By Mark Ensor
AFL Queensland has been selected as a Multicultural Queensland Ambassador finalist for the 2018 Queensland Multicultural Awards.
Following the success of winning the 2017 Queensland Multicultural Community Sector award (AFLQ Diversity Employment Program – Click Here), AFLQ through the development and implementation of Everyone Matters (a Year 4 School Curriculum Program), was nominated for designing an innovative curriculum program that is a celebration of multiculturalism and promotes inclusive behaviour, positive relationships and valuing diversity while using AFL as a vehicle of learning.
Prior to this program there wasn’t any existing curriculum program within the Queensland Education system that targeted inclusion and social cohesion using sport as a context.
The program took 2 years to design and was developed in collaboration with our Schools Advisory Board, Queensland Department of Education and Training, leading Queensland universities and several teachers. The program was designed by teachers for teachers.
Throughout the program, students will learn about diversity, empathy and respect. The students will build knowledge and reasoning around the themes of;
- ensuring people are welcoming and approachable,
- accepting of difference, and
- able to respect multiple ways of being.
Mrs Gina Lyons, School Advisory Board member and Teacher at Mother Teresa School, Lead Writer of the program said “fundamental to the program, is building a sense of community around diversity, creating a sense of identity and being welcoming.”
“By bring this content to the Year 4 classroom, we believe can make a positive difference for Queensland’s greatest asset – its people!”
State Development Manager, Mark Ensor, said, the Schools Advisory Board and particularly Mrs Lyons should be proud of this nomination and the nomination supports AFLQ’s alignment with the Queensland Multicultural Ambassador Program.
“Everyone Matters strongly reflects a commitment to building a prosperous, fair and harmonious Queensland, by providing an educational program that fosters and unites the diverse multiculturalism communities of Queensland, as well as providing opportunities to build connections with mainstream Australia,” Ensor said.
In only two school terms since launching the program, over 50 classes and over 1000 students in Queensland have participated in the program.
For more information and list of finalists, click here.
The well-resourced program is FREE for all Queensland schools and comprises lesson plans, activity resources and assessment tools.
For more information on the program, click here.
