New education resource to support school teachers
Navigating the themes presented in Unbreakable: The Jelena Dokic story
Sport Integrity Australia (SIA) has developed a suite of new lesson plans for high school teachers to support discussions around healthy relationships and bystander behaviours in and around sport following the release of a new documentary.
plans for high school teachers
Unbreakable: The Jelena Dokic Story, which recently aired on Channel 9, tells the story of Dokic’s experience of family violence as a young tennis star. Among its themes, it raises awareness of the importance of child safeguarding practices in sport.
SIA is committed to fostering and implementing Australian sport environments that are safe, supportive and friendly for children and young people, with child safeguarding in sport a key component of our work.
Jelena Dokic – Australian tennis prodigy, Women’s Tennis Association champion and former world number 4 – is a survivor of family violence that unfolded under the world’s gaze.
The documentary, based on her memoirs, shares her experience with a wider audience provoking questions about the vulnerability of young athletes in elite sport:
How could this have been allowed to happen?
How can we prevent it happening to someone else?
SIA Director of Education, Alexis Cooper, said the film was a valuable resource for teachers to engage students on curriculum themes regarding health, wellbeing, ethics and English, as well as cross-curriculum priorities and general capabilities.
“While the subject matter of Unbreakable is confronting, it also presents a powerful opportunity for students to develop skills in recognising harmful situations and seeking help for themselves and others, while learning to appreciate the importance of listening to survivor stories.
“Jelena’s story is a launchpad for conversations around personal safety, healthy relationships and bystander behaviours, with potential to generalise to other contexts.
“The four lesson plans each involve the class watching an excerpt from the documentary, followed by activities for reflection and broader application,” she said.
Learning intentions from the lesson plans include:
- Understanding healthy and unhealthy relationships
- What it means to be an active and safe bystander
- Identifying sources of support
“In addition, we have included guidance for teachers to help them create a safe learning environment and navigate classroom discussion,” Ms Cooper said.
“Safeguarding of children and young people in sport is such an important subject and we want to do all we can to learn from Jelena’s story, within a safe and supportive context for teachers and students.”
Schools and teachers are encouraged to download the resource, which is available from the SIA website.
