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Day 6 · Division of powers is another questionYear 11 Legal Studies · T1 W1–2 · Day 6 lesson

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Year 11 / Legal Studies / Term 1 / Weeks 01 02

Part of the full two-week lesson sequence. Check the pack guide and taught point before teaching.

Open for this lesson: Pack guide · Daily routes · Worked swaps · Fresh learner checks · Aids and text routes.

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Teacher copy: This page may include teaching prompts or answer keys. Answer keys in this public library can be viewed by anyone. Give learners a clean prompt, use checks as formative evidence, and change a case locally when prior access matters.

Learner prompts

Target: distinguish Commonwealth/state exclusive, concurrent and residual powers from the three arms of government. Prepare: Card D and three arms.

  1. Launch · 2 min. Show “judicial = state; legislative = Commonwealth.” Ask what two classification systems that sentence wrongly mixes.
  2. Model · 4 min. Draw two axes. Across: Parliament/executive/courts. Down: Commonwealth and states under constitutional power allocation. Give PEO examples: Commonwealth public service as exclusive; state public schooling as residual; some environmental/marriage/tax law-making as concurrent. Section 109 is about inconsistent valid laws, not every different policy.
  3. Guided reading · 5 min. Students classify four statements from Card D and state a caveat: a topic label alone does not decide every actual law's validity.
  4. Practice route · 7 min. Select Day 6 route. Make one correct comparison on each axis and explain why an invented Harbourlight bill cannot establish Australian jurisdiction.
  5. Audit · 4 min. Swap axes with a peer; spot an unsupported “all education law is state law” generalisation. Keep the example bounded to public-school operation.
  6. Exit · 3 min. “Can the same legal issue involve Commonwealth and state authority?” Key: yes; concurrent fields exist and actual power/source require checking.