Teaching Sequence

Work through this resource material in the following sequence:

10 minutes

Part A: See, think, wonder

20 minutes

Poverty in Australia

10 minutes

Poverty and inequality

40 minutes

Part D: Engaging with the local community

10 minutes

Reflection: Circles of action

Part A: See, Think, Wonder

Step 1.

Provide each member of the class with a copy of the Student Worksheet. Invite the students to look at the image (child smiling and overjoyed as they are thrown in the air) at the top of their worksheet. Once the students have had a few seconds to look at the image, ask them to complete the See, Think, Wonder table on the worksheet.

Step 2.

After everyone has completed the See, Think, Wonder table, ask students to volunteer their answers with the class. Lead the students in a discussion about the answers that were similar. It is unlikely that students will identify the image presented as one of a family living in poverty, however, this could very well be the case. Through this lens, you can gently challenge the students’ misconceptions about poverty. You may wish to probe them with questions such as:

Does anyone think this is a picture of people living in poverty?
What evidence did you use to determine the lifestyle that the people in the picture lead?
Do people in Australia who live in poverty all look and behave in a certain way?
What would you expect a picture of a family living in poverty to look like?
Have you unknowingly developed a preconceived idea and opinion about people that live in poverty?

Throughout the class discussion, you may need to remind the class that someone living in poverty isn’t necessarily homeless, without a family, or not working at all. They may just not be able to get enough work to lift them out of poverty. Poverty isn’t always visible in the way that we often believe it is. It is commonly about not having everyday necessities such as access to affordable housing, sufficient amounts of nutritious food, a good education or access to health services. Poverty is often seen in the choices that people are forced to make, such as skipping meals or medication in order to pay bills or rent, due to a lack of income.

Part B: Poverty in Australia

Step 1.

Next, ask students to view the Poverty in Australia - Fast Facts sheet. They can either view this individually on their devices OR you may wish to work through the Fast Facts page as a whole class, on an interactive whiteboard.

Step 2.

After reading through all the Fast Facts information, ask the class to complete the who, what, how and why questions from part two of their worksheet. Encourage the class to refer back to the Poverty in Australia - Fast Facts sheet to help them complete this part of the worksheet. If students wish to do their own further research to answer these questions, encourage them to do so.

Part C: Poverty and inequality

Step 1.

This part of the lesson is intended to provide students with a “lived example” of inequality. Before you begin, show the class the following clip

Inequality in Australia - A Nation Divided (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y8FUbds7tNU)

At the conclusion of the clip, explain to students that you will have a further look at inequality by modelling it as a class. However, before you facilitate an interactive activity, go around the class and ask everyone to offer one word, a sentence or phrase that came to mind while watching the video.

Step 2.

Invite your class to pay attention while you go through the rules of this game and that this game reflects the systems and structures of inequality.

The rules:

Only use your paper ball for the purpose of the activity
Do not throw paper balls until you are instructed to do so.

For a class of 25, you will need to distribute the scrap paper amongst the students in the format outlined below, with the students seated closest to the bucket receiving the greater number of papers. For variations in class numbers, adjust the number of pieces of paper required per student accordingly.

5 students receive 5 pieces of paper
5 students receive 4 pieces of paper
5 students receive 3 pieces of paper
5 students receive 2 pieces of paper
5 students receive 1 piece of paper.

Step 3.

Explain to the class that they are going to play a simple game, where they represent Australia’s population. Everyone in the country has a chance to become wealthy and move into the highest socioeconomic bracket. To move to the wealthiest group, all they must do is throw a ball of scrunched-up paper into the bucket at the front of the classroom while sitting in their seat.

Ask students to scrunch up their paper and get ready to throw. Invite students to mark or write their name on the paper ball/s for later identification. If students begin to make statements about fairness, other students being in the way, ability to see etc allow them to do so, acknowledge their point but continue on with the activity. These concerns will be addressed later in the activity and provide a good basis for further discussion about inequality.

Step 4.

Once all students are ready and seated, allow them to take their shot. Ask students to keep an eye on their ball/s in order to identify if it goes in the bucket or not.

At this point, students seated closer to the bucket (front rows) and with a greater number of paper balls should be more successful than those seated further away from the bucket (back rows) with fewer paper balls. You can check whose balls have managed to make it into the bucket and announce to the class who their ‘wealthy’ classmates are.

