Student action teams.(Student Action Teams: Implementing Productive Practices in Primary and Secondary School Classrooms )(Book review)

Implementing productive practices in primary and secondary school classrooms Compiled and edited by Roger Holdsworth, Connect, Northcote, VIC, 2006

One of the goals articulated by the Ministerial Council on Education, Employment, Training and Youth Affairs in its 1999 Adelaide Declaration on National Goals for Schooling in the Twenty-first Century was to enable students to become 'active and inform ed citizens' (MCEETYA 1999)

The transformation of disinterested, apathetic students (or the mobilisation of engaged, idealistic students) into active and informed citizens is the goal of many a battle-weary teacher. It is always a delight when a student has a 'lightbulb moment'; when a teacher knows that at least one student in the class will take the information they have learned and apply it to their everyday lives and future learning. What wouldn't every teacher give for a practical teaching program that encourages students to take an active interest in their learning and in their community? One that engages all students, not just those who are 'traditionally successful'? One that has been developed, trialed and reviewed by educational experts, teachers and students?

Never fear, teachers: Student Action Teams are here.

Student Action Teams (SATs) are 'teams of students who, as part of their school curriculum, adopt a community issue that they care passionately about, research it, decide what needs to be changed or improved and take action to achieve that'. Student action teams: Implementing productive practices in primary and secondary school classrooms outlines the theoretical framework underpinning the SAT approach and its development and implementation in a number of Victorian schools. Through the first-hand stories of teachers involved in the practical application of SATs, we learn valuable lessons about the benefits and challenges the approach offers participating students, teachers, schools and communities.

SATs began as a student participation project in Victorian schools from 1999-2002, in which primary and secondary schools were asked to form SATs to tackle a chosen community issue. This project was evaluated by the University of Melbourne's Australian Youth Research Centre, who compiled a 'how-to' manual on the establishment of SATs. In 2003, the SAT approach was adopted by schools in the Darebin Schools Network, a cluster of ...