The Australian government has created a national online education platform to help schools and teachers tackle anti-Semitism and other types of discrimination, and to strengthen social cohesion.
The new Social Cohesion Education Hub will receive $6 million in funding over five years, and was launched by federal Labor MP and Minister for Education Jason Clare on Tuesday.
The program will see Australia’s existing “anti-Semitism and social cohesion resources” brought together into one central electronic space, with additional resources to be developed and added over time to “fill gaps and address emerging needs”.
An initial suite of 50 existing resources including classroom materials and professional learning tools is already available, with about half of these resources focused on anti-Semitism.
The existing resources have been “quality assured” by a group of “education and social cohesion experts”, including from the Office of the Special Envoy to Combat Antisemitism, and come as part of a broader effort by the Australian government to reduce anti-Semitism and enhance social cohesion through the education system, including via the newly established Antisemitism Education Taskforce.
Among the initiatives to be undertaken by the taskforce is a review of the curriculum by the Australian Curriculum Assessment and Reporting Authority in order to help “combat anti-Semitism and strengthen the teaching of Australian values in schools”.
This initiative will also involve the establishment of special advisory groups which will include “specialists in anti-Semitism, holocaust education, Jewish history and culture, and Australian values education”.
“There is a lot that we as a country need to do to tackle anti-Semitism and improve social cohesion and what we do in education is an important part of that”, Mr Clare said.
“That’s why Education Ministers have agreed to a focused review of the school curriculum. It will look at opportunities to combat anti-Semitism and strengthen understanding of Australian values”.
Antisemitism Education Taskforce chair David Gonski AC said he welcomed “the launch of the Social Cohesion Education Hub [as] one of the first outputs” of the taskforce’s work, and said it will assist students to “effectively respond to anti-Semitism, all forms of racism and hatred, and help embed safety and a sense of inclusion amongst us all”.
Special Envoy to Combat Antisemitism Jillian Segal said the launch of the hub was an “important step”, and that her hope was that it and related programs “will help support schools to respond to the rising levels of anti-Semitism, as well as intolerance and prejudice more broadly”.
Header image: Anthony Albnaese at a memorial for the victims of the Bondi Islamic terrorist attack (PMO).
