At the heart of Our Strategy for Public Education is the commitment to ensuring our future generations are empowered to be active and compassionate citizens.

Our world is rapidly changing, and the future we’re educating our children and young people for will be different from today.

In times of global uncertainty and misinformation seeking to influence our young people, it’s never been more important for students to engage in critical thinking – to stop and think about their choices, their views and the influences around them.

The Government of South Australia has now announced nation-leading reforms to support and strengthen democracy in South Australia, with $18.4 million to be invested in civics and citizenship education over 3 years.

By engaging in the concepts of democracy, including through civics and citizenship education, we are strengthening students’ ability to engage with issues that matter to them and the world they live in, and to understand how decisions affecting them get made.

The reforms include 3 streams:

Learning reform

• Increase the amount of time students spend engaging with civics and citizenship education and concepts. This will help all students develop the dispositions, skills and knowledge to be engaged and active citizens.
• Embed civics and citizenship themes across all learning areas, from reception to year 10.
• Give students new and expanded opportunities to participate in school-based democratic opportunities – supporting student agency and giving students a greater voice in the decisions at school that affect them.

Teacher specialisation

• Ensure there is a specialist civics and citizenship teacher in every secondary school, by supporting years 7 and 8 Humanities and Social Science teachers to undertake professional development in civics and citizenship.

• Provide professional development to integrate civics and citizenship opportunities across the curriculum in years 9 and 10, enabling students to engage with topics and participate in civil society in meaningful ways.

Immersing students

• Introduce the state’s first Active Citizenship Convention in 2025, to support South Australian students to build trust and hope in democracy, empowering them to be active citizens and build confidence to navigate misinformation and disinformation.

What this means for our educators

We’ll work towards having a specialised civics and citizenship teacher in every public high school and birth to year 12 school, through a balanced approach to ensure schools are not disrupted.

Teachers will be identified within every secondary school to develop their specialisation and skills in civics and citizenship teaching and learning.

Enhancing civics and citizenship through a cross-curriculum priority

South Australia will introduce a cross-curriculum priority across all learning areas from reception to year 10 inclusive, in all public schools. Currently the Australian Curriculum has 3 cross-curriculum priorities:

• Sustainability
• Asia and Australia’s engagement with Asia
• Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Histories and Cultures.

Embedding civics and citizenship as a cross-curriculum priority will:

• help prevent the overburdening of teachers with additional teaching requirements
• weave critical civics and citizenship themes through all learning areas.

Student involvement

Students will be immersed in an annual, 3-day Active Citizenship Convention. This will bring together students, educators, experts, government officials and community stakeholders in the interests of democracy, civics and citizenship.

The inaugural Active Citizenship Convention – Our voice. Our impact.  – will be held from 18 to 20 August 2025 at Adelaide Oval.

The convention is open to year 10 students from across all South Australian schooling sectors and geographies, with day one reserved for regional attendees.