Excursion Time!

Electoral Education Centre (EEC) excursion

This week at the WAEC we had the opportunity to go on our first excursion. We (myself, Isabella, Winnie and our fill-in supervisor Katherine) left the office at 12.15 before catching the RedCat bus services to the Electoral Education Centre (EEC). When we arrived at the centre, we were introduced to Nigel Bushby, the Senior Community Education Officer, and he gave us a brief tour of the centre facilities. 

We were informed that we would be sitting in on an electoral presentation, delivered by Nigel to a Year 9 class from Butler Senior High School. This was something I was looking forward to, as I never did any electorate related activities or excursions during my time at school.

Nigel led us all into a presentation room, where we sat and watched a 15 minute video outlining the voting process and the 3 levels of government (Local, State and Federal). The presentation was delivered by ‘Vivian’, a computerised manikin- something I never thought I’d see!

Upon the conclusion of the video presentation, we all went to a second room where we sat down for some interactive activities. This was my favourite part of the excursion, as the Butler students were all given the chance to participate in a fake election. Polling booths were set up, but instead of the traditional political parties being used, KFC, McDonalds, Pizza and Subway were used as the candidates. Students were taught how to vote correctly, and what makes up a formal and informal vote, whist differentiating between the voting methods of the Upper and Lower houses. The students then casted their votes, and Nigel explained how the counting process works and explained in detail the Absolute majority system (50%+1 vote). 

Looking back on this presentation, I feel I have learnt a number of things. Firstly, the importance of instilling political knowledge in youths from a young age. Although the Butler students didn’t seem too interested in the whole presentation, and would rather be at home watching TV, I still think it is important to ensure that they understand the voting process before the age of 18, so it isn’t such a shock when they first have to cast their vote. Secondly, I learnt the importance of communication and engagement with different audiences. Whilst watching the video in the first presentation room, the students weren't as engaged and enthused as they were during the second half when they were being interacted with and actually participating in activities. Nigel was very expressive in his delivery and picked students to answer his questions to make sure they were paying attention and taking some of the information on board.

Overall I thought the presentation by the EEC was sound, but there is definitely room for improvement. The video which was shown to the students was very dated, and could be revamped to make it more modern and relevant to a 2016 audience. Also, the use of the manikin as part of the video process was an interesting idea, but in hindsight was distracting and led students to watch the manikin and its unusual delivery style, rather than absorb any of the content it was delivering.




Picture of pen we were given after we visited the EEC