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Heywire: Perspectives of 'a copper's daughter'

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Teenage girl stands against tree
Heywire: Perspectives of 'a copper's daughter'

SUBJECTS:  English

YEARS:  9–10


What perspectives on life do you think the daughter of a policeman in a coastal town might have?

In this Heywire audio story, Jordyn Royle reveals both how her her dad's job affects her and that not everybody shares her attitudes towards the police. As you listen, think about how Jordyn's attitudes and values, and those of others, are reflected in the way she tells her story.

Could you write or record a similar story about yourself and/or your community?

The ABC's Heywire competition calls for stories from 16-22 year olds in regional Australia. Enter to get your story featured on the ABC and score an all-expenses-paid trip to the Heywire Regional Youth Summit in Canberra. More: https://www.abc.net.au/heywire/


Things to think about

  1. 1.Think about why people might have formed the following assumptions about or attitudes towards the police:
    • I think police just like to get people into trouble
    • I admire police officers for the work they do
    • Having police to maintain law and order is important.
  2. 2.Several different attitudes to police are expressed in Jordyn's story. One is that her friends are intimidated by the presence of police, revealed when Jordyn says arriving at her front door can be 'a daunting experience.' What attitude is revealed by the boy who says, 'Cops are pigs'? At the end of her story, what two of her own attitudes does Jordyn reflect? Explain how she does this.
  3. 3.People's attitudes are often shaped by their values and beliefs. Jordyn's friends might be intimidated because they have 'respect for authority' as a value, or they might believe that police are powerful and threatening. What values and beliefs might underlie other attitudes towards police evident in Jordyn's story? Why do you think Jordyn presents both the pros and cons of being 'a copper's daughter'?
  4. 4.Locate two more texts that feature police, such as news reports, from two different sources. Identify the attitudes expressed towards police in each, along with the implied underlying values or beliefs. Provide evidence for your conclusions. How might such attitudes be connected to the target audience of each text?



Date of broadcast: 31 May 2013


Copyright

Metadata © Australian Broadcasting Corporation and Education Services Australia Ltd 2012 (except where otherwise indicated). Digital content © Australian Broadcasting Corporation (except where otherwise indicated). Video © Australian Broadcasting Corporation (except where otherwise indicated). All images copyright their respective owners. Text © Australian Broadcasting Corporation and Education Services Australia is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License (CC BY-SA 4.0).

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