Step 5.

Once all the balls have been accounted for display the Inequality in Australia 202 2 Factsheet on the board. Read through each of the pieces of data with the class and lead them in a discussion about inequality. Explain to them that inequality means the unequal distribution within society; of income, wealth, and goods. In this case, those with fewer pieces of paper and further back were adversely affected by poverty. Those with more paper and closer to the bucket were more likely to succeed and to gain from the opportunities that wealth and income provide.

Ask your students to pair up with a friend or form groups of 3 to 4 students and ask them to reflect on the following and then share their responses with the class:

What happened to the players that were further away from the bucket? Why is it important and what does it mean? What does it prevent them from doing?
Did you decide whether you would be placed closer to the bucket or was it a rule/structure that you had to adhere to?
Do rules, structures or systems give people the same opportunities and equal opportunities?

Step 6.

At this point, you may want to remind the class of any comments that were made at the beginning of the activity about fairness or advantage. Reflect on which students raised these issues (ones with more or fewer pieces of paper, further or closer to the bucket). Point out that excessive inequality in any society is harmful. A system that leaves people behind is bad for the economy, as well as people. It is the collective responsibility of all to work towards reducing both poverty and inequality.

Step 7.

Invite the class to answer the worksheet questions under part 3.

Part D: Engaging with the local community

Social action activities aim to make a positive difference to others. There are lots of ways in which young people can take practical action to make a positive difference, either formally or informally. Some student-led social actions may include volunteering, fundraising, campaigning or supporting community groups. This part of the lesson aims to encourage students to plan and execute a social action plan in order to strengthen community ties and discover practical ways to alleviate poverty locally.

Step 1.

Read aloud to the class:

“Sustainable Development Goal 1: End poverty in all its forms everywhere, has a target to, by 2030, to reduce at least by half the proportion of men, women, and children of all ages living in poverty in all its dimensions according to national definitions. This means everyone needs to become involved in reducing poverty by advocating for policy change and taking social action”. (Source)

Explain to students that Australia has formally committed to this goal.

Explain to the class that during this task they will need to identify, plan, engage in and evaluate a social action project related to poverty and inequality in your local community. This could be in the form of volunteering, fundraising, campaigning or supporting in some other way you identify.

Before your students begin their social action project you should work through the planning stages on the Student Worksheet to further develop your thinking and processes regarding the activity you plan to undertake.

Step 2.

Depending on how you would like the class to work, either divide them into groups OR allow them to work individually, working through the questions in part D. At the end of answering all of the planning questions, students should be able to formulate a social action plan. Encourage them to act on this plan by following through and carrying out their social action plan within the community. You may wish to facilitate students' social actions by allowing them additional time in school to execute their plans.

Reflection - Circles of action

Invite students to complete the reflection thinking tool: Circles of action. In this reflection, ask students to think about the actions that they could take or have taken, to reduce poverty and inequality in their three spheres of influence:

In their inner circle (of friends, family, the people they know)
In their community (school, neighbourhood, local community/city)?
In the world (beyond their immediate environment)

Differentiated learning

Extension -

For Part B, you could ask students to write an “empathy story” about a hypothetical individual who is experiencing poverty. An empathy story should make readers or listeners understand a situation and think about how a person experiencing that situation may feel. They could use the Poverty in Australia - Fast Facts sheet to help formulate their story. Students could read their empathy stories to the class or at assembly to encourage others to take action against poverty.
For Part C, you could ask students to research 'quintiles' and how they are used to help measure income inequality. They could draw comparisons between the paper toss activity and how quintiles were represented there and then use this information to analyse further data about inequality in Australia.

Provisions for Learning Support -

For Part B, you could ask students to look at the Poverty in Australia - Fast Facts sheet and choose 10 different pieces of information from the infographic that effectively summarises poverty in Australia.
For Part C, you could ask students to write a reflective piece about the paper toss activity, outlining what was ‘fair’, what was ‘unfair’ and what they thought about who was able to attain ‘wealth’.
For Part D, you could ensure that students work in groups with varying ability levels.

Teacher reflection

Take this opportunity to reflect on your own teaching:

• What did you learn about your teaching practice?
• What worked well?
• What didn't work so well?
• What would you share?
• Where to next?
• How are you going to get there?

Poverty and Inequality in Australia - Understanding Poverty and Inequality in Australia

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