Voices blog

The Citizen ship sailed into the TeachFirst harbour to discuss all things citizenship, including assessment and social action for a really inspiring session.

Last week I met with nine citizenship specialists at the TeachFirst London HQ for a subject development day. Having completed their first four weeks in school, this day was an opportunity for these newly trained teachers to escape the sea of young people to reflect on their collective experiences and to hear from a variety of authoritative and interesting speakers - including me from the Citizenship Foundation!

I had a little over an hour with some bright, engaging and enthusiastic professionals, who without exception seem to be making a positive impact in their school settings and upon their students. It was really refreshing to hear the understanding and passion that they have for citizenship education, but also pleasing to learn how central citizenship values are to their host schools. During uncertain times when many subject bodies are looking over their shoulder at any impending outcomes of the curriculum review, I feel assured that many academic institutions will continue to see the value of preparing young people with the knowledge, tools and understanding to make an effective contribution to wider society.

During our limited time together we were able to look at some great, free citizenship resources and discuss some assessment issues with the font of citizenship knowledge that is Julie Gibbings our Manager, Curriculum and Publication. I was also able to introduce the Giving Nation Challenge which supports cross-curricular delivery of charitable and social action initiatives to KS3 &4. With free lesson plans and teaching resources, and a new web-based project planner (currently being developed!) coupled with start-up grants of £50/class to develop charity and social enterprise projects I am sure we should be seeing many more young social activists joining our community of 600 secondary schools in the coming months.

On the day, I was also especially delighted to hear from the excellent Cathy Fallon, Senior Lecturer and Citizenship Lead, that TeachFirst has already committed to continuing to place more citizenship students next year. Naturally, I will look forward to meeting these exceptional teachers next year!

For any information on the Giving Nation programme, including free school training or telephone guidance, please get in touch on 020 7566 4141.

Get inspired. Get Active. Get involved. info@g-nation.org.uk

Popular culture is a great way to introduce more difficult concepts to young people, because it enables them to relate to what you are trying to teach.

When I was teaching citizenship, I found soap storylines could link into issues such as discrimination and employment rights and glossy celebrity magazines helped to get students talking about the conflict between the right to privacy and freedom of the press.

I recently re-read the Harry Potter books. We’re fast approaching the long-awaited release of the final film in the series and I’m probably a bit too excited about it for an adult, but I can’t wait to see how the final battle translates onto the big screen.

The funny thing about Harry Potter is that while the wizarding world isn’t realistic, it’s all embedded in situations that happen in everyday life. Maybe that’s why people like it so much, because they can see a little bit of themselves in Harry and his fellow students.

In Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, the Ministry of Magic meddled in the running of Hogwarts School. The teaching of the Defence Against the Dark Arts suddenly became completely theoretical, with no opportunities for the students to practise magic, and new school rules were introduced at random. Dolores Umbridge, who began as a teacher and ultimately became the head, (albeit temporarily) of Hogwarts is a good example of a dictator who used fear and intimidation to bring about her rise to power within the school.
[KS4 Citizenship 3e]

The same book also demonstrated how the media can influence people’s opinions. At the end of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, Lord Voldemort rose again. The Ministry of Magic sought to hide this, and used the wizarding paper The Daily Prophet to discredit Harry and Dumbledore’s claims that he had returned. A lot of the pupils at Hogwarts came to believe the newspaper’s side of the story, which shows perfectly how people can come to take what the media says as fact, without realising that what they are reading may be biased.
[KS3 Citizenship 3d]

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows is a great example of discrimination. Once Lord Voldemort gained control of the Ministry of Magic, he begins to keep a list of all Muggle-born wizards and prosecute them for stealing wands, claiming that they cannot have magical powers. Harry, Ron and Hermione formed a part of the battle against this discrimination as they searched for the Horcruxes that will enable them to defeat Lord Voldemort and restore equality to the wizarding world. There is plenty of opportunity to draw parallels with issues of racial discrimination in reality and what people have done to try and combat it.
[KS3 Citizenship 1.3 and 3a; KS4 Citizenship 1.3, 3a and 3l]

So there you have it, the perfect excuse to justifiably watch a clip from a Harry Potter film in the classroom.

If you have examples of how you’ve used popular culture to teach citizenship, we’d love to hear about them.

Julie Gibbings, Harry Potter geek and Manager, Curriculum & Publications.

Part two of Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows opens in cinemas on 15 July.

Citizenship curriculum links

KS3 1.3 & KS4 1.3
‘Identities and diversity: living together in the UK’

KS3 3a
‘…political, legal and human rights, and responsibilities of citizens’

KS3 3d
‘…freedom of speech and diversity of views, and the role of the media in informing and influencing public opinion and holding those in power to account’

KS4 3a
‘…political, legal and human rights and freedoms in a range of contexts from local to global’

KS4 3e
‘…the operation of parliamentary democracy within the UK and of other forms of government, both democratic and non-democratic, beyond the UK’

KS4 3l
‘…the origins and implications of diversity and the changing nature of society in the UK, including the perspectives and values that are shared or common, and the impact of migration and integration on identities, groups and communities’

I came across a fun and engaging interactive tool on court processes from OpenLearn, The Open University’s portal for free learning content. ‘What’s your verdict?’ takes the user through a fictional court case and asks them to make judgements based on what they see and hear. It also teaches about the court system.

In the videos information is provided about the court system and the jury’s involvement in cases. This is a very informative and interesting way to learn about court processes. Once the sample case was over my opinions were compared with others and their thoughts on the case.

You then discover that there is a version A and version B. The two versions differ in the way the information is presented, the language used, and the jury room’s dynamic. People’s thoughts on the case and its outcomes are then compared to show how little nuances can make big differences in the outcome of court cases.

Overall, it was an exciting way to learn about how court works. It also makes you think about all the different factors that contribute to a court ruling and the important ways the jury contributes to the case. If you are interested in learning more about the court system or just want to see how others view court cases, try it here for yourself!

The Parliament Education Service is offering free teacher training workshops around the UK, from September. These will cover how Parliament works and provide tips on how schools can get involved in the 2011 Schools Question Time Challenge

The CPD sessions are open to any teacher who would like to broaden their general knowledge about Parliament, and find out about how they can participate in the BBC Schools Question Time competition. The training is primarily aimed at teachers of students aged 11-18.

Find out more on their website.

Channel 4 Education has a range of game and video resources aimed at young people (age 10 - 19). These can be used in the classroom and cover several curriculum subjects (some are adaptable for citizenship lessons).

I particularly liked Battlefront a range of campaign videos that tackle subjects such as diversity, democracy and justice. And there is also an online game called Smokescreen that aims to raise young people’s awareness about their own and others’ behaviour online, including topics such as cyber bullying, data protection online and online stalking.