Empower ethical, future-ready learners. Deliver curriculum with purpose.

What if education didn’t just prepare students for the future—what if it gave them the tools to shape it? Ethics by Design: Leading new futures  is a ground-breaking, fully integrated learning program that equips students in Stages 4 and 5 to explore real-world ethical challenges, understand complex systems, and design values-led solutions that matter. This isn’t just about content. It’s about cultivating leaders for the future, grounded in ethics and powered by critical thinking, innovation and problem solving.

Student empowerment and leadership

Empowers students to become ethical leaders and change-makers. 

High impact learning 

Inspire authentic student agency, leadership, and social responsibility through inquiry-based and project-based learning.

Curriculum integrated

Aligned with the Australian Curriculum and VCAA and NESA syllabus outcomes.
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Prize money to be won by schools

Modules and lessons

Hours
Self-directed learning time

A curriculum integrated leadership program 

Deliver high-impact learning

Foster real-world skills such as ethical reasoning, systems thinking, design innovation, and collaborative problem-solving.

Inspire authentic student agency, leadership, and social responsibility through inquiry-based and project-based learning.

Engage and motivate students

Motivate learners by connecting academic skills with real-world change and a $20,000 prize opportunity to bring their solutions to life.

Enhance engagement with a dynamic, multimodal experience that includes design challenges, video production, and creative storytelling.

Flexible and easy to implement

Two delivery modes — self-directed or teacher-supported — allow for maximum flexibility based on your students' needs and your teaching schedule.

Comprehensive, ready-to-use resources, including detailed lesson plans, self-complete online modules, student worksheets, and video production templates, reduce preparation time and support consistent, quality learning experiences.

Build a legacy of ethical action

Position your classroom as a place where students do more than learn — they lead.

Equip your students with the skills and mindset to recognise injustice, design solutions, and take ethical action beyond the classroom.

Focus on student empowerment and leadership

Empower your students to become ethical leaders and change-makers in their own communities.

Through a structured, inquiry-based journey, students move from awareness to action—developing a practical, ethically grounded solution to tackle racism and discrimination.

Focus on curriculum integration and teacher support

Requires minimal preparation time, with detailed lesson plans, student activities and resources and online modules.

Supports differentiated learning needs through both self-directed and teacher-supported pathways

Aligns with school priorities around student wellbeing, inclusive education, and active citizenship. 
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Design challenge 

Design out Racism Challenge 

Inspire your students to think boldly, act ethically, and change their world — with the opportunity to win $20,000 to bring their ideas to life.
The Design Out Racism Prize Challenge is not just a competition — it’s a powerful learning journey that transforms ethical thinking into real-world action.

By participating, your students will:
  • Practically apply the knowledge and skills of the program to a pressing social issue
  • Engage deeply with curriculum-aligned skills in ethics, civics, design thinking, and social innovation
  • Compete for a $20,000 implementation grant, providing genuine opportunity to make their idea a reality
  • Develop a one-minute video pitch presenting a real solution to dismantle racism in their community
The program is designed with teacher experience  top of mind. It is flexible enough to be run as independent learning in enrichment programs or as a classroom delivered whole of class learning.
The PROGRAM

Curriculum aligned 

At the heart of the program is a strong commitment to curriculum-aligned, high-impact learning. The program is  mapped to the Australian Curriculum and NESA syllabus outcomes, ensuring students build critical and ethical reasoning skills, engage with intercultural understanding, and develop real-world problem-solving abilities. Through an inquiry-based approach, students apply their learning across Ethics, PDHPE, HSIE, and English, making deep, authentic connections between their studies and the urgent social issues shaping their world. 

Curriculum mapped learning outcomes

Develop personal ethical frameworks based on purpose, values, and principles
  • NSW PDHPE: PD4-1, PD5-1; Elective Ethics E5-1
  • VCAA: Ethical Capability Levels 7–10
  • AC: General Capabilities – Ethical Understanding
Analyse real-world ethical dilemmas using tools, activities and thought experiments
  • NSW Elective Ethics E5-2
  • VCAA: Ethical Capability – Understanding Concepts
  • AC: ACHCS086, ACHCS098 (Yr 9–10 Civics)
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Build skills in empathy, reflective dialogue, and ethical leadership
  • NSW PDHPE: PD4-9, PD5-10
  • VCAA: Personal & Social Capability
  • AC: General Capabilities
Present ethical solutions through a video pitch and problem based learning
  • NSW English (multimodal & persuasive texts), Stage 5 Electives
  • VCAA English: Speaking & Listening, Critical Thinking
  • AC: Literacy, Personal & Social Capability, Media Arts
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Build skills in empathy, reflective dialogue, and ethical leadership
  • NSW PDHPE: PD4-9, PD5-10
  • VCAA: Personal & Social Capability
  • AC: General Capabilities

Flexible delivery 

The program is design to give you the flexibility to implement the modules and lessons at your own pace, on your own schedule.

