Lesson 2: Leadership

Learning intention: To identify and analyse the values, characteristics and skills of an effective leader.

Engage

Seeking inspiration for a powerful campaign speech, Hannah listens to a series of famous speeches by women leaders. The audience joins Hannah in hearing Malala Yousafzai (a Pakistani education activist and the world’s youngest Nobel Peace Prize laureate) and Kamala Harris (America’s first female Vice-President).

In a class discussion, ask students to share any prior knowledge of these leaders. Why are their stories so important? What change have they enacted in the world, and how did they go about this? Can students suggest any other strong leaders or renowned speeches? Why were these so impactful?

Explore

The above clip shows Jasmine and Hannah deliver campaign speeches to their homeroom peers, both eager to be elected as class captain. Jasmine assures the class that she is ‘just like them’, while Hannah campaigns on a platform of empathy, inclusion and peer support. Ask students to share their opinions about who should win the election, and why. Who would they vote for, and why?

Following this, allocate students into small groups to identify and discuss the values, characteristics and actions of effective leaders. They might choose to reflect on leaders in their own school, social, cultural or family contexts to inform their thinking. Ask each group to compile a short list of the qualities that they think epitomise an effective leader.

Explain

Coming back together as a class, review and compare the groups’ lists, inviting students to justify (or challenge) the inclusion of given values, characteristics and actions. Are the lists similar or are there some contentious inclusions? What might explain the differences in students’ lists? Are the listed qualities universal to all leadership positions, or do advantageous characteristics vary for different contexts?

Through undertaking this process, the class will develop a jointly constructed ‘leadership criteria’. Record students’ suggestions on an anchor chart for future reference. Explain to the class that a good leader can bring out the best qualities and abilities of each team member, guiding and motivating them to collaboratively pursue shared goals. What else can an effective student leader achieve in a school setting?

Elaborate

Working individually or in pairs, challenge students to draft a job advertisement for the role of class captain at their own school. Students’ advertisements should outline the responsibilities of the particular role and the qualities they believe are important for the position. Before writing, students could look at example advertisements online to see how this short text type should be structured. They could also refer to the leadership criteria chart for ideas.

Evaluate

As a class reflection, display the advertisements around the classroom in a gallery walk so that students can engage with each other’s work.

Australian Curriculum Links

	Year 7	Year 8
Civics and Citizenship
Citizenship, identity and diversity	AC9HC7K05 How values based on freedom, respect, fairness and equality of opportunity can support social cohesion and democracy within Australian society.	AC9HC8K05 How culture and religion may influence individuals' and groups' perceptions and expressions of citizenship and their actions as citizens.
Analysis, evaluation and interpretation	AC9HC7S03 Analyse information, data and ideas about political, legal or civic issues to identify and explain differences in perspectives and potential challenges.	AC9HC8S03 Analyse information, data and ideas about political, legal or civic issues to identify and explain differences in perspectives and potential challenges.
Civic participation and decision-making	AC9HC7S04 Explain the methods or strategies related to making decisions about civic participation.	AC9HC8S04 Explain the methods or strategies related to making decisions about civic participation.
Critical and Creative Thinking
Reflecting	Reflect on the thinking and processes used when completing activities or drawing conclusions. Invite alternative perspectives and feedback, and consider reasonable criticism to adjust thinking and approaches.
English
Language	AC9E7LA03 Identify and describe how texts are structured differently depending on their purpose and how language features vary in texts.	AC9E8LA03 Explain how texts are structured depending on their purpose and how language features vary, recognising that some texts are hybrids that combine different genres or elements of different genres.
Literature	AC9E7LE01 Identify and explore ideas, points of view, characters, events and/or issues in literary texts, drawn from historical, social and/or cultural contexts, by First Nations Australian, and wide-ranging Australian and world authors. AC9E7LE02 Form an opinion about characters, settings and events in texts, identifying areas of agreement and difference with others’ opinions and justifying a response.	AC9E8LE01 Explain the ways that ideas and points of view may represent the values of individuals and groups in literary texts, drawn from historical, social and cultural contexts, by First Nations Australian, and wide-ranging Australian and world authors. AC9E8LE02 Share opinions about the language features, literary devices and text structures that contribute to the styles of literary texts.
Literacy	AC9E7LY03 Analyse the ways in which language features shape meaning and vary according to audience and purpose.	AC9E8LY03 Analyse and evaluate the ways that language features vary according to the purpose and audience of the text, and the ways that sources and quotations are used in a text.
Ethical Understanding
Recognise influences on ethical behaviour and perspectives	Explain how different traits, such as honesty, trust, courage and selfishness interact with responsibilities or duties to determine ethically appropriate responses.
Health and Physical Education
Identities and change	AC9HP8P03 Examine how roles, decision-making, and levels of power, coercion and control within relationships can be influenced by gender stereotypes.
Interacting with others	AC9HP8P04 Examine the roles of respect, empathy, power and coercion in developing respectful relationships. AC9HP8P05 Investigate strategies that influence how communities value diversity and propose actions they can take to promote inclusion in their communities.
Personal and Social Capability
Social awareness	Acknowledge the emotions, needs, cultures and backgrounds of different groups and compare with their own. Analyse roles and responsibilities of citizens within communities.
Social management	Appreciate diverse perspectives in a range of collaborative contexts and demonstrate negotiation skills to improve ways of working and outputs. Devise a plan for leading action and evaluate the appropriateness of various leadership approaches in the process. Devise and analyse individual and group decision-making processes.

