3 October 2019 Volunteer Service Abroad (VSA) has launched its first online school resource, VSA for Schools.

The resource has been developed for teachers and students of social sciences mainly in Years 9 and 10. It is focused on the Pacific and structured around the social inquiry model teachers are familiar with.

Each case study centres on a personal story that has social issues at heart. There are four personal, community-based stories about our neighbours in the Pacific that demonstrate:

· How a problem or combination of problems is impacting on people’s lives

· Different values and perspectives

· Examples of solutions

The case studies also consider the five phases of the social inquiry process:

· Establishing the focus for learning

· Finding out information

· Exploring values and perspectives

· Considering responses

· Taking action

VSA will develop this resource in the future with more stories about VSA volunteers in the Pacific. Teachers can find the resource here.

We welcome any feedback from teachers or students on how we can improve or add value to the resource. For more information about the resource please contact schools@vsa.org.nz.