, teaches us that genuine peace cannot be built while economic inequality and economic injustice exist. The political system that creates this inequality— by serving the interests of the powerful while failing to protect the poorest nations and communities— must be challenged.

Former Human Rights Commissioners Mary Robinson and the 2025 Sydney Peace Prize Laureate Navi Pillay both teach us that human rights are not abstract legal instruments but lived realities, that international law is not a privilege extended by the powerful but a universal right in which every human life carries equal worth and equal protection under the law.

The stories of each and every Sydney Peace Prize laureate— whether it be the lawyers, the political leaders, the artists, the community workers, the academics, the weapons inspectors, the activists— remind us that even in the darkest moments, there is power working together for peace, justice and universal human rights. Stories of courage and compassion deliver powerful lessons in ‘educating for peace’, inspiring a new generation to be active participants in building a better, more just world.

We know that change requires solidarity and collective action. Through our partnership with the NSW Teachers Federation and other organisations, communities and individuals committed to peace with justice, we can be that change.

Here I will end with a quote from Judge Navi Pillay, “we live in a world where voices for justice are louder, more connected, and more courageous than ever before. The path ahead is neither easy nor short, but it is a path we must walk together – with integrity, with compassion, and with determination.”

References

Lynch, J. (2026) Peace and Conflict Studies – Teaching Peace Journal of Professional Learning 23

Morrison, M. (n.d.) Sydney Peace Foundation Annual Report 2024 chrome-extension://efaidnbmnnnibpcajpcglclefindmkaj/https://sydneypeacefoundation.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/2024-SPF-Annual-Report-FINAL_website.pdf

Sydney Peace Foundation (n.d.) Peace Prize Recipients https://sydneypeacefoundation.org.au/peace-prize-recipients/

Sydney Peace Foundation (n.d.) 2025 Navi Pillay https://sydneypeacefoundation.org.au/peace-prize-recipients/navi-pillay/

UN General Assembly, Resolution 217A (III), Universal Declaration of Human Rights, A/RES/217(III) (December 10, 1948), https://www.un.org/en/about-us/universal-declaration-of-human-rights.

UNESCO (n.d.) What you need to know about education and why it matters https://www.unesco.org/en/articles/what-you-need-know-about-education-and-why-it-matters

Zhang, V. (n.d.) A Collective Voice for Peace With Justice Honi Soit https://honisoit.com/2025/10/peace-foundation-collective-voice-for-peace-with-justice/

About the author

Melanie Morrison is the executive director of the Sydney Peace Foundation. She is a human rights, peace and climate justice advocate with extensive leadership experience in partnerships, strategy, communications and program development. With a Master’s Degree from the University of Sydney, she has led communications and research programs across the corporate, non-profit, government and university sectors. She is an award-winning journalist, researcher and producer for her work in Australia and overseas.

Educating for Peace – Melanie Morrison Download

Peace and Conflict Studies – Teaching Peace

Jake Lynch provides a well – researched outline of the essential knowledge that teachers would need to introduce the concepts of peace and conflict to their students…

We have the great Russian novelist, Leo Tolstoy to thank (or perhaps blame) for fixing Peace in popular imagination as one-half of an antonymic dyad with War. As for establishing war and conflict as widely used synonyms. The gift, or fault, of journalism. To use a different word at ‘second mention’ is a virtue of news writing.

Teaching peace opens these definitions and elisions to critical thinking by identifying and questioning their component parts. In doing so, it resources groups to relate the dynamics of conflict, violence and indeed peace to layers of their own experience, both direct and mediated. So, it honours and – to an extent depending on circumstance – emulates the ideal of its soulmate, critical pedagogy, in enabling all to be both teachers and learners.

From my background as a television reporter and presenter (and sometime Sydney Correspondent for the UK Independent newspaper) I began by interrogating the typically event-driven coverage offered to news audiences. How often does a violent incident make a headline as the latest episode in “the war between X and Y”? A later paragraph will often open thus: “The conflict began when…” and go on to remind readers of an earlier violent event.

Downplayed, or often omitted altogether, are the processes that lead up to the events. This is where the definition of conflict coined by the Norwegian polymath, Johan Galtung – seen as the ‘Father of Peace Studies’ – is key. Conflict, he declared, is nothing more than “a relationship between two or more parties who have, or think they have, incompatible goals” (Galtung, 1976: 290). That relationship can be reproduced in social relations at many levels – up to and including the waging of war. But it doesn’t need to be. The use of military force is a response to conflict, but only one of a range of possible responses.

Galtung envisaged those relations in a triangle, dividing them into Attitudes, Behaviours and Contradictions: the ABC of Conflict. Impetus for change can emanate from any one of them at any time. And they can combine to produce real-world effects. Violent behaviours can harden attitudes and make it more difficult to open dialogue about goals and their potential for areas of compatibility. “We don’t talk to terrorists”, in the familiar phrase.

Indeed, investigations found that outrage occasioned by Russian attacks on civilian infrastructure was one factor in deterring the Ukrainian government from engaging seriously with the Turkish peace plan, which could have halted the war there as long ago as 2022.

Then, is conflict – as distinct from war – necessarily a bad thing? Change is inherently conflictual, since pretty much any change will suit some people more than others. Students can be invited to imagine a society where nothing ever changes. The sclerosis would freeze injustices in place. To intensify conflict can have the effect of ‘calling out’ such problems, exposing them and bolstering demands for reform and progress.

If war and conflict are – as per countless news reports – synonymous, then peace would risk being seen as the antonym of conflict, not just war. And that would make it impossible to attain, since conflict, on this definition, is an inescapable and in many ways essential fact of life.

How about violence? Again, the field generally follows Galtung’s conceptual innovation by dividing violence into component parts: the form it takes from the effect it brings about. The latter is the defining feature: violence is anything that holds people’s “somatic and mental realizations below their potential” (Galtung, 1969: 168).

It’s obvious how this results from, say, a hospital or apartment block being bombed. That is Direct Violence: so-called because of the direct subject-action-object sequence of They did This to Them. But the effect can be wrought in many other ways too: woven into systems and structures, perpetuated by rules, ideas and assumptions. These can be divided into two other forms: Structural Violence and Cultural Violence. The latter makes the other two “feel right – or at least not wrong”. So, could peace be defined as the absence of violence?

The absence or cessation of Direct Violence can be seen as “negative peace” – not to indicate anything wrong with it, indeed many groups of people in today’s world understandably yearn for it. Negative in the sense that it can be ‘got’ by refraining from doing something.

Positive peace, on the other hand, entails tackling the other forms of violence as well. Re-imagining and reforming structures and institutions; exposing prejudices, re-thinking notions and images of self and other that have hardened over time and across generations. It’s implicated in the United Nations mandate of Peacebuilding, added in the 1990s to its traditional jobs of Peacemaking (brokering agreements) and Peacekeeping (deploying neutral forces in blue helmets). Creating new, more equitable ways of doing and being together as a social safeguard against lapsing or relapsing into war.

A peaceful society is one with abundant resources and willingness to seek out instances of structural and cultural violence; promote and conduct inclusive dialogue about how to change and overcome them and commit to the widest and greatest possible fulfilment of human potential.

As such processes can (indeed must) occur at all levels, we all have a part to play. So, interrogating and broadening definitions of these crucial underlying concepts of war, peace, conflict and violence – as I have briefly done here – allows groups of learners to engage by reference to their own experience, impressions and position in society (both local and global).

Peace Journalism

One abundant source of material for class discussion, as already hinted above, is news stories about various conflicts.

What makes news the way it is? Influences on content have been arranged, in relevant research, in a “hierarchy” – with a role for journalists themselves and their ethical and operational precepts, but embedded in (and often outranked by) commercial and organisational considerations.

The classic news story has a beginning, middle and end that all take place, or become apparent, in the interval between deadlines. That’s what makes it news – as opposed to ‘olds’. Reporters must establish not only why we should hear about something, but why we should hear about it today. What’s happened since the last time we heard about it?

These pressures produce a dominant form that Galtung diagnosed as “war journalism” – not, or not only in the obvious sense of reporting about wars, but a way of representing conflicts (of all kinds) that cognitively primes us for violence. It’s what we are led or left to expect and regard as the inevitable – even desirable – corollary of the story as presented.

Hence the remedial form of Peace Journalism, which has breathed life over the past few decades in both scholarly research and various forms of practice, such as training courses for journalists in societies affected by violent conflict by way of media development aid.

Whereas War Journalism is oriented towards war-and-violence; propaganda; elites, and victory, Peace Journalism adopts the opposite orientations, towards conflict-and-peace; truth; people, and solutions. It has been defined as journalism that “prompts and equips readers and audiences to consider and value nonviolent responses to conflicts” (Lynch and McGoldrick, 2005: 5).

A typical War Journalism story will open with a traumatic event and go on to juxtapose reactions to it through quotes from elite sources, often confined to those on ‘our’ side. These may concentrate on promising further steps to ensure the ‘enemy’ is neutralised or even ‘destroyed’. Then ‘peace’ can be ‘restored’.

Peace Journalism, on the other hand, will often find sources from sub-elite levels whose own life experiences reveal the underlying processes, replete with structural and cultural violence, that lead up to such events. Their inputs may be used to inspect the claims of leaders in a fresh light and critically assess them. And it will pick up on initiatives and suggestions for positive peace by addressing these more structural and systemic problems, to prevent the recurrence of direct violence.

