Edexcel GCSE Citizenship StudiesExample Scheme of Work
Dear Colleague
We hope you find this scheme of work a useful tool for planning and teaching the new GCSE. You should, of course, look carefully at the Specification and Sample assessment materials to ensure you understand the new content and level of demand.
This has been written by an experienced teacher to demonstrate how you might approach the changed requirements of the new specification. The author assumes that this GCSE course will be delivered over two years in two lessons a week, with a total teaching and learning time of 120 GLH. This document is not intended to prescribe a best way to teach the subject, and we’re sure you’ll want to amend it to meet the needs of your students and school. For example, you could identify the main terms, concepts and ideas involved in each theme and incorporate them into your own scheme of work.The need to adapt to your own requirements also applies to the links to online resources – we suggest you check these websites to ensure they are suitable for your students.
You will notice that more time has been allocated to Theme A‘Living together in the UK’ than to Theme B and Theme C. This is because the author intends, at this stage, to introduce many of the important concepts, such as democratic values and rights, underlying Theme B ‘Democracy at work in the UK’ and Theme C ‘Law and Justice’, and then subsequently build on them. You may wish to adopt a different approach and allocate fewer lessons to Theme A, and more to thesubsequent sections.
It is also important to note that the author has placed Theme E ‘Taking Citizenship Action’ towards what is presumed to be the end of Year 10 and the start of Year 11. It has been sandwiched between two parts of Theme D ‘Power and influence’. This has been organised in such a way in order to ensure that students can enrich their action with an understanding of how people can effectively contribute and have influence in a democratic society. However, you should feel empowered to run Section E when you see fit and at a time where it is most appropriate to your students.
If your students want to investigate a particular part of the specification or are stimulated by a topical issue, you may wish to adapt your planning and run the Citizenship Action at a different point in the course.
Theme A: Living together in the UK
Lesson / Lesson themes and content coverage / Learning outcomes / Exemplar classroom activities / Resources1 / Introduction to the course / To understand why learning about Citizenship is important and to consider how the course will be structured. / Ask students why Citizenship classes are important. Watch video as stimulus followed by a group brainstorming session.
Discuss content of the course and overview of future lessons. / Video: Why Citizenship matters (6 mins)
2 / What is a community?
Theme A3 / To understand what community means.
To identify a range of communities that exist in Britain.
Torecognise which communities they might belong to. / Brainstorm the word ‘community’ and establish a shared definition. This should incorporate the idea that it includes people sharing common interests or characteristics.
Interview fellow students in the class and discover which communities they belong to. They should consider school, family, sports teams, music, religion, etc.
Two truths and a lie activity – ask students to write down three facts about communities that they belong to, with one of those ‘facts’ being a lie. Play this with small groups or the whole class. / Video: What Community means (4 min 38 sec)
3 / A melting pot?
Theme A1 / To consider whether Britain is a melting-pot society
To investigate another society as a means to stimulate discussion about Britain. / Read Benjamin Zephaniah’s poem ‘The British (serves 60 million)’.
Ask students to consider:
- whatBenjamin Zephaniah is trying to say.
- how many different groups they can identify within the poem.
- what positives and negatives they can identify from the poem.
Using the definition available online, would you say that Britain was a melting pot?
Ask students to create an acrostic poem about diversity. / Benjamin Zephaniah’s ‘The British (serves 60 million)’:
BBC article: ‘Melting pot’ America
Online article on a melting pot
4 / Religious understanding
Theme A1, A2 / To appreciate similarities and differences between religions.
To start to understand the multitude of religions in the United Kingdom.
To start to make links between religious freedom and human rights. / Share symbols of all the main world religions and ask students to name them.
Look at charts and raw data from the ONS.
Group work: prepare a short introduction to the world’s main religions on different cards and ask students to work together to decide which aspects of religions might be similar.
Discuss why some communities have been running interfaith week events and what benefits this might have.
Introduce students to the UN Declaration of Human Rights statement that everyone should be free to follow their religion. Ask students to consider whether people have religious freedom in the UK, and compare and contrast it to other settings around the world. / Religious symbols:
Office for National Statistics data on religions:
Liverpool Interfaith Week:
Prince Charles says Christian persecution in Middle East ‘a tragedy’:
5 / Changing patterns
Theme A1 / To start to understand the changing composition of the UK population.