Teacher led and teacher supported modes 

The program supports differentiated learning needs through both self-directed and teacher-supported pathways
Supporting teachers

Designed with teachers at the centre

The program is designed to make implementation easy, flexible, and impactful for teachers. The program offers two delivery options — self-directed or teacher-supported — allowing it to fit seamlessly into diverse school contexts, enrichment programs, or classroom schedules.

Built around a blended learning model, the program combines online self-paced modules with teacher-led classroom labs, giving educators the flexibility to choose the approach that best suits their students’ needs. 

Teachers are fully supported with:
  • Comprehensive lesson plans and teaching guides
  • Ready-to-use student worksheets and online modules
  • Exercises and activities for critical reflection

The learning journey

Across rich inquiry based program elements - self-directed modules and lessons, design co-labs,  and design sprints, students develop their ethical understanding, explore their purpose, values and principles and apply critical thinking and innovation to design real-world solutions to social issues that impact their lives and communities.

Week 1: Finding your own path 

Finding Your Own Path is a series of dynamic, self-paced learning modules designed to empower students to explore their ethical framework - their purpose, values and principles as a foundation of their leadership journey. Aligned with the Australian Curriculum and General Capabilities, the modules foster ethical reflection, agency, and real-world problem-solving through interactive activities and thought-provoking inquiry..
 Chart your course (50 mins)
 Finding your why (40 mins)
 Living a good life (30 mins)
 Living a principled life (50 mins)

 Leading with purpose (50 mins)

 Systems thinking for leaders (50 mins)

 Ethical design for leading the future (50 mins)

Week 2-4: Ethics in action: foundational lessons

The three core lessons are a dynamic series of classroom-ready learning experiences that help students in Stages 4 and 5 explore systems thinking and ethical design to better understand complex social problems and take action on real-world issues. These lessons form the core of students learning journey in the program and seamlessly align with the Australian Curriculum, NSW NESA, and Victorian Curriculum standards.

The lessons empower students to be thinkers, change-makers, and compassionate collaborators in a rapidly changing world—making ethics not just an idea, but a practice.

Week 5: The design out racism challenge

The Design Out Racism Challenge is a transformative, learning experience that equips students to understand and design practical solutions to address racism through ethical leadership, systems thinking, and ethical design principles. This is not just a classroom project — it’s an opportunity for students to become real-world problem-solvers and ethical leaders in their communities. 
 Design out racism challenge module (50 mins)
 Design Lab 1 (50 mins)
 Design Lab 2 (50 mins)

Weeks 6-7: Design Labs

The Design Labs are an engaging, student-led experience that combines systems thinking, ethical design principles, and human-centred design to empower young people to create real-world solutions to real-life problems. 

Across two dynamic sessions, students work in teams to define problems, map systemic causes, and prototype solutions that make a difference in their communities.

Design sprints

The Design Sprints are the final step for the Design Out Racism solution —a launchpad for students to amplify their ethical leadership and systems thinking through a creative, real-world medium: video.

In this immersive challenge, students craft a bold, one-minute video to pitch their solution to racism—bringing together everything they’ve explored in ethics, Indigenous knowledge systems, and systems thinking throughout the term.

This isn’t just a creative project. It’s a call to action. A chance to be seen, heard, and spark social change.
 Design out Racism Video Toolkit (120 mins + per student)
FAQ

Frequently asked questions

How much preparation is required for teachers?

Minimal preparation is needed. All lessons, labs, and design sprints come with comprehensive teacher guides, editable resources, and clear instructions. For the teacher-supported version, you’ll receive detailed lesson plans, discussion prompts, and student workbooks. The self-directed option is fully student-managed, making it ideal for extension or enrichment with little to no supervision required.

Can the program be adapted to suit different student groups or learning levels?

Yes. Teachers can choose to run the full teacher-supported model, allow students to complete modules independently, or blend the two approaches based on the group’s needs.

 How does the program align with curriculum requirements?

The program is mapped directly to outcomes in the NSW Ethics, PDHPE, HSIE, and English syllabuses, as well as Australian Curriculum General Capabilities including Ethical Understanding, Critical and Creative Thinking, and Intercultural Understanding. 
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