Classroom resources

This page contains information for teachers and schools about free Be Ahead of the Game classroom resources.

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About Be Ahead of the Game classroom resources

Be Ahead of the Game provides free, curriculum-aligned lesson plans and classroom resources to help Victorian students understand the risks associated with gambling and gaming.

All units are professionally developed in partnership with experts in education and resource development. They are designed to be user-friendly, flexible, and support the Victorian school curriculum.

VCE Vocational Major resources

Literacy

Students will develop a presentation pitch to convince a sporting club to sign up to the Love the Game sporting club program and say 'no' to sports betting sponsorship. Students will analyse a sample pitch before going through the process of planning, drafting, and editing their own pitch. They will then complete a self-assessment using a rubric.

Download VCE VM - Literacy: Unit 1

Curriculum alignment: This resource addresses learning outcomes of Unit 1 of VCE VM Literacy.

This unit was developed in partnership with Multifangled. 

Students will consider the potential influences shaping their own and the wider community’s attitudes toward gambling, including:

  • access to real and simulated gambling via apps, social media, and gaming
  • saturation levels of gambling advertising
  • family and peer attitudes to gambling.

Students will plan, draft, and write a report for a sporting club that explains the influences on attitudes towards gambling before completing a self-assessment using a rubric.

Download VCE VM - Literacy: Unit 2

Curriculum alignment: this unit addresses learning outcomes for Unit 3 of VCE VM Literacy.

This unit was developed in partnership with Multifangled. 

Numeracy

Students will develop the mathematical skills used for managing household and living expenses. Using activities and worksheets, students will learn to interpret household utility bills and create a personal budget. Students will also explore the financial harm that gambling can cause to individuals, families, and the wider community.

Download VCE VM - Numeracy: Unit 1

Curriculum alignment: This unit addresses the learning outcomes from Unit 1 of VCE VM Numeracy.

This unit was developed in partnership with Multifangled. 

Students will explore chance and probability to help them develop informed attitudes toward gambling. The unit’s interactive activities are designed to introduce students to the concepts and language of probability and chance and shows them how to interpret odds. Analysis of real-world data is used to illustrate how much Victorians lose to gambling, highlighting the reality that people are more likely to lose money.

Download VCE VM - Numeracy: Unit 2

Curriculum alignment: This unit addresses the learning outcomes from Unit 2 of VCE VM Numeracy.

This unit was developed in partnership with Multifangled. 

Students will learn the key skills they need to know about getting their first job, including paying tax, superannuation, government allowances, workplace rights, and payslips. Throughout the unit, students will access national data to investigate how much Australians earn on average, and what impact gambling losses have on Australians.

Download VCE VM - Numeracy: Unit 3

Curriculum alignment: This unit addresses the learning outcomes from Unit 3 of VCE VM Numeracy.

This unit was developed in partnership with Multifangled. 

Students will do a deep dive into the way gambling really works. Students learn about the randomness of gambling and experience the difficulty of predicting outcomes. They will explore firsthand how betting agencies design products to maximise their own profits and learn to think critically about gambling advertising.

Download VCE VM - Numeracy: Unit 4

Download spreadsheets used in this unit:

Curriculum alignment: This unit addresses the learning outcomes from Unit 4 of VCE VM Numeracy.

This unit was developed in partnership with Multifangled. 

Personal Development Skills

Using a variety of information sources, students will create a product (e.g., a magazine, song, podcast, TV-style interview, documentary, poem, artwork, PowerPoint, or Prezi presentation) to help young people understand the risks of gambling. Students will work in groups to plan, develop, share, and evaluate the product.

Download VCE VM - Personal Development Skills: Unit 2

Curriculum alignment: This unit addresses the learning outcomes from Unit 2 of VCE VM - Personal Development Skills.

This unit was developed in partnership with Multifangled.

Using a variety of information sources, students develop a community engagement activity (e.g., a media campaign for the school, an expo for the community, a play, or a board game) that develops understanding and awareness of gambling harm and the support services that are available. Students will work in groups to plan, develop, implement, and evaluate the community project.

Download VCE VM - Personal Development Skills: Unit 4

Curriculum alignment: This unit addresses the learning outcomes from Unit 4 of VCE VM - Personal Development Skills.

This unit was developed in partnership with Multifangled.

VCE resources

Health and Human Development

'GAME ON'. Gambling: a youth health issue

Students will focus on the health and wellbeing of young Australians and conduct independent research into a selected area of interest. This resource will support teachers in introducing this topic to their students using a strengths-based approach, providing data and resources from various projects and support programs to enable students to analyse real-life data and develop an understanding of help-seeking strategies should students find themselves, or a loved-one, experiencing problems with gambling.

Download free resources:

Curriculum alignment: This six-lesson unit addresses the learning outcomes of VCE Health and Human Development Unit 1, Area of Study 3 (Youth health and wellbeing).

These resources were developed in partnership with the Australian Council for Health, Physical Education and Recreation (ACHPER Victoria).

Media Studies

Representations of gambling in advertising

This VCE Media Studies unit helps students explore gambling advertising and what values these media products are representing. They discuss who the target audience is for these media products and how they have been constructed for this audience.

