Parliamentary Education Office
Administered by the Department of the Senate, the Parliamentary Education Office (PEO) is a joint office and receives part funding from the department. Its mission is to provide parliamentary education services to schools, teachers and students. It also provides parliamentary education support services to members and senators.
The two departments liaise closely on the PEO’s strategic direction and the content of its teaching, educational material and online resources through the PEO Advisory Committee, jointly chaired by the Deputy Speaker and Deputy President. The committee may also advise the Presiding Officers on the support needs of members and senators in relation to parliamentary education. The committee met in November 2015. The Clerk Assistant (Table) attended as an observer.
Programs at Parliament House
In the reporting year, 89,087 students from around Australia participated in the PEO’s experiential role-play program at Parliament House. This was a 1 per cent decrease on 2014–15, a normal amount of variation and to be expected in a near-capacity program. Attendance figures reflect the program’s continued popularity. The cumulative total of students who have participated in role-play programs since the building opened in 1988 passed two million in 2016. In 2015–16 the PEO also conducted a number of activities targeting students, trainee and qualified teachers, school principals and parliamentary visitors.
In late 2015 the PEO acquired a second regular teaching space, the APH Public Alcove. This additional room ensures secure accommodation for the simultaneous delivery of two role-play programs and brings many further benefits.
Modifications were made to the PEO’s operating procedures for managing school groups to make adjustments for the second teaching space and to ensure overall compliance with the enhanced security requirements at Parliament House.
In collaboration with the Parliamentary Skills Centre, the PEO made a significant contribution to the Pacific Women’s Parliamentary Partnerships Project, managed by the Parliamentary Skills Centre, through written resources and conference presentations. The project aims to increase the level of gender awareness within the parliamentary cultures of many Pacific nations (see page 45 for more information.)
The parliamentary venue management system, which includes school tour bookings, continues to undergo refinement. When fully functional, the system will provide improved information and services to schools and tour operators that book student programs at Parliament House.
Outreach activities
The PEO continued to invest in a comprehensive range of outreach strategies to be able to provide parliamentary education services to a broad student population, not just those able to travel to Canberra.
The PEO website (www.peo.gov.au) remains a highly effective and popular vehicle for disseminating parliamentary education material and resources to teachers and students located around Australia. PEO website patronage increased in 2015–16 to 1,357,684 visitor sessions, a 50 per cent increase on 2014–15. The increase may reflect the addition of considerable new content and improved functionality, which has broadened audience appeal and allows the site to better support the draft national curriculum in civics and citizenship. The introduction of rolling advertisements on the homepage for web content is also likely to have expanded the website’s appeal.
During the year, the PEO continued to revise and update web content and developed significant new content, including the new video, ‘Get involved’, which was designed to inform and encourage young people to be active citizens. The reporting year saw expanded resources supporting the national curriculum, as well as improvements to the interactive website ‘Your questions on notice’, which allows students to ask questions of parliamentary educators. ‘To our last shilling: Australian Parliament and World War 1’, an online resource acknowledging the role of the parliament in World War 1, was expanded to include fact sheets. The PEO website resource ‘Parliament now’ continued to develop and present up-to-date information about current parliamentary events and the achievements and statistics of the Forty-fourth Parliament.
In recognition of its national responsibilities, the PEO continued to explore the potential of new technology for the remote delivery of PEO programs and resources, including interactive videoconferencing. This is on track to be introduced early in the new financial year.
School visit program
The PEO continued its work with members and senators on a limited scale through a targeted school visit program called Parliament Alive. In 2015–16, visits took place in 60 schools in northern Queensland, suburban Sydney and regional New South Wales. More than 4,000 students participated in programs delivered in their classrooms. These activities gave students an invaluable opportunity to learn first-hand about the role and work of their federal member or senator.
Educational resources
The PEO continued to produce a wide range of educational resources, both in print and online, including several new educational videos for students and teachers. It also developed a series of lesson plans for teachers, based on the draft national curriculum in civics and citizenship. Demand for PEO publications and resources from both teachers and parliamentarians continued to be strong in the course of the year.
A new personalised resource for members and senators, ‘Representing you’, was developed to support member and senator interaction with students in their electorates and states and territories. PEO publications and resources were regularly reviewed and updated during the year to ensure their currency, accuracy and relevance.