Dear Reader,
Teaching has never been more important or more demanding.
Across Australia, teachers are working at the front line of profound social, cultural, and educational change. They are asked not only to teach literacy, numeracy, science, and history, but to respond to rising student anxiety, navigate contested social debates, manage increasing behavioural and emotional complexity, and foster cohesion in classrooms that reflect extraordinary diversity of background and experience.
These expectations are not unreasonable in intent. They reflect a genuine desire to prepare young people for participation in a complex world. But they can become overwhelming when layered onto already crowded curricula and when they are introduced without sufficient regard for developmental readiness.
Students arrive carrying anxiety about the future, confusion about their place in society, and uncertainty about what it means to belong.
Many teachers report that classrooms have become emotionally heavier spaces.
Issues once primarily dealt with by families, communities, or civic institutions now land in classrooms. Teachers are expected to help students process complex questions about identity, history, environment, wellbeing, and global events, often at very young ages.
Increasing numbers of young people report feeling overwhelmed, pessimistic, or powerless about the future. Anxiety and depression are now among the most common mental health challenges faced by children and adolescents.
Rather than developing confidence and agency, some young people internalise a sense that the world is broken and that they are somehow responsible for fixing it.
Education should lift students up, not weigh them down. It should equip them with knowledge, perspective, and the intellectual tools to engage with complexity over time. That requires balance, context, and hope – qualities that teachers strive to cultivate, even under increasingly difficult circumstances.
One of the most powerful protective factors for young people is a sense of belonging. Students who feel connected to their school, their community, and their country are more likely to engage positively with learning and with one another.
Australia is a nation shaped by migration, effort, and shared civic institutions. Millions of people from every corner of the world have chosen this country as their home. That story matters, and it deserves to be told in a way that is honest, confident, and inclusive.
It is in this context that the IPA Schools Program, in collaboration with musician and songwriter Colin Lillie, has developed This Land, a free educational song and classroom resource focused on belonging, shared identity, and gratitude for Australia’s story.
This Land is not a lesson in politics. It does not ask teachers to take sides in contested debates or to promote particular policy positions. Instead, it offers something refreshingly simple: a way to invite students to reflect on place, community, and shared national belonging.
The song’s central message – “We belong to this land” – resonates across backgrounds and experiences. It speaks to students whose families arrived centuries ago and those whose journeys are recent. It affirms Australia as a shared home shaped by history, effort, and opportunity.
For teachers, This Land is designed to be:
- Classroom-ready, with no complex preparation required
- Adaptable, suitable for use across year levels and subject areas
- Supportive, encouraging calm discussion rather than conflict
- Inclusive, reinforcing shared identity without erasing difference
Teachers can use the song as a starting point for conversations about history, geography, civics, or creative expression or simply as a moment of collective reflection that strengthens classroom cohesion.
One of the most consistent messages from teachers is that they do not want more to manage. They want clarity, balance, and resources that support learning rather than intensify tension.
This Land is offered in that spirit. It is not prescriptive. It does not demand particular interpretations or outcomes. It trusts teachers to use their professional judgment and adapt the resource to their students’ needs.
At a time when classrooms can feel fragmented by competing narratives and emotional intensity, This Land offers a moment of unity. It reminds students that, despite differences, they share a place, a civic inheritance, and a future.
Australia’s story is not perfect. No nation’s story is. But it is a story worth knowing and teaching with honesty and confidence. It is a story of struggle and achievement, failure and progress, and extraordinary civic success.
Teachers, who shape young Australians’ understanding of that story every day, deserve resources that support them in this vital task.
This Land is offered as a contribution toward that goal. A practical, positive resource designed to strengthen cohesion, reduce anxiety, and remind students that they belong.
Because education should build confidence, not despair.
Because teachers deserve support, not blame.
And because this land – our shared home – deserves to be taught with honesty, confidence, and gratitude.
JOIN US in singing THIS LAND
Free sheet music, lyrics and backing tape can be downloaded at: schoolsprogram.org,au
You may also like to participate in the THIS LAND competition: This Land – 2026 Competition | IPA Schools Program
Prizes to be won.
Watch the music video here.
Out and About:
On Sky News:
Colleen Harkin on The Rita Panahi Show Sky News Australia – 17 March 2026
Colleen Harkin on The Rita Panahi Show Sky News Australia – 7 April 2026
Colleen Harkin on The Rita Panahi Show Sky News Australia – 13 April 2026
Colleen Harkin on The Rita Panahi Show Sky News Australia – 21 April 2026
Colleen Harkin on The Rita Panahi Show Sky News Australia – 28 April 2026
Colleen Harkin on The Rita Panahi Show Sky News Australia – 5 May 2026
In Education Today:
ABC 774 radio:
Colleen Harkin on The Weekly Wrap Mornings ABC Radio Melbourne – 27 March 2026
Colleen Harkin on The Weekly Wrap Mornings ABC Radio Melbourne – 10 April 2026
Colleen Harkin on The Weekly Wrap Mornings ABC Radio Melbourne – 24 April 2026
On radio 3AW with Tom Elliot
Colleen Harkin on Mornings with Tom Elliott 3AW – 22 April 2026
On radio 6PR
Colleen Harkin on Breakfast with Millsy & Karl 6PR – 28 April 2026
Quote of the Month:
The strongest nations are built by generations willing to invest in a future beyond themselves. Australia did not emerge by accident. It was shaped by people who built institutions, communities, farms, schools, roads, and traditions not merely for their own benefit, but for the generations that would follow.
In many ways, This Land is about helping young Australians recognise that they are the inheritors of that legacy and that they too have a responsibility to nurture, protect, and contribute to the nation they will one day pass on to others.
It reminds me of this ancient Greek proverb:
“A society grows great when old men plant trees in whose shade they shall never sit,”
Thank you for your support.
Related Posts
Colleen Harkin on The Bond Report News24 – 31 July 2026
“Yeah. Well, that’s right. I mean, the taxpayer funds it. The academics are the people who actually choose the topics that are actually investigated. And unfortunately, there has become this protocol of the amount of papers as opposed to the purposefulness of them. There seems to be this narrative that says, so long as you keep putting papers out, that that’s a good thing.”
Colleen Harkin on The Weekly Wrap Mornings ABC Radio Melbourne – 31 July 2026
“He already has at least made the words that he’ll call the royal commission. That’s been a thorn in their side for a long time because Jacinta Allan was refusing to do it. And I think the average punter will listen to those words and go tick.”
Colleen Harkin on The Rita Panahi News 24 – 28 July 2026
“71%. The only person ever to have a higher disapproval rating was Keating at 75. So when you’ve got that level of dissatisfaction, you can’t turn around and say, “I’ve done a great job.” It’s just an outrageous thing to stand there and claim.”
Teachers, not technicians
Teachers are among society’s most important professionals. They exercise judgement every day – deciding how best to explain complex ideas, respond to individual students and manage the unique dynamics of a classroom. But according to Professor Emeritus Terry Lovat, that professional expertise is increasingly being replaced by centralised mandates and compliance.
