An Introduction to Human Rights and Responsibilities
Rights and Freedoms
An Introduction to Human Rights and Responsibilities provides students with the opportunity to explore the meaning of ‘rights’ and develop an understanding of human rights and the responsibilities that complement them.
This resource includes two lesson plans. They each feature activities designed to be used with an interactive whiteboard or individual device, as well as additional teacher support resources and suggested homework activities. These resources were developed in 2016.
Overview
- Year: 5-6
- Subjects: Humanities and Social Sciences (HASS); Health and Physical Education
- General capabilities: Ethical Understanding, Intercultural Understanding, Personal and Social Capability
- Cross-curriculum priority: Sustainability
Access Year 5 and 6 Introduction to Human Rights and Responsibilities resources
Lessons
- Lesson 1: an introduction to human rights, responsibilities and the concepts of freedom, equality, fairness and justice. Students will design their own classroom Charter of Rights.
- Lesson 2: an introduction to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Students will begin to apply human rights principles to their own lives.
Curriculum message
Introduction to Human Rights and Responsibilities resources include mapping to Version 8.4 of the Australian Curriculum.
The Australian Human Rights Commission acknowledges that Version 9.0 of the Australian Curriculum was endorsed in April 2022 and implementation began from 2023. Please see below for Version 9.0 curriculum links.
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V9 Australian Curriculum Year 5 and 6 Health and Physical Education links
Personal, social and community health - identities and change
- explain how identities can be influenced by people and places, and how we can create positive self-identities (AC9HP6P01)
Personal, social and community health - interacting with others
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V9 Australian Curriculum Year 6 Humanities and Social Sciences links
Inquiry Questions
- How have key figures, events and values shaped Australian society, its system of government and citizenship?
- How have experiences of democracy and citizenship differed between groups over time and place, and what is the role of citizens in contributing to environmental, economic and social sustainability?
- How has Australia developed as a society with global connections, and in what ways is Australia similar and different to other countries?
History - Knowledge and Understanding
- Changes in Australia's political system and to Australian citizenship after Federation and throughout the 20th century that impacted First Nations Australians, migrants, women and children (AC9HS6K02)
Skills
- develop questions to investigate people, events, developments, places and systems (AC9HS6S01)
- evaluate information and data in a range of formats to identify and describe patterns and trends, or to infer relationships (AC9HS6S03)
- evaluate primary and secondary sources to determine origin, purpose and perspectives (AC9HS6S04)
- propose actions or responses to issues or challenges and use criteria to assess the possible effects (AC9HS6S06)