It can be a powerful teaching and learning technique to source such material as a group and compile an alternative version of a news story. News in its typical rhetoric does not invite discussion about itself. It is still more likely to self-certify as “the way it is” rather than prompting us to wonder how it came to be that way. To realise there is a fund of options for telling it differently can be most eye-opening. Today, of course, there are abundant alternative media operating in liminal spaces that offer such material, so it can be found with relative ease.

So these are some beginnings for any teachers wishing to offer peace as an object and subject of learning. It can be empowering for groups; but also challenging, as assumptions (that ‘we’ are the ‘goodies’, for example) are critically examined and discussed.

References

Galtung, Johan (1969) ‘Violence, peace and peace research’. Journal of Peace Research, 6 (3), pp. 167–191.

Galtung, Johan (1976) ‘Three Approaches to Peace: Peacekeeping, Peacemaking, and Peacebuilding’. Impact of Science on Society, 1/2 (1976). PRIO publication No. 25-9, pp 282-304.

Lynch, Jake and Annabel McGoldrick (2005) Peace Journalism. Stroud: Hawthorn Press.

About the author

Associate Professor Jake Lynch teaches into the Master of Social Justice degree program at the University of Sydney. He has spent the past 30 years researching, developing, teaching and training in Peace Journalism. For this work, he was recognised with the award of the 2017 Luxembourg Peace Prize, by the Schengen Peace Foundation.

Scholarly publications include several books and over 60 book chapters and refereed articles. Jake served for nine years on the Executive Committee of the Sydney Peace Foundation, and for two years as Secretary General of the International Peace Research Association.

Before taking up an academic post, Jake enjoyed a 20-year career in journalism. He was a Political Correspondent for Sky News, at Westminster, and the Sydney Correspondent for the Independent newspaper, culminating in a role as an on-air presenter (anchor) for BBC World Television News.

Jake’s novel series, the Janna Rose mysteries (published by Next Chapter) break new ground as the first detective fiction to be set in the world of EMDR, or Eye Movement Desensitisation and Reprocessing: a powerful therapeutic technique for treating unprocessed trauma. The second, Diagnosis or Death, published in 2026, follows Mind Over Murder (2025): https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0F1YDRX5Q?binding=paperback&ref=dbs_dp_rwt_sb_pc_tpbk

Peace and Conflict Studies – Jake Lynch Download

LGBTIQA+ in the Classroom Context

Julie McMullen and John Skene reflect on the changing social and political realms in the LGBTIQA+ space, the impact on schools and positive ways to be inclusive…

Historical Context

The policies and strategic direction of the NSW Teachers Federation are determined by Council, making Federation one of the most democratic unions in Australia. These policies are reflective of the cultural landscape in which they are made and as such, Federation has often been a driving force for progressive change. This is especially apparent in the work Federation has undertaken in LGBTIQA+ advocacy.

As described in Education Quarterly Issue 5 article, Progress to be proud of, by Kerri Carr: “1975 Annual Conference delegates reiterated an aim of Federation’s Constitution: to guard members against ‘any hardship, oppression or injustice in connection with their employment … If such hardship, oppression or injustice in their employment results from discrimination on racial, political, religious or social grounds in employment or training, this Federation commits itself unequivocally to the support of such members.’”

Federation’s 1978 Sexual Discrimination policy made a powerful contribution towards communicating their standpoint and goals in this policy area.

The policy:

affirmed “the right of staff and students to enter and remain in educational institutions regardless of sex, sexuality or marital status. It will support any member who is victimised, disadvantaged or denied employment on these grounds”
declared: “Family and personal relationships, including non-marital relationships, must be respected in postings, promotions and transfers, in accordance with Federation policy” and “Teachers, the Federation and the Department of Education all have a responsibility to combat sexual discrimination in the schools”
called for “the reform of laws which prescribe or permit discrimination on the grounds of sex, sexuality or marital status.”

Member advocacy in Federation led early opposition to discrimination against same-sex attracted people, formalised in the 1978 Sexual Discrimination Policy. Members continued to shape this work over time, contributing to the Sexual Orientation and Gender Preferred Identity Policy in 1996, followed by the Gender, Sexuality and Identity Policy in 2011. This policy was updated in 2022 to reflect more inclusive language and practice. The union also established a Gay and Lesbian Special Interest Group (SIG) in the 1980s, which would later be renamed the LGBTIQA+ SIG The LGBTIQA+ Restricted Committee was formed in 2011 to work on LGBTIQA+ policy and to put a LGBTIQA+ lens on broader union policy. This committee, along with the Officer with carriage of LGBTIQA+ matters, is responsible for enacting the motions and decisions of the SIG.

Federation has also played a role in various movements within this space. Notable examples include the Yes to Marriage Equality campaign (2017) and education during the AIDS/HIV epidemic. The Education newspaper helped counter disinformation and fear that was being spread around AIDS/HIV. Education Quarterly has also published articles with strategies on how to be better allies in workplaces and the wider community. Along with this Federation has continued to create resources and advice leaflets, which are available to members through the membership portal.

Visibility and representation are important aspects to help remove stigma and, in turn, create inclusion. This visibility can best be seen through public events such as Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras, as well as similar regional events. While Federation members participated in Mardi Gras as part of union floats previously, 2010 was the first time Federation engaged with the Mardi Festival — first with Fair Day and then with a float in the parade in 2015. Federation has continued to march each year, often with a political message or theme. Federation has also maintained involvement in Fair Day stalls.

Federation has hosted events that have helped lead to change. This has included a symposium in 1980 to support gay teachers and students, and the Diversity in Education Conference — held during World Pride Sydney (2023) — which hosted participants from around the world and interstate. LGBTIQA+ members and Officers also regularly run workshops at conferences as well as courses for contacts and association seminars.

Whilst a lot of Federation’s advocacy has been documented throughout the years, this is still just a fraction of our work in LGBTIQA+ spaces, much of which happens behind the scenes. Progress often ebbs and flows as the cultural landscape changes particularly when working with/against right wing and conservative political parties and groups. This work is not always obvious to a classroom context but creates the necessary foundations to empower change within our classroom spaces.

Policies. Schools. Resources.

“Creating schools and workplaces where people belong is central to a world-leading education system”

Murat Dizdar (NSW Department of Education, 2024a, p.7)

Public schools are a haven for diversity, accepting of all marginalised groups, supporting growth and development for those that come through the front office. Sadly, acceptance and safety are not always a guarantee.

Students often feel isolated and disconnected from their peers. Teachers can be silent and avoidant for their own safety, due to uncertainty. From Cronulla, Newtown, Albury, the Tweed to Broken Hill – both students and teachers should feel empowered to always be their true selves.

The Department has developed policies to promote a safe and secure environment for all staff and students. The Gender Diverse Students in Schools legal issues bulletin, reads “The Department of Education is committed to providing safe and supportive learning environments…” and “Research shows the supportive environment schools provide can have a lasting impact on both the educational and lifelong outcomes for students.” (NSW Department of Education, 2026a).

Other current policies state:

“1.4 Schools are required to support students on health and wellbeing issues in a way that does not discriminate unlawfully against any student.” (NSW Department of Education, 2025)

“2.3 All students and staff have the right to be treated fairly and with dignity, both online and offline, in an environment free from intimidation, violence, harassment, victimisation and discrimination, including that based on sex, race, religion, disability or sexual orientation” (NSW Department of Education, 2024b)

The policies are in place but are they working in practice? The NSW People Matter Employee Survey (2025) shows that more work is needed to support individuals (staff in the survey, but can extrapolate to students) to feel fully accepted and safe in schools across different settings and locations.

The NSW Department of Education (2026c) has created a toolkit: Supporting LGBTIQA+ Inclusive Communities which is designed to help principals and school leaders take positive action to respond to sentiment that may compromise safe, inclusive and respectful environments for all students and staff.

Schools can feel empowered to celebrate and acknowledge days of significance such as Wear it Purple Day, which is a Tier 1 event in the NSW Department of Education calendar. In doing so, it shows LGBTIQA+ individuals and allies that the school is a safe space for students and staff to be themselves.

Many schools are encouraging and support student led Gender and Sexuality Alliances (GSAs) or Rainbow Clubs, that create a safe space for students to connect and support one another. A collaborative resource that was made possible to support the discussions, creation and organisation of GSA groups is available through Twenty10 (2026).

Classroom inclusion

For both students and teachers, it’s important to create a space that is accepting, and safe to the diversity of our communities and schools. This can be done through allowing inclusive language within the classroom to show all students that they are seen and valued for who they are.

Have you ever stood in front of a class and said “OK, guys, eyes to the front” or something similar? While most teachers have moved away from saying phrases like “OK, boys and girls,” there are times when we may accidentally be addressing whole classes or groups using gendered language.

This can be an incredibly hard habit to break as teachers have been using some version of this in one way or another for as long as teaching has existed.

Pictured (NSW Teachers Federation, 2025) is a handy resource to help break some of these habits and create more safe, supportive, and fun schooling environments.

Purposeful, not tokenistic text/lesson/content selection, can increase inclusivity in your classroom. Allow for a wide variety of picture books in your book corner for students to engage with; feeling seen in the classroom allows students to feel comfortable to be their true selves and seek support when needed.

