Teaching article
A constitution analogy, with the stopping point marked
Use a carefully limited analogy and identify why a classroom agreement is not a constitution.
A class agreement can introduce the idea of rules about making decisions. It cannot stand in for the legal operation of a constitution, so draw attention to both the useful comparison and its limits.
A classroom agreement can prompt questions about setting rules, but changing it does not model all constitutional amendment requirements.
What the classroom comparison can explain
Read a short checked explanation. Identify an analogy that helps. List where that analogy breaks down.
Explain where the analogy stops. A group agreement may illustrate rules for decision-making without having a constitution's legal status or operation.
An analogy is a starting tool, not a legal equivalence.
What important difference should the caption mention? Let children explain one difference orally.
Resources
- Fair Rule or Random Rule? — Compare proposed rules and explain their practical effects.
Further reading
- Parliamentary Education Office — classroom activities
- Australian Electoral Commission — Democracy Rules
Read next
- Referendum or election: what question is on the ballot?
- Community consultation that leaves a way to answer quietly
- Rules and laws: who gets to change them?
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