Teaching sequence

Work through this resource material in the following sequence:

10 minutes

Tune In: I am but I am not…

25 minutes

Find Out: Interactive community inclusion audit

20 minutes

Take Action: Commitment to inclusion plans

5 minutes

Reflection

Learning intentions

Students will:

reflect on how individuals can take responsibility for fostering inclusive communities.

Success criteria

Students can:

conduct an inclusion audit of their school, sports team, or community
identify areas for improvement and propose strategies to promote diversity and inclusion
develop a personal or collective action plan with clear steps to enhance inclusivity.

Tune In: I am but I am not…

Step 1

Ask each student to draw 2 columns onto blank paper: ‘I am…’ and ‘I am not…’

In the ‘I am…’ column, ask the students to write something that they all have in common, such as ‘I am in Year 7.’

In the ‘I am not..’ column, ask the students to write something that differentiates them from their classmates. For example, ‘I was born overseas.’

Ask the students to think of 5 different ‘I am nots…’

Step 2

Once completed, ask the students to form a circle and share their ‘I am not...’ statements with their peers. Share and discuss the revelations made through this activity in order to break down stereotypes and misconceptions.

Step 3

Explain to the students that this activity challenges assumptions and helps team members see each other as individuals, not just representatives of a group. Outline to students that allowing the opportunity for others to share their experiences allows us to understand why community programs such as those facilitated by the Collingwood Football Club, as learnt previously in the last lesson, demonstrate the effectiveness of communities coming together.

An example of this is the Cultural Immersion program in Tennant Creek run by Collingwood Football Club as part of their Barrawarn program. This program allows players to engage, listen and learn from First Nations peoples and communities of Tennant Creek in the Northern Territory.

Find Out: Interactive community inclusion audit

Step 1

Your students' task is to conduct an audit of community inclusion. They can complete this audit on their school, sporting team or classroom to determine its inclusivity.

Organise students into groups of 4-5 and ask them to choose their focus group. Once chosen, give them time to design 5-7 simple questions to ask the members of their chosen group.

Suggested questions:

Do you feel welcome here?
Have you seen people of different backgrounds/abilities participating?
Are there any activities or spaces you can’t access? Why?
What helps you feel included?
What could make this group more welcoming?

Step 2

Once decided, ask students to write their questions on a sheet or use a digital tool such as Google Forms or Mentimeter. Guide each group to survey at least 3-5 people from the chosen community (classmates, club members, teachers). This may require students to survey students from different classes and move around the school campus. Please note that students may not be able to easily survey members from their local sporting team.

Step 3

Ask the groups to look at their answers and sort them into 3 categories:

Strengths: What’s working well for inclusion?
Barriers: What makes it hard for some people to join or feel welcome?
Ideas: Suggestions people gave for improvement.

Step 4

Invite each group to share their findings with the class. Encourage them to consider ideas for improvement.

Take Action: Commitment to inclusion plans

Step 1

Using their audit results, explain to students that they are charged with developing a commitment to an inclusion plan that outlines actions that they can take to make their community more inclusive. Provide each group with an activity sheet.

Outline to the students how to use the organiser by explaining the purpose of each section.

What did we learn? Write a barrier or area for improvement from their audit
What will we do? Describe a specific action to improve inclusion
Who will do it? Assign responsibility
When and how often? Set a timeline or frequency
How will we track our progress? Decide how to measure success

Visual example:

What did we learn?	What will we do?	Who will do it?	When and how often?	How will we track our progress?
not everyone feels welcome at lunch	start a buddy table for new students	Year 7 leaders	every day	new students join and say they feel welcome
some activities are too expensive	organise a sports equipment swap	everyone	once a term	more students have the gear they need

Step 2

Direct each group to add at least 5 actions to their plan. Please note that an identified barrier or area for improvement can have multiple actions.

Step 3

Once students have completed their plan, invite them to swap their plan with another group. Each group must read the action plan and provide 3 pieces of constructive and positive feedback.

Allow groups time to enact the feedback before submitting their action plan to you.

Reflection

Step 1

Ask each team to draw a large flower with a centre and petals (1 petal per action listed in their action plans). In the centre of the flower, ask each team to write the focus group on which they completed their audit. On each petal, students write an identified barrier and their suggested action.

Step 2

Once completed, display the flowers for everyone to see. Invite students to reflect by asking:

What common themes or barriers can be seen across all focus groups?
What possible actions can be connected to have a wider impact?

Commitment to Inclusion

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Summary

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