Case Study - Voting in Elections

The participants were attending a Labor Market program being run by a Private Provider of Training – Linda Wyse and Associates. They were eager to know more about the election process. Linda’s company specialises in workplace communication especially for English as second language learners. As long term unemployed trainees these people were politically aware of the impact parliamentary decisions were having on their lives. They needed knowledge about the way that governments work in Australia so they could make more informed decisions at election time.

The module began with coverage of local government. On an excursion through the streets to the local council offices we saw several posters for a State Election which gave the learners ideas for their advertising. We collected material from two local parliamentarians – one Federal member and one State member.

Then we moved on to cover State Government and the process of parliament. This included an excursion to Parliament house where we sat and observed proceedings. The students had the opportunity to meet their local member for State Government.

Finally we reached election time and this is where our snapshot begins. We covered the roles and responsibilities of Federal and State Governments and the election procedures. The Polling Booth was set up in the classroom with students doing all the required roles such as name clerk, supervisor of people and so on. The polling booth was like the ‘real’ thing. The students had to find which table they needed to go to, using alphabetical order for surnames, not an easy task for some nationalities. ‘Scrutineers’ and ‘polling booth staff’ did the count.

This is an example of using the NRS and its resources as a diagnostic instrument.

The snapshot moves across NRS levels 1,2, and 3 with some points from level 4. The sequence of activities can be expanded and are not all used in the observation sheet for group work and assessment record.