Thinking outside the classroom and partnering with external organisations such as the pictured ‘Sphengic’ resource (NSW Teachers Federation, 2023a) can link curriculum content and learning to real life. In 2023, Federation members came together to create a fun, engaging and relevant resources (NSW Teachers Federation, 2023b) to support K-2 learning. Sphengic is the story of SEA LIFE Sydney Aquarium’s same sex penguin couple, Sphen and Magic who began developing a strong bond in 2018 and became inseparable before breeding season. They were constantly seen waddling around and going for swims together in the Penguin Expedition. This resource allowed schools to engage in activities linked to an in-person or virtual excursion to SEA LIFE to bring purposeful learning for students.

The NSW Teachers Federation Library has an ever-growing catalogue of texts for students across primary and secondary to support connection and understanding. The Library is a great resource for teachers to tap into, to diversify their bookshelves and highlight a variety of voices through story to support inclusive dialogue within their classes.

Qtopia Sydney (2026) is a fantastic excursion destination and resource for schools to engage with to support student learning. It explores Sydney (and Australian) Queer history ensuring that stories aren’t lost but acknowledged, whilst platforming the voices of today.

What will it look like for you?

As public school teachers, it’s our responsibility to create positive, safe and respectful classrooms that accept and celebrate the diversity of each student.

How do you celebrate difference? Start the conversation today.

References

NSW Department of Education (2024a). Diversity, Inclusion and Belonging Strategy 2023-2026. https://education.nsw.gov.au/about-us/strategies-and-reports/diversity-inclusion-and-belonging-strategy-2023-2026 (accessed March 2026)

NSW Department of Education (2024b). Student Behaviour https://education.nsw.gov.au/policy-library/policies/pd-2006-0316 (accessed March 2026)

NSW Department of Education (2025). Student Health and Wellbeing. https://education.nsw.gov.au/policy-library/policies/pd-2004-0034 (accessed March 2026)

NSW Department of Education (2026a). Legal Issues Bulletin 55: Gender Diverse Students in Schools. https://education.nsw.gov.au/rights-and-accountability/legal-issues-bulletins/GenderDiverseStudentsinSchools (accessed March 2026)

NSW Department of Education (2026b). Gender Affirmation procedures. https://education.nsw.gov.au/policy-library/policies/pd-2024-0485-05 (accessed March 2026)

NSW Department of Education (2026c). Supporting LGBTQIA+ communities in schools. https://education.nsw.gov.au/inside-the-department/teaching-and-learning/communication-toolkit—supporting-safe–inclusive-and-respectfu (accessed April 2026)

NSW People Matter Employee Survey (2025). https://files.dcu.nsw.gov.au/dpc/pmes-2025/Education-Portfolio/NSW-PMES-2025-Education-(including-TAFE)-results.pdf (accessed April 2026)

NSW Teachers Federation (2020). Union walks the rights road with LGBTIQ members

NSW Teachers Federation (2023). Progress to be proud of Education Quarterly Issue 5

NSW Teachers Federation (2023a). Sphengic Teaching Resource K-2. https://members.nswtf.org.au/documents/sphengic-k-2/ (accessed April 2026)

NSW Teachers Federation (2023b). Sphengic (Teaching Resource) – Foundation to year 2. https://members.nswtf.org.au/documents/sphengic-foundation-to-year-2/ (accessed April 2026)

NSW Teachers Federation (2025). Gender-neutral class greetings. https://members.nswtf.org.au/documents/other-resources/ (accessed April 2026)

NSW Teachers Federation (2026). All about our magnificent Mardi Gras floats https://members.nswtf.org.au/documents/all-about-our-magnificent-mardi-gras-floats/

NSW Teachers Federation (2026). Changemaking is challenging, but worth the effort. Education Quarterly Issue 17 https://www.nswtf.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/EQM17.pdf

Qtopia Sydney. (2026). The home of Queer history and culture. https://qtopiasydney.com.au/ (accessed April 2026)

Twenty10. (2026). School Pride Groups – GSA Connect. https://twenty10.org.au/training-consulting/school-pride-groups/ (accessed April 2026)

About the Authors

Julie McMullen was elected as the NSW Teachers Federation Communications Officer in November 2024, having previously relived in the role 2022 and in 2023. As part of her role, she works closely with all officers to create and promote Federation content across all media.

As a secondary English and Drama teacher with more than ten years’ experience, and worked across regional and metro schools, she values building a solid understanding of the working conditions and needs of teachers. She has held roles as Federation Representative and Women’s Contact at school level and Association Secretary and Treasurer positions. She is also an elected member of the LGBTIQA+ restricted committee (2023-present).

John Skene was elected as the NSW Teachers Federation Disability Officer in November 2024. As part of this role, he is responsible for supporting students, staff and schools in the disability space from Early Childhood to TAFE. He works closely with Organisers, Professional Support, Trade Union Training and others to support Federation members.

With over fifteen years of experience as a teacher in special education, John has worked in schools for specific purposes (SSPs) and support units (SUs). He is an Assistant Principal Special Education. He has held roles as Federation Representative and Workplace Committee at school level and elected as Branch Representative on Federation Executive (2023-2024).

LGTIQA+ in the Classroom Context – McMullen Skene Download

Inclusion: Rethinking Ability — Mindset and Language

John Skene provides some views and perspectives on the need for teachers to be the change-makers in language and culture to create more inclusive schools so everyone feels welcome…

“Inclusion is a mindset – not a specific location.”

(Poe, 2025, p.12)

Language is power. And there is power in language. This places a substantial weight on education settings to teach, develop and encourage individuals (student, colleague and community) to become literate in the language that builds inclusion rather than brings it down.

With over 7,000 languages spoken across the world today (GoFluent, 2020) it’s important to reflect on how we ourselves use language, engage with language and foster development of ourselves and others.

Take a moment to reflect on your own word choices. How do you refer to disability?

The language debate in the disability space

Language, both spoken and written, influences views, perceptions and interactions on so many levels. Within the disability space there are two variants of language structures used to refer to, or indicate, a need: the medical model and the social model.

The medical model of thinking defines disability as a deficit or sickness in need of fixing (Harkins Monaco, E., Stansbury Brushnahan, L., Fuller, M, and Odima Jr., M., 2024): building a language and discourse that can create negativity and position people to view those with disability as “less than”. Within this model, words are generally outdated or have interpretations of helplessness and limitation, painting a deficit view of the individual (Shams, 2025).

The social model of thinking promotes individuals with disability as part of the natural variations of being, and that it is personal bias, or reaction, that can impact interaction.

Society needs to reflect on language use. Shams (2025) summarises it nicely by saying “there is no expectation to get it right all the time” but if those that are not disabled are trying, with compassion and respect, we can begin the journey of empowerment for those that are generally deemed lesser. It is not about perfection.

People with Disability Australia (2021) discuss that, within Australia, both person-first language (people with disability) and identity-first language (disabled people) are used. This notion opens the discussion around advocacy and simply asking: “what do you prefer?”

It is okay to ask someone when you don’t know.

As we know, language is power, and many groups have strong preferences, one way or the other, when being spoken about. Many groups have started a process to reclaim terms, that historically were used to belittle or demean, in order to demonstrate strength, power and to destigmatise the historical use, such as: “crip”, “spaz” and “mad” (People with Disability Australia, 2021 p.6).

Word choice is important when speaking about a people, to which you yourself are not connected. Ensuring that word selection is uplifting rather than reductive (such as ‘the disabled’) supports the continued efforts of seeing individuals as human.

It is important to acknowledge a group’s choice of language, or terms, when interacting with them. As an example, Deaf communities see themselves as a cultural group (rather than disabled) as they have a different first language (People with Disability Australia, 2021).

When in doubt always use person-first language to ensure you are humanising the individual you are speaking to, or about, not reducing them.

Implications in schools

According to Harkins Monaco, E., et.al., (2024, p.25) schools have an opportunity to be places that “remove barriers, increase access and innovate opportunities for inclusion”. An outcome for which we should all be striving.

With a record 221,000 students diagnosed with disabilities in NSW public schools (Townsville Bulletin, 2025), equalling about one in four students – teachers have a responsibility to be mindful of the culture that they create. Schools have a role to play in empowering, supporting and uplifting a shift in mindset and language to promote inclusivity and positivity. This is not a one-person job or an overnight fix.

Like a slow dripping tap, to begin the shift and journey, change needs to start by having open discussions around language choice and use thus empowering honesty. If the leadership are on board, even better, to allow a top-down trickle in building inclusive, powerful and positive language and culture.

Something simple, but impactful, that can support positive views of individuals with disabilities in a support class is shifting the language from Special Education class to inclusive learning class or the class name. Moving away from the “special ed kids” to “students in xx class”.

Shifting mindset, changing culture

Building, instead, a community of learning, where the students with disability are not seen as the outliers in the school, in a different space away from everyone, but are included in the learning that is taking place across a school.

In getting the community on board, highlighting language use in communications such as newsletters, website etc. gives them the purpose behind the changes. Supporting conversations outside the school gates, to demonstrate consistency in language choice.

It is vital to shift the mindset to ‘everyone’s concern’ not just the special education teachers or other specialists. Supporting students with disabilities in schools is a collective responsibility. Too many times, a teacher from the support unit is having a much-needed break and is interrupted by a colleague stating: “your student xx needs you” or “xx is not following instructions, you need to go deal with it”.

While there are some circumstances where the expert will need to step in to support, most other times are simple situations where a consistent response, or support, can be implemented by any staff member.

NSW public schools are to be inclusive spaces that support the learning, social and emotional engagement of ALL students with reasonable adjustments and teaching strategies regardless of “disability, ethnicity, socio-economic status, nationality, language, gender, sexual orientation or faith” (NSW Education, 2025).

