“I used to think that homelessness was just on the streets, now I know it’s not." This is the reflection of year 3/4 student Isaac, after his class took part in the Myth-Busting Quiz by Schools for Change.
Classrooms and schools like Isaac’s across the country are empowering their students through resources and activities offered by the Schools for Change program, creating opportunities to learn about and take localised action on homelessness. The educational and advocacy program by national charity StreetSmart Australia helps to combat stigma and discrimination, bringing a human-rights based approach to understanding social challenges like homelessness.
Schools for Change offers free, easy to download, and curriculum aligned learning
opportunities to break down harmful stigmas about homelessness and empower young
changemakers to take action in their own communities. Launched in response to the
increasing demand for tools that would help teachers to kick-start conversations around homelessness with their students, Schools for Change empowers young people across
Australia to take action on homelessness through education and learning. Driving this
program is StreetSmart’s belief that everyone has the right to a safe and secure home, and that it is through a whole-of-community response that we will move towards ending homelessness.
Impact Coordinator Isabella Stanley shares that,
“Schools for Change helps educators navigate these important conversations about homelessness with young people, using empathy, evidence, creativity, and storytelling. Students are empowered to think about their role in their community, and how their actions, as part of a collective, can make incredible change.”
Mental Health and Wellbeing Leader Carolyn from an Inner North Primary School in
Melbourne shares why these resources are needed in classrooms and how they have helped their young students change the narrative on homelessness.
“Over five weeks we've used the Schools for Change resources with our year 3/4s to learn about homelessness, deepen empathy, reflect on harmful stereotypes, and understand housing as a human right” Carolyn explained.
“These have been really valuable lessons that resulted in some deeply profound conversations about stereotypes, empathy, social justice and respect for others.”
Everyday over 122,000 Australians are without a home, and the latest research shows
over three million Australian’s are at risk of homelessness, affecting more and more
families and communities across regional and metropolitan areas of Australia. The
need for these conversations is clear: with a growing homelessness crisis within Australian communities, stereotypes and stigma fuel fear and discrimination, while many of us remain unclear on why people experience homelessness, what it can look like, and importantly, how it can be tackled.
Simply put, there's a real need to shift the narrative on homelessness and people who
experience it. Harmful and untrue ideas about homelessness perpetuate that it is an individual’s fault and can’t be solved. Alarmingly, only 1 in 5 Australians consider needing to sleep on a friend's floor to be an example of homelessness, especially when overcrowding and couch surfing are increasingly common forms. Nearly 60 percent of Australians believe that alcohol or drug addiction is the main cause of homelessness, yet we know that other drivers are more prominent, including the lack of affordable housing and family breakdowns. Only a quarter of Australians think that building more public and social housing is a very effective initiative in ending homelessness.
The learning experiences offered through Schools for Change help to debunk these myths with empathy, curiosity, and evidence so that young people can be empowered leaders of social justice and advocate for the rights of others.
“Storytelling along with exploring evidence and current statistics allowed students to shift their thinking and develop a more nuanced understanding of the causes and reasons for homelessness” – Carolyn shared.
In particular, the students “loved learning about Dadirri and using this deep listening approach to engage with stories about homelessness with openness and compassion.”
Homelessness can be a tough topic to talk about and can be particularly difficult to broach with young people. That’s where Schools for Change steps up, helping equip school communities with engaging and useful resources to bridge this gap. “The resources are outstanding. Homelessness is a very fragile topic and one that needs delivering with expertise and knowledge. Schools for Change resources enable teachers to do this," Primary school teacher in SA, Deb Catt, says. Educators and teachers play an important role in social justice education, helping to encourage and guide the next generation of changemakers to have an impact and stand up for the rights of others. We know the power of starting that conversation and creating opportunities to think differently, critically, and with empathy about homelessness.
We need to create safe, curious, and respectful opportunities for young people to engage with homelessness. It is through these discussions and reflections that we can begin to tackle some of the most enduring barriers to tackling homelessness like stereotypes and stigma. For Carolyn, the resources helped to create these opportunities.
“The Myth Busting Quiz helped our students reflect on the different stereotypes they held about homelessness. We noticed our students having these lightbulb moments of ‘wow - I didn’t know that’ and ‘oh, I wonder why I thought that’.”
For the students, the impact of these learning opportunities is clear. Year 3/4 Milla reflects that, “I used to think that kids didn’t become homeless, and now I think that there are kids who are homeless”
“I used to think that we had enough houses, and now I think that there's like a billion houses more to build.” – Says Wes, 3/4 year student
The activities are also powerful ways to reframe negative perceptions of those who experience homelessness as student Lucid reflects, “I used to think homeless people are helpless and now I think that they can find help” and another student shares, “I used to think that a lot of homeless people were on drugs and had alcohol issues but actually only some have health issues.”
Designed in collaboration with Australian teachers and educators, the Schools for Change suite of activities includes a myth busting quiz, storytelling activities, and creative and reflective tasks, alongside additional resources like animated videos.
In recognition of teachers and educators being the ‘on the ground’ experts in their students' needs and capabilities, the resource packs are ready-to-use yet have been created with adaptability in mind.
Carolyn shares that “the Schools for Change resources have been incredibly easy to set in motion in our classrooms with clear curriculum links, slides, and handouts all ready to go.” For another educator in NSW, Kerralyn, “the myth busting quiz was perfect for introducing the topic to our year 8’s as were the two storytelling video clips.”
Schools for Change helps to scaffold real world advocacy and action for young people looking to make a difference for people experiencing homelessness. The activity Social Change Advocates empowers students to think about how their actions have influence within their community. For one 10 year old, a love of reading was one way to do this, and her reada-thon raised $2,750. She shares that “I wanted to raise money for homelessness because I believe that everyone deserves to be safe and have a home. I have been seeing a lot more homeless people, and I want to do more.”
One parent in Melbourne explains that “fundraising with StreetSmart was so simple, it
was a great experience for our whole family. It's helped our child feel confident to keep taking action and making a difference.”
Schools and classrooms can also take action in a collective way. The Fundraising Toolkit
resource is complete with ideas and guidelines for a school-based fundraiser. One SRC student in Melbourne said “the fundraising brought the school together for an important cause and taught us that a small contribution can go a long way. It also started a conversation around an important social issue that we know our students and staff will take back to their families and the wider community.”
Teachers and schools can head online to the Schools for Change page on StreetSmart’s
website to download the resource packs. These are free to use and Schools for Change
is encouraging classrooms to get on board for Youth Homelessness Matters Day in April
and Homelessness Week in August, by using the activities and helping to shift the narrative on homelessness.
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