TeachLaw is a suite of resources legal rights and responsibilities designed to equip teachers and youth workers to educate and empower the young people they work with. TeachLaw modules are targeted and specific – they focus on educating a specific year group, in a specific state on a specific area of the law. TeachLaw was developed in collaboration with teachers and youth workers.

To find to a TeachLaw module, you can visit our Topics page here or use our search tool. TeachLaw modules are organised by state, and under each state the available modules are listed in alphabetical order. When you visit a page for a specific area of the law, you should be able to identify how many modules there are in a series, and what year group the module is for. Beneath the title of each module you can see the last updated date.

Multiple modules may be contained on one TeachLaw page, and it is important that you check that you have the correct state, and year group before downloading a module.

If you cannot find the module you are looking for, we encourage you to contact us here and we can point you in the right direction, or may be able to design a module for your use.

We ask that to avoid confusion and to ensure that you are presenting on the most accurate and up-to-date information that you do not download TeachLaw modules for repeated use, but that you re-download files each time you present a module.

Each TeachLaw module will have the following materials:

1. Teaching materials – the teaching materials contain information to support the running of a lesson. It is divided into 3 parts:
   1. Part 1: background information for the teacher to assist in teaching the module and answering questions. It is not designed for distribution to students, or to take the place of comprehensive legal advice;
   2. Part 2: a lesson plan and speaking notes containing details to support the running of the lesson, including recommended timings; and
   3. Part 3: lesson activities and answers to class worksheets.
2. Presentation slides –  The presentation slides are uploaded as PDFs in order to preserve formatting and to prevent editing. In order to present PDFs, please open the file in your PDF viewer, select view from the toolbar and enter full screen. Slides can then be navigated using the arrow tools;
3. Student handout – All student handouts contain a worksheet/problem question to engage students in assessing their understanding. In addition, a brief summary of the information from the lesson in a quick dotpoint summary format, as well as the contact details of helpful counselling, legal and support services.

We also encourage you to check out our pages on assessments and general class activities for ideas on how to supplement TeachLaw modules if the activities designed are not appropriate for your lesson.

TeachLaw modules are designed to equip teachers and youth workers with the tools and resources to educate the children and young people they work with with the knowledge and skills to navigate life. TeachLaw modules can be taught stand-alone, as part of an on-going series or as part of a larger curriculum. At the end of every lesson, we ask that you and your students spend some time completing our online evaluation form so that we can continue to improve our modules.

To find a TeachLaw module, you can use our search tool or visit our Topics page here. Each page will contain a separate module which you can download for use in the classroom.

If you cannot find the module you are looking for, we encourage you to contact us here and we can point you in the right direction, or may be able to design a module for your use.

We ask that to avoid confusion and to ensure that you are presenting on the most accurate and up to date information that you do not download TeachLaw modules for repeated use, but that you re-download files each time you present a module.

TeachLaw is always looking to expand and provide more relevant and useful resources for its community. If you would like to request a module be developed for a new area of the law, or for a different age group you can contact us here.

We would love to hear from you if you’ve found any errors or mistakes in our material. You can contact us here.

All TeachLaw materials are available as PDFs and we ask that you do not edit the materials without prior written consent from Youth Law Australia. If you would like to make a change your materials, you can contact us here. If you would like to replicate or copy the materials, we ask that you attribute TeachLaw and Youth Law Australia in your materials. you can contact us here to request a high copy resolution of our logos.

All TeachLaw modules are free to share and access by any member of the public. We encourage you to freely share these resources. However, please do not edit the materials prior to sharing. If you would like to share a resource you have made that copies/references the material in our modules we ask that you attribute TeachLaw and Youth Law Australia in all copies.

We would love to speak to anyone who works with young people and receive feedback on our modules and how we can improve them. You can contribute to our materials in a few different ways – you might consider joining our online social media community here to connect with other like minded people and engage with our centre, or alternatively you can contact us here.

TeachLaw is designed so that anyone can access the materials, and deliver them to their students. For this reason we encourage you to access and implement the modules yourself. This is because our philosophy is that it is the people who work daily with young people that are best placed to have the biggest impact on their students, and to engage in long-term relationships to encourage and change behaviour. However, if you would like one of the Youth Law Australia team to visit your school and deliver a module, you can contact us here and we can discuss options including face-to-face sessions, or video conferences.

All TeachLaw modules were developed in partnership between lawyers and teachers – our Youth Law Australia staff are all trained lawyers, and any legal statement is checked by senior staff before the module is released. We also engage with teachers and teachers in training to ensure that our materials are classroom appropriate. In some cases, we might receive support from other legal centres or organisations and develop materials together – our senior staff will always check materials that were developed by external organisations. Recognition is always given to any other organisations.

Youth Law Australia is a community legal service that is dedicated to helping children and young people in Australia, and their supporters, to find a legal solution to their problems. We are Australia’s only national, technology-based community legal service, dedicated to addressing the human rights abuses of children and young people in Australia. We believe in equality and justice for all children and young people, and we work to achieve this by connecting and empowering young Australians with free legal information and knowledge.

We would love for schools and youth workers to get involved in the TeachLaw program in two main ways:

1. Share and circulate the resources to the heads of HSIE, PDHPE, School counsellors or anyone else that works in student learning and development; and
2. Contact us if you would like one of our staff to deliver a TeachLaw module at your school. You can contact us here.