Putting Local Government in Context: Local Government Teaching and Learning Unit

Civics and Citizenship
Humanites and Social Sciences

Putting Local Government in Context

Lesson one – single lesson

In this lesson, students will start by learning about the three levels of government. They will then dive deeper into the history and function of local government and the different roles within it.

Curriculum

Year 4

AC9HS4K08 – the roles of local government and how members of the community use and contribute to local services

AC9HS4S05 – draw conclusions based on analysis of information

AC9HS4S06 – propose actions or responses to an issue or challenge that consider possible effects of actions

AC9HS4S07 – present descriptions and explanations, using ideas from sources and relevant subject-specific terms

Year 5

AC9HS5K06 – the key values and features of Australia’s democracy, including elections, and the roles and responsibilities of elected representatives

AC9HS5K07 – how citizens (members of communities) with shared beliefs and values work together to achieve a civic goal

AC9HS5S05 – develop evidence-based conclusions

AC9HS5S06 – propose actions or responses to issues or challenges and use criteria to assess the possible effects

AC9HS5S07 – present descriptions and explanations, drawing ideas, findings and viewpoints from sources, and using relevant terms and conventions

Year 6

AC9HS6K07 – the roles and responsibilities of the 3 levels of government in Australia

AC9HS6S05 – develop evidence-based conclusions

AC9HS6S06 – propose actions or responses to issues or challenges and use criteria to assess the possible effects

AC9HS6S07 – present descriptions and explanations, drawing ideas, findings and viewpoints from sources, and using relevant terms and conventions

Resources

Local Government Teaching and Learning Unit PDF

Three levels of government website

What is Local Government? video

Faces of local government poster

Introduction

Introduce the unit aims, learning objective and success criteria.

Unit aims:

Discover the history, role and unique responsibilities of local government.
Experience the ways that a council functions in order to build a deep understanding of the processes of local government.
Consider, discuss and campaign on initiatives, issues and ideas that they are passionate about.
Apply their understanding of local government to effect change in their local community.

Learning objective and success criteria:

Year	Learning objectives	Success criteria
4	To understand the role of local government, how councils operate, and the ways that members of the community can contribute to their local community.	I can explain the history and function of local government describe the election process for council understand how a council functions and makes decisions describe how community members can be actively involved in local government propose actions to combat challenges in my classroom, considering their possible flow-on effects demonstrate active citizenship in my local council
5	To understand how the electoral process occurs at the local government level, how councils operate and the role and responsibilities of elected members. To comprehend how members of communities work together through local government to achieve civic goals.	I can explain the history and function of local government describe the election process for council understand how a council functions and makes decisions describe how community members can work with their council to make changes explain the roles and responsibilities of elected members propose actions to combat challenges in my classroom and assess their possible flow-on effects demonstrate active citizenship in my local council
6	To understand the role and responsibility of the local government and how it differs from the other two levels of the Australian government. To learn about how citizens get involved through various processes (including elections) and how they can exercise their power to create change.	I can explain the history and function of local government and understand why it is different from state and federal government describe the election process for council understand how a council functions and makes decisions. explain how community members can work with their council to make changes explain the roles and responsibilities of elected members propose actions to combat challenges in my classroom and assess their possible flow-on effects demonstrate active citizenship in my local council

As a class, consider these discussion questions:

Have you heard of the three levels of government? What are they?
What does each level of government do?
How can people get involved in government at each level?

Activity One

To dive deeper into the idea of governmental responsibility, complete the Three levels of government activity. You can do this as a class or in small groups.

Activity Two

Watch the What is local government? video as a class, then investigate the following questions:

What is the role of local government?
What jobs are there in a government? Is this the same everywhere?
Why is South Australia significant in the history of local government?

Activity Three

As a class, get familiar with the roles within local government using the Faces of local government poster resource and considering these prompts:

What do you think the day-to-day tasks of each of these roles are?
What different powers and responsibilities does each role hold?
Who can be in these roles and how do they get there?

Conclusion

What’s next?

Next lesson you will work on your Personal statement and nominate which roles you are interested in taking on.

Recap what has been learned today. Ask each student to tell you or write down one thing that they learned today as an exit ticket to solidify their understanding.

This project has been supported by the Local Government Research and Development Scheme administered by the Local Government Association of SA.

Putting local government in context