Reflect on your current school context and the collective perception of who holds responsibility for different groups of students. At your school, if there is an issue with a disabled student, do all staff support and manage the resolution, or is it referred to the special education teacher?

As a profession, the impetus is to shift from “not my student, not my problem” to a collective view that all students within a school community deserve the respect, care and support from all staff and peers. This takes effort and purposeful change-makers, to ensure that a philosophy aligned in inclusion, is embedded within a school.

Let’s work together to make this a system reality.

The inclusive school

When a school seeks to empower, uplift and is truly inclusive – all students, with or without a disability, can be seen for who they are. They can be supported to achieve their fullest potential without biased barriers or roadblocks.

It can result in a student with a disability being elected to student leadership in Year 6, off his own accord and popularity, through the targeted language choice, mindset of the community and purposeful support that has been embedded into a changed school culture.

“…languages don’t limit our ability to perceive the world or to think about the world, rather, they focus our attention and thought on specific aspects of the world.”

(GoFluent, 2020)

References

GoFluent (2020). More Than Words: How Language Affects The Way We Think. https://www.gofluent.com/us-en/insights/corporate-language-training/how-language-affects-the-way-we-think/, July 17

Harkins Monaco, E., Stansbury Brushnahan, L., Fuller, M, and Odima Jr., M. (2024). Disability, Intersectionality, and Belonging in Special Education: Socioculturally Sustaining Practices (Special Education Law, Policy, and Practice). Rowman & Littlefield Publishers

NSW Education (2025). Inclusive education for students with disability. https://education.nsw.gov.au/schooling/school-community/inclusive-education-for-students-with-disability/commitment_to_Inclusive_Education, July 28

Poe, R., M. Ed. (2025). Blueprint for Inclusion: a practical guide to supporting students with IEPs in the general education classroom. LLC Beech Grove, IN: TeacherGoals Publishing

People with Disability Australia. (2021). PWDA Language Guide: A guide to language about disability. https://pwd.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/PWDA-Language-Guide-v2-2021.pdf

Shams, S. (2025). Using positive language around my disability shows you care. https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-04-28/using-positive-language-around-my-disability-shows-you-care/105159262, July 17

Townsville Bulletin (2025). Record 221,000 NSW public school students diagnosed with disabilities. https://ww.townsvillebulletin.com.au/news/nsw/record-221000-nsw-public-school-students-diagnosed-with-disabilities/news-story/8ac81c5671ec37526c2a7ccb0e38539c?btr=2b3952f16fefd2a8aa25024cb3c0e137, April 3

About the Author

John Skene was elected as the NSW Teachers Federation Disability Officer in November 2024. As part of this role, he is responsible for supporting students, staff and schools in special education. He is working closely with Organisers, Professional Support, Trade Union Training and others to support Federation members.

With over fifteen years of experience as a teacher in special education, John has worked in schools for specific purposes (SSPs) and support units (SUs). He is an Assistant Principal Special Education and has held roles as Federation Representative and Workplace Committee at school level. John was a Councillor and Special Education Contact of Sutherland and Inner-City Teachers Association (across his time in school) and a Federation Executive Branch Representative in 2023 and 2024.

Rethinking Ability – John Skene Download

Now more than ever: a National Anti-Racism Framework

Mandy Wells discusses the need for a National Anti-Racism Framework and Strategy…

The rise of fascist ideologies, characterised by authoritarianism, suppression of dissent, the elevation of groups of people above others and exclusionary nationalism, poses a profound threat to our democracy. History demonstrates that such movements erode societies gradually, normalising racism and discrimination, undermining independent voices and those who speak out, and reframing inequality as a necessity for patriotism. These shifts rarely occur overnight; instead, they establish themselves slowly and then burgeon when fear is exploited and division is politically rewarded.

Selective empathy is one of the most dangerous enablers of this process. When care, compassion and protection are extended to some communities but withheld from others, the principle of equal dignity under the law is compromised. Human rights are not hierarchical, nor are they conditional on popularity, political convenience, or conservative, opinion-based media narratives. A society that only defends the rights of those it favours or selectively applies enforcement of rights to those it privileges, ultimately weakens protections for everyone.

Discrimination and partisan protections fracture social cohesion. Policies that marginalise certain groups whilst affirming others creates structural division and social stratification. Such division undermines trust in governments and institutions, and instead fosters inequality and resentment, rather than unity.

Blaming groups of people within our communities for inadequate government services and public provision further distorts social disparity and public discourse. Economic strains on education, healthcare, housing and other important infrastructure are more accurately linked to successive years of poor government policy decisions, inadequate funding priorities, and long-term planning failures. Redirecting frustration toward migrants or other marginalised groups within our communities diverts accountability away from governance and fuels hate, without resolving any of the identified systemic shortcomings.

Often coinciding with, and of equal concern, is the selective adherence to human rights obligations when politicians and vested lobby groups start to feel pressured by their perceived failures. Governments that champion the rights of people when politically advantageous, yet sideline them when it becomes politically inconvenient, weaken the rule of law. Human rights frameworks exist precisely to safeguard individuals and minorities from populist political interests. Their legitimacy depends on consistent, principled application – and the courage of conviction from those in positions of power.

Democratic rights and resilience require everyone’s vigilance. It demands equal protection under the law, accountability in governance, responsible public discourse, and an unwavering commitment to universal human rights. Unaddressed inequities, systemic barriers and the deliberate dissemination of misinformation undermine these efforts towards unity. When empathy becomes selective, when blame is used to deflect attention from fair and considered policy making, and when human rights are treated as optional, the foundations of democracy are put at risk.

Social inclusion is essential to building a fair, cohesive Australia where every person, regardless of background, culture, or identity, can thrive. Blaming groups within our society for social or economic pressures distracts from the real structural issues that require policy solutions. Instead of directing frustration toward vulnerable communities, Australians should be holding governments to account for enacting policies that uphold equal rights for all, which will in turn ensure equitable access to systemic provisions such as education, housing, healthcare and employment.

Towards an Anti-Racism Framework

To progress such outcomes requires brave choices with legislation from both federal and state governments. Unlike other democracies in the world, Australia does not have an enforceable Human Rights Act, nor does it have a Bill of Rights or Framework for Anti-Racism. By committing to the protection of rights under law, parliamentary decisions would have a necessary umbrella of accountability, which would then provide the settings for fairer and inclusive decision-making, the protection of important rights for all within our communities, and the necessary funding and access to public provision. Parliament would be required to consider how laws impact upon human rights and our institutions would need to respect people’s rights when developing policy. Courts would also have the capacity to assess whether laws are compatible with human rights, so that they then become the standards afforded to all.

On 13 May 2022, the Australian Labor Party (ALP) announced its commitment to fund the Australian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) to complete a National Anti-Racism Framework and implement a comprehensive national anti-racism strategy if elected to government. In quotes attributable to Mark Dreyfus, Shadow Attorney General at the time, “Any government truly committed to Australia’s continued success as a multicultural nation must also be committed to tackling racism…We must do more to protect our great multicultural nation from those who would seek to cause division and conflict”.[i]

This promised funding commitment was realised when the Albanese government came to power. Those supporting such advocacy commended both the AHRC and the Australian government’s recognition that racism causes real harm, divides our communities, and undermines what is fair and just in Australian society. On 26 November 2024, Australia’s Race Discrimination Commissioner launched what it called “the most comprehensive plan ever for eliminating racism in Australia”, adding that its “National Anti-Racism Framework provides a roadmap for governments, business and community organisations to address all forms of racism”. It contained “63 recommendations for a whole of society approach to eliminating racism, with proposed reforms across Australia’s legal, justice, health, education, media and arts sectors as well as workplaces and data collection”. It then called on the “Australian Government to establish a National Anti-Racism Taskforce to implement the Framework’s recommendations”.[ii]

To date, there has been no formal response from the Albanese Government, nor one recommendation actioned.

A strong national Anti-Racism Framework would provide the structure, accountability, and leadership needed to address systemic discrimination and promote equity across institutions. It would provide the coordinated and national action needed to eliminate racism and centre all actions on truth-telling, lived experience, cultural respect, and justice.

Being actively anti-racist means more than rejecting prejudice — it means challenging systems and narratives that unfairly disadvantage Aboriginal peoples and Torres Strait Islander peoples, migrants, and culturally diverse communities. Racism harms not only those targeted, but society as a whole, by weakening social cohesion and undermining equal opportunity.

Teachers and Public Schools

Public schools operate on the principle that all students live, learn, and play together safely and respectfully. Diversity is seen as a strength of the system, and inclusive environments are deemed to be essential for student and staff wellbeing, engagement, and achievement. They are also crucial to creating the sense of community belonging that is needed if we are ever to achieve so-called “social cohesion”, the political buzzword that is being weaponised rather than being cited as a sound reason for legislating fair, equitable public provision and the consistent valuing of all within our communities through needs-based funding and services that ensure inclusion.

Teachers play a critical role in shaping inclusive education environments where diversity is respected and racism and/or discrimination is actively addressed. Through culturally responsive teaching, honest engagement with Australia’s history, and clear anti-racism policies, educators can foster understanding, empathy, and a feeling of true belonging among students and communities.

