Journal article

• Some background on how articles in Set: Research Information for Teachers are offered online here as soon as they are finalised, but before they are added to an issue of the journal.

The Electoral Commission’s vision is that young people become active and engaged citizens who understand and value what it means to live in a democracy, who have confidence in their voice, and who value and use their vote.

To contribute to this goal the Electoral Commission provides resources and support for schools and teachers to deliver to the curriculum. The aims of its resources are aligned to the concepts of civics and citizenship - that is, to encourage students to participate as critical, active, informed and responsible citizens now and in the future.

With the ever-increasing rate of social change, we need more than ever to provide a variety of opportunities for New Zealand students to ask questions about current social issues and consider the ways in which people respond to and make decisions about such issues.

Social studies is the learning area which deals most directly with the lives of all students; it is contemporary and historical and underpins the freedom, representation and participation people have in a society now and in the future. But before this can happen across the board in classrooms, we must be clear what “civic and citizenship education ought to involve and what means are effective in developing students’ citizenship outcomes”

How could tools such as Ask Away be used to give young people democratic experiences that make participation worthwhile?

When our Pacific grandparents, parents and families migrated to Aotearoa they journeyed here for a better life and future for us. Our generation of Pacific youth leaders have many more opportunities, with one of them being able to fully engage with society, and to contribute to decision making, and governance. The Pacific Youth Leadership and Transformation (PYLAT) Council’s purpose is to bring this opportunity into fruition, with a vision ‘to see a world well informed and influenced by Pacific young people’.

UN Youth is a youth-for-youth charitable civics education organisation that operates throughout the country. The organisation’s goal is to equip young people with the skills and knowledge necessary to become informed, engaged, and critical New Zealanders who can become global citizens. For 16 years, UN Youth has primarily achieved this through holding Model United Nations events to introduce international relations and politics to high school and tertiary students. Over 2,000 students from Northland to Southland attend a UN Youth event each year.