Students will also compare these representations of gambling and inherent values with those depicted in advertising by the Victorian Responsible Gambling Foundation. Students then will create a negative representation of gambling through a social media post through the theme, the harms of gambling.

Unit outline:

Media forms, representations and Australian stories

  • How do gambling companies represent gambling?
  • How can gambling be represented in other ways?
  • How can we create gambling representations for different audiences?

Narrative across media forms

  • What concerns do we have with advertising?
  • How is advertising regulated in Australia?
  • What rules are there around gambling advertising?
  • How can I submit a complaint about a gambling advertisement?

Download VCE Media studies: Representations of gambling in advertising

Curriculum alignment: This unit addresses the learning outcomes of Units 1 and 2 of the VCE Media studies.

This VCE teaching resource has been developed in partnership with the Australian Teachers of Media Victoria.

Years 7 to 10

Year 10 - Humanities

This unit helps students understand the financial risks associated with gambling and how recognising the limited chances of winning can be a way of protecting yourself.

Students will:

  • understand the concept of chance and probability
  • understand the limited chances of winning money when gambling because gambling and betting agencies are businesses that exist to make a profit
  • identify some of the short and long-term financial risks associated with gambling, with a greater emphasis on shorter-term
  • identify strategies to minimise the financial risks associated with gambling.

Download free resources:

Curriculum alignment: On completion of this unit, students can be assessed against the elaborations in Humanities - Economics and Business.

These units were developed in partnership with Valad Solutions Pty Ltd education consultants.

This unit will help students understand that gambling is an inherently risky activity, and regulation exists to help protect the community from gambling harm.

Students will:

  • revise and consolidate their understanding of elements of a democratic society and freedom of choice
  • consider reasons for the regulation of gambling in Australia and draw comparisons with other risky activities which are regulated to protect citizens from harm
  • understand the role the government has in regulating gambling in Australia
  • investigate the effects of gambling regulation in Australia
  • learn about how gambling is regulated in Australia and overseas.

Download free resources:

Curriculum alignment: On completion of this unit, students can be assessed against the elaborations in Humanities - Civics and Citizenship.

These units were developed in partnership with Valad Solutions Pty Ltd education consultants.

Years 9 & 10 - Economics and Business

A sure thing? Online Gaming and Gambling

This resource includes a short video and activities that will help students identify the risks of online gaming and gambling, and understand how to get help if needed.

Find out more

This resource was developed by Clickview, an organisation that produces and promotes a range of video and digital resources for all Victorian government schools and many independent and Catholic schools, with support from the Department of Health.

This short video explains how influencers on social media are enticing young people to gamble. It also includes a teacher resource that provides suggested focus questions and activities.

Years 9 & 10 - Health and Physical Education

Through the lens of Health and Physical Education, years 9 and 10 students can learn about the risks and realities of gambling and gaming to help them make informed decisions.

Download free resources:

  • Lesson 1 - Gambling and the determinants of health
  • Lesson 2 - Gambling as a cultural identity in Australia
  • Lesson 3 - Types of gambling in Australia
  • Lesson 4 - Signs of gambling harm
  • Lesson 5 - Support for people experiencing gambling harm

These lessons have been reviewed by Active Education Australia powered by ACHPER Victoria.

Years 7 & 8 - Health and Physical Education

Through the lens of Health and Physical Education, years 7 and 8 students can learn about the risks and realities of gambling and gaming to help them make informed decisions.

Download free resources:

  • Lesson 1 - Risk, gambling and reducing harm
  • Lesson 2 - The gambling zone: Issues and consequences
  • Lesson 3 - The connection between gaming and gambling
  • Lesson 4 - Gambling - identifying influences
  • Lesson 5 - Gambling support and services

These lessons have been reviewed by Active Education Australia powered by ACHPER Victoria.

This short video explains how influencers on social media are enticing young people to gamble. It also includes a teacher resource that provides suggested focus questions and activities.

Years 5 & 6

Exploring the risks of online gaming

The Bridge

The Bridge is a free, creative program developed for upper primary school students that explores the potential risks of online gaming. The Bridge caters for all teachers, regardless of their knowledge and experience of gaming.

Read more and download resources.

Advice for teachers

Teachers and educators can play an important role in helping young people avoid gambling harm, now and in the future, by incorporating Be Ahead of the Game classroom resources into their curriculum.

That's why Be Ahead of the Game classroom resources cater for all teachers and students, regardless of their knowledge and experience of gambling or gaming.

Why should kids learn about gambling when it's illegal for under-18s?

While gambling in Australia is illegal for people under 18-years, research shows that young people are increasingly exposed to, and engaging in, gambling. Furthermore, studies show that kids who are introduced to betting at an early age are more likely to experience problems with gambling as adults.

It's therefore just as important to teach kids about the risk of gambling as it is to teach them about the risks of drugs, alcohol, and other risky activities.

Teachers can find out more about the issue of gambling among young people by visiting the What's the issue page.

Need support?

If you believe a student is experiencing problems related to gambling, teachers should follow their school guidelines and policies for supporting student health and wellbeing, or let students know they can contact any of the support services listed here.