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ACT : Association for Citizenship Teaching
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Back to School
Use today’s news to teach Citizenship, bringing your lessons bang up to date
Introduction...
Use Youtube, newspapers, filmclips and websites to bring current affairs and Citizenship lessons alive.
This month ACT has two lesson suggestions for you on the Labour leadership contest and the allegations of cheating in international cricket.
Your pupils will prefer to talk about something that’s happening now than something that happened two years ago when they were “young children”, but make sure you relate the news to your pupils’ lives!
Remember the importance statement from the Citizenship Curriculum "Citizenship encourages them [pupils] to take an interest in topical and controversial issues and to engage in discussion and debate."
1. Labour Leadership Contest
Starter Questions
You can leave these on the board for your pupils to find and discuss as they walk into the classroom.
Why is it important to have a "good leader"?
What qualities does a "good leader" have for a school council, head teacher or a Prime Minister?
What would it be like to run a leadership campaign against your own brother/sister/best-friend?!
How much do your pupils know about the Labour party leadership contest? For KS3 you might need to start with "Who is the British Prime Minister? Who is the deputy? Who was Prime Minister before him and how did it change?"
How is the labour leadership contest taking place and who gets to choose the leader? Compare this to how the candidates for your school council are chosen.Bring in newspaper cuttings/printed articles or ask your pupils to go to the a website to find out about the contest. You might want to tell them to use the BBC or a daily newspaper.
Here is a rundown from the BBC of the five candidates in the race to be the next Labour leader.
Top tip Newsround have child-friendly reports on topical issues that you can use for background information. Some are written others are film clips. Both are great in class!
Activity 1 three-minute campaign
Ask your pupils each to create a three-minute speech on why they should be the "class leader". You could then ask other class members to film these speeches on their phones (if your school policy allows mobiles in school!) which is less daunting than having to make your speech in front of everyone. It also makes it easier to compare if you show them in class. You could then have a vote for who is the best OR you could ask them to write a piece about what their ideal "leader" would be like and why.
Top tip Use lots of voting in class to demonstrate democracy in action. If your school has electronic voting pads then use them!
Activity 2 - campaigning skills
Creating change in leadership requires an effective campaign. ACT is very keen that young people gain skills in campaigning for change. Ask them about the campaign styles of the candidates, the campaigning skills they have used, including new media, to reach potential supporters or those unsure of whom to vote for. What types of media would your pupils be most influenced by? Teachers may also look at the weakness of the campaigns candidates have run.
Top Tip Use ACT's Campaign toolkit for ideas for effective campaigns for change. The Rax Citizenship Toolkit has some great ideas about campigning.
Campaign for Change - with links to ACT's Campaign Toolkit
RAX Active Citizenship Toolkit
Follow on - What is democracy?
Talk with your pupils about democracy. Who has the power to choose their leader in a democracy? Talk about voting. How is voting in Big Brother like voting in an election? How is it different?
Top Tip Now is a great time for teachers to prepare for a mock-election next term. Get together with colleagues from other departments and start planning.
Teaching Resources & Ideas from ACT
ACT members can see our section on "Democracy and Political Literacy" for recommended teaching resources for mock elections, voting, political literacy etc. Teaching Resources
2. Allegation of scam in Test Cricket
In the Fourth Test against Pakistan there were allegation of attempts to spot bet - this means that some people in parts of the world had taken bets on which ball in a particular over would be a no-ball. Usually, this should be impossible to predict with certainty. However, it is alleged that certain players were in league with a betting syndicate that persuaded the players to deliver a no-ball at a certain time. This is illegal and also unjust - not fair.
Make sure your pupils understand what betting is and what the allegations are.
This story has been on the front pages of newspapers as well as in the sports sections, so you should be able to find something to take into class. If you're short on time use Pakistan cricket story on Newsround
Starter Questions
Why is it important to “play by the rules”?
How might fans feel about members of their national team cheating?
How do the allegations impact the England team? Are they still proud to win the game?
What does winning mean to the players? What does it mean to the fans?
Is it ever justified to cheat or behave unjustly?
In the context of flooding
In sport, as in life, justice is hard to deliver. In all aspects of life unfairness occurs yet in sport this is seen as morally unacceptable. However, is it a co-incidence that this has happened to Pakistan's team this summer?
Pakistan has been devastated by floods this summer. How much do your pupils know about this? Have any of their friends or family been affected? Learning Zone 52 second clip about floods
BBC News Special Report on the Pakistan floods
What if money gained by match fixing was going to help the flood victims, would cheating be justified? Use the YouTube clip below in class to show what the situation is like in Pakistan.
Just punishment?
If they are found guilty, how should the players and others involved be punished?
Should the whole team now go home in disgrace? How can innocence/guilt be proved? Should the punishment “fit the crime”?
If the cricket team are one of the few sources of national pride at this moment of disaster in the country, should they continue to play?
Should the youngest and most vulnerable player-only just 18 and playing in his first overseas tour-be protected from punishment?
If the very best of your players are the ones who are at fault, do you want to ban them for life and lose their world champion skills?
It’s not just the Pakistani national cricket team who have been accused of cheating. What would you do if someone offered you ?1,000 to cheat? Read this article about cheating in school sports in this country Newsround story about cheating in school sports
Would you cheat if someone offered you £1,000?
More teaching resources from ACT
ACT has lots of recommended teaching resources available to members in the Secondary Resources area of this site. For example:
Justice,Fairness and the fule of law
Democracy and Political Literacy
Human Rights and
Community Cohesion
This page has been written by Millicent Scott and Chris Waller
