Shaping the future together

Students explore the importance of youth-led governance and decision-making. They will view clips from the feature documentary Future Council to understand the importance of advocating for sustainable solutions for the future. Students analyse case studies to assess measures of efficacy in youth-led governance initiatives and participate in a role-play activity.

Learning intentions

Students will:

• understand the role of youth in governance and decision-making
• explore how language can empower youth to influence social and environmental change.

Success criteria

Students can:

• explain how youth-led governance can shape societal decisions
• understand how language is used to advocate for change and express values.

Skills

This lesson is designed to build students’ competencies in the following skills:

• critical thinking
• collaboration
• communication
• leadership
• global citizenship
• problem solving

Support students to join the Future Council

Any young person aged 9-16 can join the Future Council movement. Members can participate in global meetups, connect with like-minded peers, learn from world-class experts and participate in design challenges to create a better future. Future Council also shares trusted knowledge, helpful resources and clear paths for action. It seeks to unlock wonder and creativity, whilst bringing a much needed morality to decision making.

Initially, members will be invited to co-design how the Future Council will be embedded into businesses, institutions and schools - creating opportunities for young people to collaborate on real, sustainable products and find real, sustainable solutions. If you know a young person who would be interested and inspired to be part of co-designing the Future Council with us, please encourage and support them to join. Learn more here.

Credits and acknowledgements

Future Council is a Regen Studios film co-produced with Tebbernekkel. Cool.org and Regen Studios would like to acknowledge the generous contributions of Shark Island Foundation, LEEAF, Alberts I The Tony Foundation, Documentary Australia and our philanthropic partners in the development of these teaching resources. These lessons have been created by Cool.org in partnership with Regen Studios & Regenerators.

UN Sustainable Development Goals

UN SDG 16: Promote peaceful and inclusive societies for sustainable development, provide access to justice for all and build effective, accountable and inclusive institutions at all levels

• Target 16.7 Ensure responsive, inclusive, participatory and representative decision-making at all levels.