To investigate national migration trends using data. / Brainstorm the word ‘migration’ and establish a shared definition.
Share a map of the world, as well as a more detailed map of the UK. In groups, ask students to identify links they or their friends and family might have to different parts of the world. In less diverse groups, ask students to focus on their links to different parts of the UK.
Take notes on the flows of migration whilst watching this video. Ask students to consider whether Britain is alone in taking in migrants from other parts of the world.
Read the BBC’s article about the UK’s population increase. Either discuss as a class or set students questions to answer on the key trends. Focus on the key trends including migration, an ageing population and regional differences. / Video: Migration (2 mins 34 sec)
UK population increased by 500,000 official figures show:
6 / Study of changing patterns locally
Theme A1 / To develop skills of using primary research to investigate changing population patterns locally. / Using data from the ONS’ website and by searching for ‘census’ or ‘population’ on your local council’s website, ask students to guess some of the major population trends in the local area.
Book ICT equipment/room. Guide students to use primary sources from the ONS’ website and data from the census on your local council’s website to create a short presentation on population patterns within your locality. Students should be asked to consider:
- population increases/decreases
- changes in the age profile of local residents
- anynotable changes in the ethnicity of residents.
7 / Migration – why does it happen? (economic refugees/asylum seekers)
Theme A2 / To consider why different people move to the UK.
To gain an understanding of what it means to be a refugee/asylum seeker. / Use the Refugee Council’s advice to help clarify the distinction between refugees, asylum seekers and economic migrants.
Watch ‘A Bosnian Refugee’s Story’ together and write a short paragraph explaining the factors which pushed the family out of their home country.
Look at and discuss the key points about the Syrian refugee crisis after watching video.
Play Amnesty’s ‘The Great Escape’ board game and then debrief students. / Refugee Council’s definitions:
BBC clip ‘A Bosnian Refugee’s Story’:
Video: The European Refugee Crisis:
Amnesty International’s ‘The Great Escape’ board game:
8 / Migration – advantages/disadvantages
Theme A2 / To understand the impacts of migration on the UK.
To be able to critically analyse sources of information on migration. / Display a picture of an individual on the screen. Explain that he is called Jakok and is a Polish worker now living in the UK. Ask students to brainstorm the advantages that he might bring to the UK.
Read article about the Polish Blood campaign. Ask students to consider what positive contributions Polish people have said that they make to the UK.
Print out a variety of sources, asking students to highlight positives and negatives in each article, and then record their answers in a table. Use the BBC’s bitesize website as a basis for those who struggle with the task.
Ask students to consider their response to the statement ‘Overall migration is positive for the UK’. Invite them to position themselves on a continuum line between ‘strongly agree’and ‘strongly disagree’. They must back up and explain their thinking with facts. During the feedback, ask students to consider alternative points of view. / Polish Blood campaign:
9 / What is identity? Identity in the UK
Theme A4 / Understand what identity means and what factors are important to people.
Understand multiple identities and what sometimes causes conflict between identities. / Use the BBC’s ‘create a pop group’ game with the class and consider what makes up different people’s identities. As feedback, ask students to brainstorm different parts of their own identity.
Watch ‘What does it mean to be Canadian?’, and ask students to consider what might be important to Canadian people and their identities.
Make a card-sort activity, showing pictures of people with different ethnic, religious, gender, sexual and national identities. Some of the individuals may have dual identities. Ask students to fill in a table explaining possible conflicting identities and the possible consequences.
Use extracts from the BBC’s ‘Who’s British Now?’ to stimulate discussion or answer pre-prepared questions from the programme. / BBC pop group identity game
Who’s British Now Radio
10 / What is respect? Introduction to human rights
Theme A3, A5 / To consider what rights children should be entitled to receive.
To understand the link between rights and responsibilities. / Play ‘Respect’ by Aretha Franklin as students enter the room and ask why being respected is so important to individuals.
Using a card-sort, ask students to consider the difference between the basic wants and needs of someone their age. As part of the debrief establish the link between basic needs, human rights and respect.
Distribute copies of the Convention on the Rights of the Child and play UNICEF’s video introducing them.
Ask students to highlight in different colours which rights might be the responsibility of other children and which might be responsibilities of the state or authorities. / Video: What are child rights? (Unicef)
Convention on the rights of the child:
11 / How did human rights begin?