Engage

Explore

Explain

Elaborate

Evaluate

Australian Curriculum Links

Year 7

Year 8

Civics and Citizenship

Citizenship, identity and diversity

How values based on freedom, respect, fairness and equality of opportunity can support social cohesion and democracy within Australian society.

How culture and religion may influence individuals' and groups' perceptions and expressions of citizenship and their actions as citizens.

Analysis, evaluation and interpretation

Analyse information, data and ideas about political, legal or civic issues to identify and explain differences in perspectives and potential challenges.

Analyse information, data and ideas about political, legal or civic issues to identify and explain differences in perspectives and potential challenges.

Civic participation and decision-making

Explain the methods or strategies related to making decisions about civic participation.

Explain the methods or strategies related to making decisions about civic participation.

Critical and Creative Thinking

Reflect on the thinking and processes used when completing activities or drawing conclusions.

Invite alternative perspectives and feedback, and consider reasonable criticism to adjust thinking and approaches.

English

Language

Identify and describe how texts are structured differently depending on their purpose and how language features vary in texts.

Explain how texts are structured depending on their purpose and how language features vary, recognising that some texts are hybrids that combine different genres or elements of different genres.

Literature

Identify and explore ideas, points of view, characters, events and/or issues in literary texts, drawn from historical, social and/or cultural contexts, by First Nations Australian, and wide-ranging Australian and world authors.

Form an opinion about characters, settings and events in texts, identifying areas of agreement and difference with others’ opinions and justifying a response.

Explain the ways that ideas and points of view may represent the values of individuals and groups in literary texts, drawn from historical, social and cultural contexts, by First Nations Australian, and wide-ranging Australian and world authors.

Share opinions about the language features, literary devices and text structures that contribute to the styles of literary texts.

Literacy

Analyse the ways in which language features shape meaning and vary according to audience and purpose.

Analyse and evaluate the ways that language features vary according to the purpose and audience of the text, and the ways that sources and quotations are used in a text.

Ethical Understanding

Explain how different traits, such as honesty, trust, courage and selfishness interact with responsibilities or duties to determine ethically appropriate responses.

Health and Physical Education

Identities and change

Examine how roles, decision-making, and levels of power, coercion and control within relationships can be influenced by gender stereotypes.

Interacting with others

Examine the roles of respect, empathy, power and coercion in developing respectful relationships.

Investigate strategies that influence how communities value diversity and propose actions they can take to promote inclusion in their communities.

Personal and Social Capability

Acknowledge the emotions, needs, cultures and backgrounds of different groups and compare with their own.

Analyse roles and responsibilities of citizens within communities.

Appreciate diverse perspectives in a range of collaborative contexts and demonstrate negotiation skills to improve ways of working and outputs.

Devise a plan for leading action and evaluate the appropriateness of various leadership approaches in the process.

Devise and analyse individual and group decision-making processes.

Explain how different traits, such as honesty, trust, courage and selfishness interact with responsibilities or duties to determine ethically appropriate responses.