Union solidarity and advocacy — such as that demonstrated by the Federation through its many Conference and Council decisions on valuing diversity, equity, social inclusion and peace, along with its commitments to Australian Education Union decisions — can further strengthen these efforts by advocating for equitable funding, safe workplaces, anti-discrimination protections, and professional development that equips teachers to effectively challenge and eliminate racism. When teachers stand together, they amplify their capacity to demand systemic change and to protect both students and staff from discrimination.

Our education system must now ensure that all students, staff, and families —particularly Aboriginal peoples and Torres Strait Islander peoples, multicultural and multi-faith communities — feel safe, supported, and valued.

The NSW Department of Education already has in place a robust set of policies and procedures that mandate anti-racism and promote intercultural inclusivity. These feature compliance training for all teachers, the mandatory appointment of Anti-Racism Contact Officers (ARCOs) in every school, mandatory classroom education and community reporting requirements and guidance on supporting students during times of crisis. These policies and procedures are inclusive of addressing racism, hate, harassment, discrimination, vilification, antisocial behaviour, and bullying.

It must be noted that these advancements did not come by accident, nor through good systemic governance. They have instead been achieved through union advocacy – Federation Conference and Council decisions taken since 1947 onwards; and a commitment to social justice advocacy that puts equity, inclusion and needs-based resourcing at the heart of all we pursue.

The goal of eliminating racism in all its forms is a whole-school obligation and therefore, the responsibility of every teacher and staff member in our schools. Federation advocacy revolves around achieving improvements to policy settings without privileging or marginalising particular groups.

Structural division, selective empathy, and inequitable access to support are what truly undermines social cohesion and contradicts the core values of public education. So too does low expectations. So, we need all teachers to set their standards high, connect anti-racism to behaviour expectations and to appropriately respond to hate, discrimination and racism, with consequences that show it will not be tolerated in any form, and it will be eliminated.

Hate-fuelled politics, policies that create exclusion, elevate a privileged few above others, or respond selectively to political pressure risk reinforcing structural division rather than eliminating hate. Unaddressed inequities, the denial of the true history of this country, underfunding of and unequal access to support for identified need, along with the selective application of the rule of law perpetuate systemic racism and undermine efforts to build a better nation.

Calls for unity will always be undermined when government or institutional policies are inconsistent or unevenly applied. What Australia needs is to stop punching down and instead aim high. When individuals action anti-racism, we all make a difference and move closer to achieving true inclusion, belonging and social cohesion. All forms of hate, racism, and discrimination must be addressed with equal seriousness. As teacher unionists, we must educate our students, support our colleagues and lead our communities in this space.

On the International Day for the Elimination of Discrimination, 21 March 2026, Race Discrimination Commissioner Ghiridaran Sivaraman stated that “On this day we are reminded that real and lasting change begins with listening. This starts with centring the voices, experiences and truths of First Peoples which is foundational to addressing and ending racism in Australia”.[iii]

A Shared Responsibility

Eliminating racism is a collective responsibility shared by governments, schools, unions, communities, and individuals. By embedding anti-racism principles into laws, public policy, and school curricula, and by advocating for the fair distribution of resources and services, Australia can create inclusive environments where everyone is supported to succeed. Through sustained commitment, informed advocacy, and shared accountability, we can achieve positive outcomes that strengthen educational success, wellbeing, and social cohesion across the nation.

Existing Anti-Discrimination and Racial Discrimination Acts in place nationally are worthy laws and protections – but they do not cover all, and worse, they put the onus on those targeted to effect justice or prosecute for change. We need a National Anti-Racism Framework that ties these important legislations together and puts accountability squarely where it belongs – that being the government at all levels and its institutions.

As famously quoted by Nelson Mandela “Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world”.

Together, we must collectively rise, unite for change and walk together towards achieving a better future for all.

About the author

Mandy was born on the Lands of the Dharawal and grew up on Dharawal, Bidjigal, Whadjuk and Awabakal Lands. She now lives on Dharug and Gundungurra Lands in the beautiful Blue Mountains.

Mandy taught for 35 years in diverse primary school settings in Sydney’s southwest and west, teaching students of EAL/D, refugee, asylum seeker and migrant backgrounds. She has been working as Federation’s Multicultural/City Organiser for the Fairfield Teachers Association, IEC and Secondary Colleges of Languages workplaces since the start of 2020 and is committed to working with teachers and principals in organizing for all students to have access to the highest quality public education.

Mandy is passionate about social justice, human rights and equitable access to education. She leads Federation’s Anti-Racism Restricted Committee and has helped develop Federation resources for implementation of this policy. Mandy is also the officer attached to the Anti-Racism Special Interest Group (SIG), Sport SIG and the Swimming and Water Safety SIG. She has been elected by Council to represent Federation with the affiliated organisations Refugee Council of Australia and the Ethnic Communities’ Council of NSW, and is also an active member Federation’s Officers Working Conditions and NAIDOC Committees.

[i] https://www.andrewgiles.com.au/news/media-releases/labor-commits-to-new-anti-racism-strategy/

[ii] https://humanrights.gov.au/about-us/media-centre/media-releases/landmark-national-plan-seeks-end-racism-australia#:~:text=’Racism%20causes%20incredible%20harm%20to

[iii] https://www.instagram.com/p/DWIqinEoLQY/

Now more than ever – Mandy Wells Download

Readers Who Ponder: The Case for Developing Ethical Understanding Through Picture Books in The Primary Classroom

Bianca Bertalli examines how children’s literature can be used to develop ethical understanding and to address complex issues such as asylum seeking, climate change or social inequalities…

Ethical Understanding in the Primary Years

While the internet delivers information and communication more readily than ever before, a disconnect in ethical decision making by young people in online and offline contexts, is becoming increasingly apparent (James, 2016). To enable students to apply positively principled decision-making strategies to a wide variety of issues, students require opportunities to build ethical understanding throughout their early primary school years and beyond (Australian Curriculum and Reporting Authority [ACARA], n.d.). Quality fiction texts in primary school libraries can lay the foundation for learning centred around ethical understanding including values, rights and responsibilities around global issues such as sustainability, democracy and conflict (Johnston, 2017; Johansson, 2013; Lyngfelt, Sporre, Lifmark, Lilja, Osbeck & Franck, 2022; Baird Saenger, 1993).

The Increasing Complexity of Contemporary Picture Books

Humans have a long history in visual storytelling. Across the world- and across time- cultural knowledge has informed the composition and interpretation of visual and multi-modal texts (Lyngfelt, Sporre, Lifmark, Lilja, Osbeck & Franck, 2022; Johnston, 2017). Cooper (2026) points to Murujuga Aboriginal rock art as an example of some of the earliest records of the human experience, told through petroglyphs. Created at least 50 000 years ago, these images continue to tell significant stories today. While traditional children’s literature from the 18^th century onwards often served the didactic purpose of instilling a spiritual education, the turn of the 20^th century saw children’s literature begin to centre children as characters, with plots and purposes of their own (Broomhall, McEwan & Tarbin, 2017). Contemporary picture books usually combine written and visual modes of communication and encompass a growing number of styles and formats (Johnston, 2017).

Postmodern picture books of the late 20^th and early 21^st centuries marked a notable change in the way stories are told. These texts often present narrative gaps in which readers must infer their own comprehension of the text. They may also feature ambiguous or inconclusive endings that prompt readers to ponder their own understanding of what has occurred and why (Johnston, 2017; Gleeson, 2021). The increasing complexity of picture books easily lends itself to exploring philosophy or ethics while also simultaneously fostering an early love of reading (Johnston, 2017; Johansson, 2013; Lyngfelt, et. al., 2022; Broomhall et. al., 2017; Gleeson, 2021). While moving away from traditional religious instruction, contemporary literature still assists students to understand the shared values, beliefs, and relationships of their world (Broomhall, McEwan & Tarbin, 2017).

Baird Saenger (1993) suggests that exploring ethics through literature has the potential to improve the clarity and strength of students’ reasoning and instil the ability to listen more closely, articulate thoughts and reflect on actions. In 2022, Lyngfelt, et. al. examined how fiction could be used to develop students’ critical reflection around complex moral issues such as immigration, climate change, war, relationships, and the uncertainty of the future. The researchers found that through fiction, students can deeply and emotionally experience different forms of the world, or of the human condition, and create intrinsic motivation for exploring ethical change.

Picture books that Encourage Children to Ponder

To ‘ponder’ is to engage in deep and considered thinking before reaching a decision or conclusion (Oxford English Dictionary, 2023). Quality fiction narratives successfully build complex characters through which students can carefully explore varying perspectives of plot points, while applying an ethical thinking lens (Lyngfelt, Sporre, Lifmark, Lilja, Osbeck & Franck, 2022). Teachers interviewed in the Lyngfelt et. al. (2022) study acknowledged that while many longer texts may be suitable for independent readers, it is vital to consider the linguistic ability of students and their aptitude to unpack literary devices or access comprehension skills. Given that the Australian Curriculum requires the general capability of Ethical Understanding to be taught beginning in the foundation year of school (Australian Curriculum and Reporting Authority, n.d), picture books provide the solution to enabling younger readers to ponder ethical thinking, supporting knowledge development through visual literacy, accessible vocabulary, and relatable characters (Johnston, 2017).

