The Australia-ASEAN Youth Forum is a new full-day program designed to deepen students’ understanding of the member countries of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and Australia’s relationship with the region through role-play.
Popular amongst university students, simulations of international and regional organisation meetings such as Model United Nations are a great way to engage Year 10 students in contemporary issues.
In this active learner-centred exercise, students are asked to represent and simulate a meeting between the leaders of Australia and the member nations of ASEAN. Throughout the day they will have the opportunity to present their countries’ position on some of the issues they, as nations and as a community, are facing; and discuss and propose solutions to these issues. The aim for students will be to reach mutually agreeable solutions as delegates, through negotiation and consensus building, which will be captured in a final document.
From the initial preparation to the actual simulation, students will use and develop a range of capabilities including:
- literacy through research, writing, presenting, and debating;
- technology capability from using innovative technologies to research and collaborate with others;
- critical and creative thinking such as developing arguments and identifying new solutions to problems; and
- personal and social capability by working in teams, handling challenging situations and establishing positive relationships with other students.
Students will also use and develop skills, knowledge and understanding from the following learning areas: Civics & Citizenship, History, Geography, Economics and Business.
As a result of their participation students will:
- deepen their knowledge and understanding of the countries of Southeast Asia, the role of regional organisations and Australia’s place in the region;
- realise the benefits and challenges of regional dialogue, intergovernmental cooperation and conflict resolution;
- deepen their understanding of regional issues; and
- appreciate and understand what it means to be a global citizen.
The AEF is currently welcoming registrations for the first Australia-ASEAN Youth Forum, which will take place at The University of Melbourne on Thursday the 2nd of June. Please contact Emeline Gillingham to register a team from your school.
Please note that we charge a service fee to deliver these forums.
Contact us for more information and to express interest in holding a forum at your school or with your network of schools.
Watch highlights from our inaugural Australia-ASEAN Youth Forum:
About ASEAN
The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) is an inter-governmental organisation established in 1967 by Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore and Thailand to promote political, economic and social cooperation and regional stability. The founding Members were later joined by Brunei Darussalam, Viet Nam, Lao PDR, Myanmar and Cambodia, making up what is today the ten Member States of ASEAN.
ASEAN has a combined population of approximately 625 million people, 8.8% of the world's population. In 2015, the organisation's combined nominal GDP had grown to more than US$2.6 trillion. If ASEAN was a single entity, it would rank as the seventh largest economy in the world, behind the US, China, Japan, Germany, France and the United Kingdom.
The organisation holds regular meetings between various representatives from member states and other countries. The most important meetings are the ASEAN Summits during which the heads of government of each member state meet to discuss and find solutions to regional issues.