CWEA: helping others “have their say”

Voting in Aotearoa New Zealand: results from a Pathways Awarua and CWEA educational collaboration designed to encourage young people particularly to “have their say” in this election.  The resources are politically neutral. They do not promote parties, candidates or particular political positions. Instead, they aim to give learners the knowledge and confidence to make their own informed choices. The aim is for learners to come away thinking: “I understand this, I know what to do, and my voice matters.”  The project is not about telling people how to vote. It is about removing barriers so that more people understand that they have a voice – and have the knowledge and confidence to use it. These modules are offered to more than 30,000 learners in an easy-to-follow digital format on https://www.pathwaysawarua.com and in the My Community pathway. Pathways Awarua is free to join.

The collection includes:

Having your say – exploring different ways people can participate in democracy, including:

• voting, petitions and contacting elected representatives
• understanding how your voice can help influence decisions in your community.

Getting ready to vote – helping learners understand:

• who can vote and how to enrol
• what to expect when voting and how to prepare for an election.

The project brings together three areas of learning:

• civic literacy – understanding democracy and elections
• functional literacy – reading, vocabulary, following instructions and interpreting information
• digital and information literacy – finding, checking and evaluating information encountered online.

Michael Grawe, Professional Learning Manager at Pathways Awarua, consulted with project lead Jennifer Leahy throughout the development. Together, they worked to turn complex electoral information into clear, practical and engaging learning that is accessible to people with different levels of literacy, digital confidence and prior knowledge of New Zealand’s electoral system while enhancing functional and digital literacy.

So, if you know of someone who has not voted before or is newly eligible to vote, please direct them to this resource and help enable them to “have their say”.