Short Texts Add Long-Term Value to the Collection

A cursory glance at the Children’s Book Council Australia shortlisted picture books in the last 5 years shows an abundance of texts that tackle themes through which ethical understanding can be explored. The Australian Curriculum and Reporting Authority (2021) describes ethical understanding as a continuum of learning that allows students to identify differing perspectives, explore moral and ethical concepts, and apply ethical thinking in response to an issue. Teacher librarians and classroom teachers can purposefully select texts through which students can build ‘deep literacy’. This term, coined by Johnston (2017), aims to describe a profound level of emotional understanding that influences thoughts and behaviours beyond the initial engagement with the book. Lyngfelt, et al. (2023) found that an emotional engagement with children’s literature assisted children to become more aware of their own ethical responsibilities and their place in the world, as well as developing a sense of justice for others.

Collection development in the Australian school library setting should be guided by the 2023 Australian Library and Information Association and Australian School Library Association [ALIA & ASLA] values. The inclusion of picture books that support students to develop ethical understanding enables the exchange of ideas and information, the promoting of democratic values, and the representation of diversity with the aim of advocating for human rights, sustainability, peace, social inclusion and other challenges the future may bring. Further, ALIA’s endorsement of the principles of the ‘2030 Sustainable Development Goals’ and ‘United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights- Article 19’ reflects ACARA’s description of ethical understanding as vital in responding to ‘human rights and responsibilities, environmental issues and global justice’ (2021, para. 2). Picture books often place children as the central characters navigating the complex ethical issues at hand and imbued with the power to make a difference, and this supports students to become accountable for their actions, providing the foundations to participate fully in the Australian democratic society (ACARA, n.d.). The development of collaborative discussion skills, centred on ethical reasoning, are at the heart of enabling respectful discussion and robust philosophical debates (Lyngfelt, et al., 2023), aligning with the ALIA value that libraries should ‘promote the free flow of information and ideas’ (2023, para. 6). Additionally, ALIA promotes broad library collections as essential to benefiting ‘a thriving culture, economy and democracy’ (2023, para. 6) and as such, ethics-focused picture books are vital to the primary school library collection.

The Bridge: The Teacher Librarian, Ethical Understanding and the Future

While exploring quality literature has always been at the heart of the teacher librarian role, the changing information landscape means that this role must also evolve (ASLA, 2004). James (2016) argues that with the burst of information communication technologies, a deficit in online ethical behaviour is often demonstrated by young people by their conduct in online communities, attention to privacy, and the treatment of intellectual property. As dual leaders in educational pedagogy and information literacy, teacher librarians must bridge the connection between offline and online ethics, when addressing information creation and consumption with their students. To do this, teacher librarians are required to ensure that the library’s literary collection is carefully curated to respond to the learning needs of their students and the call to strengthen ethical understanding across online and offline domains (ASLA, 2004; ACARA, n.d.). By selecting picture books that deal with morally complex social issues, teacher librarians utilise the ‘bridging capacity’ of children’s literature, allowing students to understand the impact of their behaviour on those outside their world as well as a deeper understanding of ‘fairness for themselves and others’ before they move online (NSW Department of Education, 2021, p. 29).

In a joint statement, ASLA and ALIA determined that school libraries are ‘necessary to create safe, confident users of online content’, tasking teacher librarians with the responsibility to support students in recognising opportunities to respond ethically when participating online (2004, para. 1). For example, choosing picture books that help children to deeply understand the values of honesty and integrity may influence them to transfer their ethical thinking between offline and online domains, when it comes to content creation, the use of AI or cyberbullying, in the future. As children now access technology that enables them to both decode and encode information through social media applications, computer software, and handheld devices (often before they can even read or write), the ethics of information creation must be considered far earlier than ever before (Johnston, 2017; ACARA, 2021). By the end of primary school, students should be able to ‘monitor consistency between rights and responsibilities when interacting face-to-face or through social media’ (ACARA, n.d., p. 2). James (2016) suggests that to combat the ethical disconnect currently experienced by young people, students require models and mentors to teach ways to connect more consciously online. The teacher librarian must serve as a bridge in developing ethical understanding offline and online, by explicitly teaching the general capability of ethical understanding across a learning continuum beginning with text choice in the first years of school.

Exemplar Picture Books for Ethical Understanding

Detailed illustrations draw on students’ visual literacy skills, communicating on an emotional level as well as supporting an understanding of place and context for younger readers who have limited cultural currency (Johnston, 2017). The Invisible by Tom Percival (2021) tells the story from the perspective of a young girl facing poverty and homelessness. While these issues may normally elude relatability for some younger children, the illustrations laced in cool greys and blues resonate with the reader as the protagonist literally fades away in her sadness. As Isabel becomes invisible in an unfamiliar city, she notices the other ‘invisible people’. Directed at ages 3 and up, this sophisticated picture book allows children of all ages to ponder what it is that might alienate someone to the point of feeling invisible, as well as ways we can each address inequality, exclusion, poverty, and loneliness (Simon & Shuster, 2023).

While Percival’s (2021) story follows a linear storyline- orientation, complication, resolution- Paradise Sands: A Story of Enchantment, written and illustrated by Levi Pinfold (2023) echoes other postmodern picture books and provides gaps in the narrative and an ambiguous ending. This format provides opportunities for students to examine the ethical decisions faced by the female lead character as well as morally complex themes as identified by The Children’s Book Council Australia (2023) including ‘entrapment, courage, wisdom, patience, belief, temptation and, above all, love’ (para. 2). Set in an eerie desert, three children trespass onto a desolate property and face a foretold meeting with a powerful being called ‘The Teller’. The young girl must make a bargain, demonstrating bravery and resilience, to free her siblings. Written for children aged 5 and up (though perhaps thematically better suited to older readers), stunning illustrations hold hidden layers of visual details that provide a firm platform for discussion and scope for broad interpretation, especially for students who may not yet understand the nuances of figurative language (Johansson, 2013; Lyngfelt, et. al., 2022; Baird Saenger,1993; Walker Books, 2023; Hillel, 2023).

Also purposefully crafting equivocality within its storyline and themes, is Margaret Wild’s (2018) The Feather. Illustrated by Freya Blackwood, the picture book presents a setting that Boulanger-Mashberg describes as ‘anonymous’ (2023, para. 2), leaving space for readers to discuss or infer why the trees are barren and the sun and moon are forever covered. Two young children discover a large glowing, white feather. However, once the town’s adults begin to dictate how the feather should be held and protected, it loses its luminescence and begins to blacken. In the end it is the dreams of the children which restore and free the feather and it is left for the reader to interpret why. The text and images work together to tell a powerful story that explores selflessness, kindness, redemption, hope and the power that children hold to change the world when their voices are valued (Boulanger-Mashberg, 2023).

Text complexity is a primary consideration when choosing a book for younger readers (Baird Saenger, 1993) however, Johnston (2017) makes the point that in just a few words, complex ideas can be communicated, and simple statements can indeed be so profound that they require time reserved for the reader to ruminate. A picture book in which short rhyming couplets serve to provoke deep thinking is Matthew McConaughey’s (2023) Just Because, illustrated by Renée Kurilla. Through examining contradictions in the ways we perceive the world around us, McConaughey uses powerful prose to challenge students’ aged 4-8 years views on ethical concepts such as honesty, respect, and fairness (ACARA, n.d.)

Room on our Rock by Kate and Jol Temple (2019), illustrated by Terri Rose Baynton, informs readers from the outset that there are two sides to every story. This statement opens the possibility for defining multiple perspectives and what this might look like for children. Temple & Temple (2019) have written their book to be read in the first instance front to back, presenting the point of view of a group of unsympathetic seals who refuse to shelter two strangers. The book then asks readers to read from back to front, where the story is instead delivered through the eyes of the desperate, anthropomorphic asylum seekers. The powerful narrative flip has the potential for deep learning around ‘human rights and responsibilities, animal rights, environmental issues and global justice’ as described in the ACARA general capability of ethical understanding (ACARA, n.d., para. 2).

The NSW Teachers Federation library holds an extensive collection of picture books designed to engage students in understanding ethical thinking, social justice or diversity. These are available to members to loan for free.

References:

Australian Curriculum and Reporting Authority. (n.d). Ethical Understanding (Version 8.4). https://www.australiancurriculum.edu.au/f-10-curriculum/general-capabilities/ethical-understanding/

Australian Curriculum and Reporting Authority. (n.d). Ethical Understanding learning continuum. https://www.australiancurriculum.edu.au/media/1073/general-capabilities-ethical-understanding-learning-continuum.pdf

Australian Library and Information Association (2023) What we do. https://alia.org.au/Web/Web/About-Us/What-we-do.aspx#:~:text=Our%20agenda,do%20not%20believe%20in%20censorship.

Australian Library and Information Association and Australian School Library Association. (2016). Statement on information literacy. https://asla.org.au/resources/Documents/Website%20Documents/Policies/policy_Information_Literacy.pdf

Australian School Library Association. (2004). ALIA-ASLA standards of professional excellence for teacher librarians. https://read.alia.org.au/alia-asla-standards-professional-excellence-teacher-librarians

Baird Saenger, E. (1993). Exploring ethics through children’s literature (Books 1–2). Pacific Grove, CA: Critical Thinking Press & Software.

