Active Citizenship for Social Change
Active Citizenship for Social Change
Whitley Secondary School continued to re-position its Values In Action (VIA) Programme as the School’s Community Youth Leadership (CYL) Learning for Life Programme (LLP). Aptly named Active Citizenship for Social Change (ACSC), this LLP intends to attain the desired Whitleyan outcome of a Gracious Citizen who has a strong sense of right and wrong, rooted to the nation yet global in perspectives, able to empathise and respect others, show care and take action in bettering lives. This 4-5 year programme focuses on developing the affective aspect of students’ development and achieve the following five aims:
1. active citizenry and empathy where students take an active role in bettering the lives of others;
2. critical and creative thinking so that students can take action towards a more desirable future;
3. takes responsibility for their own learning, character and leadership development;
4. confidence and belief in their abilities, strengths and potentials and
5. collaborative skills such as teamwork and conflict management
Under the guidance of Form Teachers, our students explored important problems and issues and came up with solutions using the Design Thinking Protocol.
The Secondary 1 cohort was tasked to creatively and critically study various aspects of the environment from different perspectives while the Secondary 2 cohort was tasked to discover opportunities that can lead to a more inclusive Singapore. Some of the Secondary 1 and 2 projects involved learning gardening skills to make the school a more conducive place; learning to recycle by making tote bags out of old T-shirts and Teachers’ Day gifts using recycled materials; production of eco-enzymes to create sanitizing solution, and preparing care packs for school cleaners to show our appreciation. The Secondary 4 cohort was tasked to choose an issue or concern that they were passionate about and to take action in bettering lives, such as selling merchandise from SPCA to raise funds for the organization or raising awareness on mental health to the school via Zoom. The Secondary 3 ACSC Carnival was unfortunately cancelled due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