Theme A6 / To understand the historical development of human rights.
To start to consider which human rights might matter the most to themselves and others living in different circumstances.
To appreciate how human rights can apply in a variety of real-life cases. / Distribute copies of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) and play the ‘story of human rights’video. Ask students to brainstorm key points in the development of human rights or produce a gap-fill on the key points in the video.
Diamond 9 ranking exercise: either as a card-sort or in student’s books, ask students to rank which human rights are the most important to their own lives. Repeat the activity with another hypothetical example about someone living in very different circumstances. As part of the feedback, ask students to consider the differences and similarities.
Using the Equality and Human Rights Commission’s case studies as a basis, split students into groups and ask them to:
- look at the cases
- provide an overview of the key points
- highlight which particular human right is being denied in the circumstance
- thinkof another situation in life where this particular right might be denied.
12 / Human rights in the community/equality and discrimination
Theme A3 / To understand discrimination and how it impacts on people’s everyday lives. / Refer back to the list of human rights in the UDHR and ask students to highlight which rights relate to discrimination (you may need to provide a definition of discrimination on the board).
Create a joint list of different types of discrimination with the class.
Display some of the key statistics or quotes from Stonewall’s School Report. Ask students to write a definition of homophobia and consider how discrimination on the grounds of sexuality (or perceived sexuality) can affect people.
Class to watch ‘Reggie Yates’ Extreme Russia – Gays Under Attack’. In a table, ask students to list ways in which gay people are discriminated against in Russia. / Video: Reggie Yates Extreme Russia – Gays Under Attack
Stonewall’s School Report 2012:
13 / How can we develop community cohesion?
Theme A3 / To consider ways in which discrimination can be overcome.
To understand how a lack of community cohesion can be a problem, and what can be done to improve such a situation. / Starter: in your view, what causes discrimination? Is it ignorance, parents’ views, individuals’ own insecurities, fear, or another factor?
Ask students to research the Kick It Out campaign. Students should consider:
- the aims of the organisation
- the extent of discrimination evident in football
- examplesof how they have campaigned to overcome discrimination in football.
Community cohesion case study of the Brixton Riots:
BBC Brixton Riots Report:
14 / Can human rights conflict with each other?
Theme A5 / To consider how one person’s rights can often impact on others. / Looking at the BBC’s coverage of the smoking ban in cars carrying children, to what extent do students agree with Lucy Hardcastle? Might they have concerns about the rights of the children also travelling in her vehicle?
Choose a contentious issue such as abortion. Either create a class debate looking at the rights of different people who might be involved, such as an expectant mother, father or family member. Alternatively, ask students to write a newspaper article or blog post, highlighting how one person’s rights can sometimes conflict with others in this area. / BBC smoking in cars ban:
Abortion resources:
15 / What’s the difference between legal and moral rights?
Theme A5 / To understand how the law is used to protect people’s human rights.
To consider what discriminatory actions people might need protection from.
To consider how the state can protect people. / ‘At what age?’ activity. Distribute a number of different activities on cards and invite students to get up and suggest the age at which people have the legal right to do each one. Examples of things to consider might be: the age of criminal responsibility (10), the ability to buy a pet and get a part-time job (13), to get married with your parents’ permission and the age of consent (16), to drive a car (17), to vote, buy tobacco and make a will (18).
Ask students to consider:
- Why the law has age limits?
- Whose human rights are being protected by the age limit?
- Are there any age limits that seem unfair or illogical, that should be changed?
Display a variety of photos and ask students to consider what moral right these individuals might have (select someone who uses a wheelchair, a woman in a job that is stereotypically associated with men, someone from a black minority ethnic community,etc.). Focus on the disabled person in the photo. What barriers does she/he face? Ask students to identify what legal rights under the Disability Discrimination Act protects her/his moral rights.
Extension activity: research age and law in other countries. Do they differ? What age would you want to see for each different activity? Explain why. / Disability Discrimination Act:
16 / Political rights
Theme A5 / To investigate political rights and be able to explain their significance.
To understand how political rights are under threat today.
To discuss how political rights can be safeguarded. / Display article 21 of the UN Declaration of Human Rights, which states that ‘Everyone has the right to take part in the government of his country, directly or through a freely chosen representative’. Ask students to explain what political rights are, using this definition.