Boulanger-Mashberg, A. (2023). The Feather. Freya Blackwood. https://www.freyablackwood.com.au/the-feather-1

Broomhall, S., McEwan, J., & Tarbin, S. (2017, March 30). Once upon a time: A brief history of children’s literature. The Conversation. https://theconversation.com/once-upon-a-time-a-brief-history-of-childrens-literature-75205

Childrens Book Council Australia. (2023) Previous winners. https://www.cbca.org.au/previous-winners

The Childrens Book Council Australia. (2023). Paradise sands: a story of enchantment. https://www.cbca.org.au/book/paradise-sands-a-story-of-enchantment

Cochrane, G. (2018, February 5). Picture books are relevant for students of all ages. National Library of New Zealand. https://natlib.govt.nz/blog/posts/picture-books-are-relevant-for-students-of-all-ages

Cooper, R. (Marrch 23, 2026). Sydney media conferences staggering gaslighting pf traditional custodians must be called out. Cheek Media Co. https://cheekmedia.substack.com/p/sydney-media-conferences-staggering

Gleeson, B. (2022). Are they getting the picture? Access, 36(1), 41-48. The National Library of New Zealand. (n.d.). Services to schools. https://natlib.govt.nz/schools

Hillel, M. (2023). Paradise sands. The Children’s Book Council of Australia. https://readingtime.com.au/paradise-sands/

James, C. (2016). Disconnected; youth, new media, and the ethics gap. Random House US.

Johansson, V. (2013). “I am scared too”: Children’s Literature for an Ethics beyond Moral Concepts. The Journal of Aesthetic Education, 47(4), 80–109. https://doi.org/10.5406/jaesteduc.47.4.0080

Johnston, R. R. (2017). Australian Literature for Young People. Oxford University Press.

Lyngfelt, A., Sporre, K., Lifmark, D., Lilja, A., Osbeck, C., & Franck, O. (2023). Bridging “as is” and “as if” by reading fiction in ethics education. Cambridge Journal of Education, 53(1), 63–77. https://doi.org/10.1080/0305764X.2022.2075323

McConaughey, M. (2023). Just because. Penguin Random House.

New South Wales Department of Education. (2022). Information Fluency framework. https://education.nsw.gov.au/content/dam/main-education/teaching-and-learning/curriculum/media/documents/Information_fluency_framework.pdf

Oxford English Dictionary. (2023). Oxford University Press; Oxford English Dictionary. https://doi.org/10.1093/OED/1284911909

Percival, T. (2021). The invisible. Simon and Shuster.

Pinfold, L. (2023) Paradise sands: a story of enchantment. Walker Books Australia.

Simon and Shuster (2023) The invisible by Tom Percival.

https://www.simonandschuster.com.au/books/The-Invisible/Tom-Percival/9781471191305

Temple, K. & Temple, J. (2019). Room on our rock. Scholastic Australia.

Walker Books (2023). Paradise sands: a story of enchantment. https://www.walkerbooks.com.au/book/9781406383942/

Wild, M. (2018). The feather. Hardie Grant Egmont.

About the Author

Bianca Bertalli is a NSW Department of Education teacher librarian K-6, at Gol Gol Public School in the Rural Far West. She is a recent graduate of the Charles Sturt University Master of Education (Teacher Librarianship) and a NSW Department of Education Specialist Teacher Scholarship recipient. Bianca began teaching in 2010, as a classroom teacher in the inner city of Sydney, where she previously served as an elected government school representative on the Quality Teaching Council. Bianca has presented at courses and conferences to support early career teachers to develop skills in classroom management, planning/ programming and the accreditation process. She has been an active member of the NSW Teachers Federation for the past 17 years.

Readers Who Ponder – Bertalli Download

Writing is more than pencil & paper

John Skene provides some views and perspectives on the importance of differentiation in the classroom to support learners of all abilities…

Picture this:

Monday morning. Year 3, and your stage planned a writing task for all students to engage in. You’ve been building up to this activity. Whole class discussions. Mind maps. Brainstorming. You provide the class with the instructions: they must use a pencil and paper. You check for understanding. And send the students to their desk. Some students get started immediately. A few fuss with the distance between their desk and chair. Some pick up on their conversation of their weekends, which you redirect. One student you notice is just staring out the window and hasn’t even picked up the pencil. You direct them to start. They ignore you so you ask again. They refuse and place their face down on the table and cover their ears.

Sound familiar?

Friday, middle session. A kindergarten support class in mainstream. Writing is a tricky thing for all your students. The unit of work states that the students need to ‘write about their understanding of the text’ – so you think – “well they need to write with a pencil” – so you work one-to-one to assist the students to write responses to the questions.

They find it hard to hold the pencil. Their letter formation is non-existent. They engage in pre-writing/scribble behaviour. A few then become agitated because they are being made to ‘write’ and throw their pencil across the room. This then unsettles others and you must abandon the activity to support students to regulate.

What could be done?

As teachers we need to review our processes in programming and planning to support the diverse learners that we find in our classrooms today. These varying learning styles and abilities only continues to grow and diversify. Teachers are having to think differently about how they present information and how they receive student product to indicate levels of knowledge and understanding.

So how can we do this? Does it always have to be a pencil and paper? Are we expecting the same process and product for every child? Do we make each student sit the same assessment?

Differentiation

“In its truest sense, teaching is not finished until learning occurs – for each learner. Teaching without learning is an oxymoron.”(Tomlinson, 2006)

What is Differentiation? And what does it mean?

Differentiation is defined as the response that teachers make to support learners needs (NSW Department of Education, 2025b). It is not about watering down or ‘dumbing’ the curriculum – it’s a methodical process to support learners of all abilities from disabilities to high potential and gifted students, to engage with content, process, product and learning environment.

As seen in Figure 1- teachers have a responsibility to adapt to and create experiences that are meaningful and connected to student need and ability. “Practising quality differentiation is much more about knowing what matters to teach, realising that learning happens in us rather than to us” (NSW Department of Education, 2025a). It is a process by which, as teachers, we understand that, although content outcomes may seem linear, they are far from it.

Figure 1: Four types of classroom elements (NSW Department of Education, 2025b)

Rebakah Poe (2025) in her Blueprint for Inclusion outlines strategies for teachers to support all students in the classroom. She clearly states that:

“A ‘one-size-fits-all’ approach to learning will not cut it” (p.83, 2025)

So, it is important for teachers to reflect on their current practices in all stages of planning to ensure they are adequately providing suitable and appropriate learning experiences that allow students to learn. Poe has compiled a useful tool available on her website (Figure 2, 2026) that supports teachers with a quick checklist outlining key factors of differentiation in the classroom. A meaningful and resourceful way to support your planning and programming, to ensure differentiation is embedded in your thinking.

Figure 2: Differentiation checklist (Poe, 2026)

Another concept she highlights in her book, that is useful for teachers to reflect on, is the difference between differentiation, accommodation and modification. As we know differentiation refers to changing instruction to support student learning, accommodations give students the tools to participate [like Augmentative Alternative Communication (AAC) options], and modifications are where we adjust or alter the content to support students’ engagement.

Universal Design For Learning

These three concepts lend themselves into the space of Universal Design for Learning. It is the framework that minimises barriers and ensures that students of all abilities can access learning (NSW Department of Education, 2026b). It is underpinned by three principles (Figure 3), that support proactive measures in planning that benefits students across all settings.

Figure 3: Universal Design for Learning (NSW Department of Education, 2026b)

The three principles of Universal Design for Learning (Poe, 2025)are:

representation: multi-modal provision (print, audio, visual) of material, concrete manipulatives and modelling concepts;
expression: allows for chunking of tasks and allows students to demonstrate understanding in multiple ways;
engagement: relates concepts to prior knowledge, incorporates student interest and choice and multiple avenues to accessing content.

They allow all learners to reach their full potential across all learning environments and provides greater accessibility for all students. While it may be a little bit more arduous and work to begin, the greater implications of learner engagement, with fewer future modifications, makes it worthwhile.

To more effectively support the ever-growing diversity in our classrooms, teachers need to look at including task analysis (chunking) in their planning and programming process. According to Schmidt (2025), task analysis is a method of making learning activities more accessible, by strategically separating components into smaller more manageable steps. This allows students to build an understanding of sequencing and can prevent incidents of distraction. When breaking down tasks, it allows students to have greater success and independence, alongside a sense of achievement, they may previously not have felt.

“By clearly outlining each step, educators [and families] can reduce barriers and build independence, one step at a time.”

(Schmidt, 2025)

NSW Department of Education (2026a) provides teachers with some engaging resources in the Universal Resources Hub. This online hub supports teachers with pre-made resource packs across multiple curriculum areas, that support preparation time and can be used as a starting point to support differentiation planning for students. Have you used any of the resources on offer?

Classroom Examples

Every classroom is different. The following examples highlight different students and useful classroom strategies that allow them to engage in learning experiences as well as differentiated tools to indicate understanding, that are alternatives to a pencil and paper:

1.“A student with autism and PDA, moderate intellectual disability and limited language”

Visuals (both real life and abstract) to support language use and recognition of common emotions or instructions. Visuals also assisted the student to answer simple ‘yes/no’ questions aligned to their personalised learning plan.

Social stories were created to support this student to understand events; what is taking place and what to expect. It supported them to build understanding and capacity of expectations and was a suitable reference if anxiety began to take over.

Language choice simple, clear and choice orientated to support the student to engage in learning experiences with greater success and independence.

2.“A student with Down Syndrome, moderate intellectual disability and limited language”

Visual sequencing of main events in a story. After reading a class story or an individual one, the student engages in a cut and paste activity to demonstrate understanding of the story line.

Real objects to support communication of needs and wants. Using real objects of items in the classroom allows students that have limited language, assist them to make connections between words in print with the real-life item.

3.“A student with autism, anxiety and limited mapping skills when writing”

Drawing to convey a message. If a student finds it difficult to write or, if writing creates cognitive load that impacts ability to engage, then allow them to draw their ideas and thinking.

