Study 4 Change
Bringing Social Justice into schools
The Big Umbrella in conjunction with The Father Bob Maguire Foundation have developed a life changing social justice program, “Study 4 Change”, to be undertaken in schools across Victoria. This buoyant, technology- filled program is dynamic in its approach to teaching the values associated with social justice and provides students with the skills, passion and opportunity to become globally aware participants in bettering the future of their world.
Click here to down load the PDF of Study 4 Change program outline 2013
Father Bob Maguire’s 4-Life Academy, an essential element of Study 4 Change, is a program where inspiration and hope is passed to teenagers who are working towards improving their community. The focus of this program is on “generational development” and is powered by the raw ingredient; professional men and women simply giving their time creating and empowering new community leaders from the school students of Victoria.
Aimed at years seven through to 12, Study 4 Change provides students with an opportunity to develop and run their own fundraising campaign in a supported, dynamic and educational context. The program is designed with clear connections to the Victorian Essential Learning Standards (VELS), which outlines the essential content for Victorian Students to learn while at school. Students will achieve real learning outcomes while developing their own sense of values and principals around social and global awareness, social justice and human rights.
A huge social networking and technology component will launch Study 4 Change into the virtual stratosphere; Utilising these tools of the times equates to speaking in a language well known to almost all teenagers of today.
In undertaking the Study 4 Change challenge, teachers, students, the school community, local and international communities as well as all stakeholders have the opportunity to develop lifelong passions based around fairness and active social justice. If just 10% of students take this learning experience and apply it later in life, even only once, a tangible difference can be made.
How does it work?
The Study 4 Change facilitators, including Father Bob Maguire and Justin Dickinson, will provide each school with a dynamic and highly interactive presentation based upon introducing students to basic human rights, the global problems of child exploitation, child trafficking, forced slavery, and homelessness; focusing on our projects both in Australia and in Overseas.
The students will be challenged to bring as much awareness to these issues as possible through social media cam paigns and fundraising each creating new, school localised TBU Facebook pages, with The Big Umbrella as their branded cause. These pages will be used by student teams to raise awareness of the cause by gaining ‘likes’ or followers, and will provide a highly visible avenue where students can promote all ideas and fundraising initiatives that are undertaken. Essentially, teams will become TBU team members and volunteers joining the fight against basic human rights and child exploitation all over the world, creating fundraisers and awareness drives within their own communities.
Upon the completion of their fundraising drive, schools are invited to attend the Giving & Living Festival in the Docklands to display their fundraising campaigns. A prize for outstanding participation will be awarded to one school team at the Gala Night, held as a thank you celebration for all schools involved in the program in that year.
