Celebrating Harmony Week

Photo By – Hannah Busing

“Race, gender, religion, sexuality, we are all people and that’s it. We’re all people. We’re all equal” 

Conner Franta

‘Everyone Belongs” is the theme for Harmony Week and this was first celebrated in Australia in 1999.
The United Nations’ International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination is celebrated on 21 March.

How do you celebrate Harmony Week?

The link for NSW/ACT events is following:

https://www.harmony.gov.au/Documents/events/harmony-week-events-nsw-act.pdf

Schools are busy places. Teachers and school leaders are always working hard to balance, adapt and plan learning activities and complete compliance tasks. Sport and school excursions as well as social and cultural events cram the calendar.

The work of teachers and school leaders is interwoven with life experiences with family and community. These experiences are part of the learning experiences for students.

Social media roars with anger, disappointment, and despair at scenes in other countries where groups within the population are marginalised by an act of government.

Yet our collective social gaze does not turn an eye toward our marginalised communities.

The chorus of love, hope and success as a multicultural country echo between the offices of politicians. It seems that it is easier to shout a round of drinks and celebrate our nation but more difficult to speak about the social and cultural disadvantage that many Australians’ face each day.

The Australian Curriculum frames Cross-curriculum priority areas and is designed to promote excellence and equality in education. Often schools celebrate Harmony Day but the real teaching about cultural diversity is lost in the mist of high stakes testing and contested teachings of history, among other things.

This is a harsh reality of schools in Australia. Political obsessions mixed with spurious ideologies, bathed in social and religious intolerance strain what is taught in our schools. School achievement and student growth is framed by a measure of productivity.

Harmony Week is important as it shines a light on what can be achieved if we work together.

Children learn from watching others and doing. The way in which we treat each other is about belonging.

How will you share the theme of Harmony Week 2024 ‘Everyone Belongs’ with your class, your family and community?

The United Nations’ International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination is celebrated on 21 March.