Encouraging students to join a local volunteer group, encouraging them to contacting a politician to express their concerns about a topic important to them, and encouraging them to take an active interest in their local environment are all issues that many of us would feel very positive about.
They are in fact part of the notion of learning about Citizenship – a process of education which aims to give students an understanding of the role they play in society.
There are three main concepts to cover in any citizenship programme of study:
- Democracy and justice – the roles that can be taken in the political and justice systems including law, fairness authority and accountability.
- Rights and responsibilities – exploring the different kinds of rights including political, human, social, civil and moral.
- Identities and diversity – looking at the diverse society in which we live including immigration and how this can affect cultural changes to society
As it is a subject area that relates the individual to the wider society, it is vital that the student knows how the social system works at a local, national and European level. Only in this way can students learn how they can take an active part in their community.
It is for this reason that we have produced our wide array of lesson plans to cover topics including critical consumers, diversity, democracy, rights and responsibilities, the media, human rights, volunteering, active citizenship, local action and politics. There are also some useful assembly projects and a citizenship assessment tool, all designed so that they can be used across a range of learning styles and abilities.
These Citizenship lessons can be used to support learning outcomes for Skills Towards Enabling Progression “Step Up” – Aspects of Citizenship from City & Guilds. These lessons are also suitable for use with Citizenship Studies from OCR.
You can read more about our resources at http://www.teaching-resources-uk.com/2012 .