Voice to text is a great tool for students to provide insight and understanding of concepts during an activity. The student can use a device to relay their ideas verbally, rather than having to battle with a pencil and paper or the fear of spelling something incorrectly.

Comic Strip activity to demonstrate understanding. This allows the student to sequence with pre-made or their own pictures to engage in the writing component of a task.

4.“A student with cerebral palsy, epilepsy and a wheelchair user”

Adapted keyboards to support engagement in writing tasks, to demonstrate understanding of the lesson. Move away from pencil/paper and allow the student to type through AAC. Ensure that predictive text is activated to give the student the space to engage in reciprocal conversation with a peer or adult.

Eye Tracking Device provides the opportunity for a student that may not have fine motor control or language to provide insight into content understanding.

Voice output device to allow the student to “voice” understanding, by selecting pictures chosen during the planning stages of the activity. It allows independence for the student.

Each strategy is not exclusive to the specific students referenced.

They are just addressed in this manner, to demonstrate the diverse learners that may be in your classroom. Each strategy can be trialled and implemented for a whole range of students

More than a pencil

Teaching is such a powerfully important and creative profession. Where else are you provided the work, the end goal, the desired outcomes – but can create the path to discovery? Working in Special Education specifically, has taught me to constantly “think outside the box” to support the diverse learning of all students in my classroom and school.

Teachers can be as creative as they feel. What have you created lately?

References

NSW Department of Education (2025a). Strategies for Differentiation. https://education.nsw.gov.au/teaching-and-learning/professional-learning/teacher-quality-and-accreditation/strong-start-great-teachers/refining-practice/differentiating-learning/strategies-for-differentiation (accessed March 2026)

NSW Department of Education (2025b). Differentiating learning. https://education.nsw.gov.au/teaching-and-learning/professional-learning/teacher-quality-and-accreditation/strong-start-great-teachers/refining-practice/differentiating-learning (accessed March 2026)

NSW Department of Education (2026a). Universal Resources Hub. https://resources.education.nsw.gov.au/home?urhlibrary=collections&source=literacyandnumeracypackages (accessed March 2026)

NSW Department of Education (2026b). Universal Design for Learning. https://education.nsw.gov.au/teaching-and-learning/curriculum/planning-programming-and-assessing-k-12/about-universal-design-for-learning (accessed March 2026)

Poe, R., M. Ed. (2025). Blueprint for Inclusion: a practical guide to supporting students with IEPs in the general education classroom. LLC Beech Grove, IN: TeacherGoals Publishing

Poe, R., M. Ed. (2026). Rebekah Poe Teaching. https://rebekahpoeteaching.com/ (accessed March 2026)

Schmidt, J. (2025). Breaking Down Tasks: Understanding Task Analysis. https://lifeskillsadvocate.com/blog/understanding-task-analysis/ (accessed March 2026)

Tomlinson, C. (2006). An Educator’s Guide to Differentiating instruction. USA: Cengage Learning.

About the Author

John Skene was elected as the NSW Teachers Federation Disability Officer in November 2024. As part of this role, he is responsible for supporting students, staff and schools in the area of disability. He works closely with Organisers, Professional Support, Trade Union Training and others to support Federation members.

With over fifteen years of experience as a teacher in special education, John has worked in schools for specific purposes (SSPs) and support units (SUs). He is an Assistant Principal Special Education and has held roles as Federation Representative and Workplace Committee at school level. John was a Councillor and Special Education Contact of Sutherland and Inner-City Teachers Association (across his time in school) and a Federation Executive Branch Representative in 2023 and 2024.

Writing is more than pencil & paper – John Skene Download

Respect starts here: fostering safe and inclusive classrooms and schools

Respect and consent are not new concepts in education, yet their meaning and practical application are often unevenly understood across school contexts. As educators navigate increasing reports of gendered disrespect, sexualised behaviour and the influence of digital misogyny on young people, many are seeking clearer guidance on how to respond through curriculum and pedagogy.

Teachers are noticing shifts in student language and behaviour shaped by online cultures that normalise sexism, rigid gender hierarchies and hostility toward gender equity. At the same time, staff frequently report uncertainty about how to address these behaviours in developmentally appropriate ways that align with syllabus requirements and whole-school expectations. Without coherent, research-informed approaches to consent education and gender equity, schools risk responding reactively rather than building sustained, preventative cultures of respect.

This course responds to growing demand for professional learning that strengthens teachers’ capacity to embed consent, gender equity and respectful relationships within everyday teaching practice. By developing a shared understanding of gender, power and digital influence, participants will be supported to build safer, more inclusive school communities through intentional curriculum and classroom strategies.

This course is designed for K–12 teachers who are interested in strengthening their curriculum and pedagogical approaches to consent, gender equity and fostering respectful and inclusive school cultures. Participants will examine how gender, power and digital influences shape behaviour in contemporary school contexts and consider how understandings of consent have evolved within education. Teachers will expand their strategies and skills in embedding consent education, addressing misogynistic and sexualised behaviours, and fostering respectful relationships across a range of classroom settings to support safer learning environments.

9am-3pm on Monday 24 August at NSW Teachers Federation, Surry Hills

$220

Please note payment is taken after the course.

How to be an effective Learning and Support Teacher

This course is designed for teachers who are interested in building practical skills around learning and support process, structures and implementation across K-12 and all settings. Participants will break down the role of a learning and support teacher, build capacity to manage workload and look to create a context specific guide to assist them in their work.

9am-3pm on Thursday 12 November 2026 in Surry Hills

$220

Assessment Matters: Let’s Measure What We Value

Australian education systems have long recognised that the most valuable outcomes of schooling extend well beyond narrow measures of achievement. The Alice Springs (Mparntwe) Declaration reinforces this by emphasising the development of confident, creative, and actively engaged learners who can think critically, collaborate effectively, and contribute positively to their communities. Yet attributes such as reasoning, creativity, collaboration, conceptual understanding, engagement, are often the very ones teachers find hardest to assess, monitor, and communicate with confidence.

This professional learning course responds directly to that challenge. It supports teachers and leaders to foreground the attributes that matter most for students’ long‑term success and wellbeing, and to build assessment practices that honour the full breadth of the curriculum.

This course will deepen your understanding of the attributes emphasised in the Alice Springs Declaration; offering practical ways to capture growth in complex attributes without reducing them to simplistic checklists or proxies; strengthening task and rubric design, and considering how assessments can be used to reinforce the learning schools (and school communities) value. During this course you will reflect on curriculum intent, and provide students with clear pathways for improvement.

You will be empowered to take ownership of assessment, shifting the narrative from compliance to professional agency and build your confidence in communicating the importance of broader learning outcomes to colleagues, leaders, parents, students, and policymakers.

This course aims to promote values‑aligned assessment practices that reduce over‑reliance on narrow, high‑stakes measures and support fairer, more holistic judgments for all learners, and reinforces teacher professionalism, enhances school‑level decision‑making, and ensures that assessment serves as a tool for growth rather than a constraint on meaningful learning.

Prof Jim Tognolini

Professor Jim Tognolini is Director of The Centre for Educational Measurement and Assessment (CEMA) which is situated within the University of Sydney School of Education and Social Work. The work of the Centre is focused on the broad areas of teaching, research, consulting and professional learning for teachers.

The Centre is currently providing consultancy support to a number of schools. These projects include developing a methodology for measuring creativity; measuring 21st Century Skills; developing school-wide practice in formative assessment. We have a number of experts in the field: most notably, Professor Jim Tognolini, who in addition to conducting research offers practical and school-focused support.

20 August 2026 at NSW Teachers Federation, Surry Hills

$220

Melanie Morrison outlines the importance of education in the pursuit of peace, advocating for a ‘peace with justice’ model for our turbulent times…

Teaching from theory to practice

The Sydney Peace Prize as Pedagogy

References

About the author

Jake Lynch provides a well – researched outline of the essential knowledge that teachers would need to introduce the concepts of peace and conflict to their students…

Peace Journalism

References

About the author

Julie McMullen and John Skene reflect on the changing social and political realms in the LGBTIQA+ space, the impact on schools and positive ways to be inclusive…

Historical Context

Policies. Schools. Resources.

Classroom inclusion

What will it look like for you?

References

About the Authors

John Skene provides some views and perspectives on the need for teachers to be the change-makers in language and culture to create more inclusive schools so everyone feels welcome…

The language debate in the disability space

Implications in schools

Shifting mindset, changing culture

The inclusive school

References

About the Author

Mandy Wells discusses the need for a National Anti-Racism Framework and Strategy…

Towards an Anti-Racism Framework

Teachers and Public Schools

A Shared Responsibility

About the author

Bianca Bertalli examines how children’s literature can be used to develop ethical understanding and to address complex issues such as asylum seeking, climate change or social inequalities…

Ethical Understanding in the Primary Years

The Increasing Complexity of Contemporary Picture Books

Picture books that Encourage Children to Ponder

Short Texts Add Long-Term Value to the Collection

The Bridge: The Teacher Librarian, Ethical Understanding and the Future

Exemplar Picture Books for Ethical Understanding

References:

About the Author

John Skene provides some views and perspectives on the importance of differentiation in the classroom to support learners of all abilities…

Differentiation

Universal Design For Learning

Classroom Examples

More than a pencil

References

About the Author

Target Participants

Course dates and venue

Fee

Course dates and venue

Fee

Presenter

Prof Jim Tognolini

Course dates and venue

Fee

Share this page