Intent
Harbour Vale School’s aim throughout the GCSE Citizenship course is to engage pupils in the local and global world; to help them consider their role as global citizens and to think critically but proactively about a politicised environment.
The course encourages students to play an active part in public and democratic life as informed and active citizens. The Edexcel Citizenship Studies GCSE allows for the group or individual undertaking of citizenship action and for students to develop the ability to analyse and comment on four key themes.
- Living together in the UK
- Democracy at work in the UK
- Law and Justice
- Power and influence – The UK’s relationship with the rest of the world.
- Taking Citizenship Action
Students build on Key Stage 3 knowledge and understanding and are introduced to core concepts and how citizenship impacts on their lives before developing this with the introduction of theory and the ‘bigger picture’ as they progress through the course. The course also focuses on the importance of active citizenship so students can engage with topics close to their hearts while they develop skills in research and investigation, problem solving, advocacy and campaigning. Citizenship Studies at GCSE reflects current issues, questions and debates; and therefore, students develop knowledge and understanding of the role of citizenship in relation to the political and democratic issues and discourse that impacts on modern society. Throughout the course, students are supported to become confident public speakers who advocate on behalf of others. The Citizenship Course also works on a Cross curricular level by focusing on key areas such as Literacy, comparing sources and analysing text, deconstructing political vocabulary and debating.
The aims and objectives of Citizenship Studies are to enable students to know and understand what democracy is, how parliamentary democracy operates within the constituent parts of the UK, how government works and how democratic and nondemocratic systems of government are different beyond the UK; know and understand the relationship between the state and citizens, the rights, responsibilities and duties of citizens living and working in the UK and how people participate in democracy , know and understand the role of the law in society, how laws are shaped and enforced and how the justice system works in England and Wales, know and understand how taxes are raised and spent by governments, and how national economic and financial policies and decisions relate to individuals, use and apply knowledge and understanding of key citizenship ideas and concepts, including democracy, government, justice, equality, rights, responsibilities, participation, community, identity and diversity, to think deeply and critically about a wide range of political, social, economic and ethical issues and questions facing society in local to global contexts, use and apply knowledge and understanding as they formulate citizenship enquiries, explore and research citizenship issues and actions, analyse and evaluate information and interpret sources of evidence.
A) Living together in the UK – Students are introduced to the idea that the UK is a diverse society of many different communities and groups who live together. They explore the nature of identity and multiple identities as well as how and why communities are changing. They consider the democratic rights, freedoms and values that we share, including human rights and the challenge of balancing competing rights. Opportunities for developing citizenship skills include: to debate and explore identities, rights, values and democracy, and to gain a practical understanding of being an active citizen through contributing to local democracy and taking citizenship action to resolve problems, tackle inequality and improve justice.
B) Democracy at work in the UK – Students explore the idea of representative, parliamentary democracy in the UK including the voting and electoral system, the roles and responsibilities of MPs and how government is organised and kept in check. They will also consider the role of parliament in making and shaping law; the government’s role in managing public money; and how power is organised across the constituent parts of the UK. Opportunities for developing citizenship skills and taking action include participation in decision making forums and ‘mock’ or real school elections, researching and debating the effectiveness of democracy in the UK, the extension of voting rights to 16- and 17-year-olds or further devolution of power versus independence for Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales.
C) Law and Justice – Students explore why we need laws and how law affects us in our everyday lives. They consider how the justice system in England and Wales works in practice including the roles and power of the police and the courts. They also learn about the distinctive features of the criminal, civil and youth justice systems and some of the different approaches to settling disputes, addressing inequality, changing behaviour and tackling crime in society. Opportunities for developing citizenship skills and taking action include investigating different legal cases, participation in ‘mock’ trials and sentencing decision-making activities, debating whether it is ever right to break the law or whether the justice system treats everyone fairly. Students could undertake citizenship action or campaigns to address inequality or an injustice.
D) Power and Influence – In this section students revisit key ideas about democracy, rights and responsibilities in Themes A–C as they explore ideas about power. They consider power in relation to the ways in which citizens, governments and the media exercise power and influence in a range of local to global situations. They contrast representative democracy in the UK with a non-democratic political system and the limits this places on the rights and freedoms of citizens. Opportunities to develop citizenship skills include examining ways in which citizens co-operate to try and improve society and democracy through different kinds of political and citizen actions; practical experiences of taking citizenship action themselves to address issues; debating the relationship of the UK with Europe; and investigating global issues and problems facing society from the environment to humanitarian and conflict situations.
E) Taking Citizenship Action – Citizenship action may be defined as a planned course of informed action to address a citizenship issue or question of concern and aimed at delivering a benefit or change for a particular community or wider society. Taking citizenship action in a real out-of-classroom context allows students to apply citizenship knowledge, understanding and skills, and to gain different citizenship insights and appreciate different perspectives on how we live together and make decisions in society. It requires them to practise a range of citizenship skills including research and enquiry, interpretation of evidence, including primary and secondary sources, planning, collaboration, problem solving, advocacy, campaigning and evaluation.
Implementation
Harbour Vale School’s Citizenship curriculum is delivered with the aim to ensure that students gain the powerful knowledge they need to be active and informed citizens. We strive to provide students with safe spaces within which to explore and develop their ideas about Citizenship issues, facilitated by trusted adults who understand our community and the individual histories of the students in the class. This gives our students the opportunity to explore contested issues in a safe space, facilitated by teachers who know them and their personal history well and who can respond to individual and community contexts sensitively. This will necessarily involve discussing controversial questions and challenging misconceptions that may be widespread among our students.
Assessment is conducted through formative assessment and the use of targeted questions within each lesson to ensure key concepts have been grasped. In addition, retrieval practice takes place at the start of each lesson to ensure that key knowledge is retained in students’ long-term memory, and key questions are planned to ensure students’ progress to the next topic only when understanding of foundation topics is secure. Lesson resources are shared amongst teaching staff to maintain consistency, based on the sequential lesson planning document. Students are made aware of connections to career options such as public and emergency services, third sector work, being a local councillor or other elected representative, and working within the justice system.
Impact
Formative assessment activities are built into every Citizenship lesson delivered at Harbour Vale School and through other subject curricula. This is done through retrieval quizzing of previously taught material, targeted questions that check for understanding of foundational concepts, and discussion tasks which enable teachers to identify misconceptions and address them in the moment they are noticed.
For those students studying the GCSE Citizenship Studies course, there are many qualitative indicators that will help us assess the extent to which our intent has been delivered alongside the examination at the end of Key stage 4. Key signs would be that a high proportion of student’s volunteer within school and in the wider community, that they ask questions of their tutors and subject teachers that indicate an engagement with current affairs, and express positions in favour of human rights and standing up to injustice and disadvantage.
We will know that our students have developed a true love of Citizenship if they demonstrate responsible behaviour as up standers within and beyond school as a result of their powerful knowledge gained through Citizenship. This can be tracked through behaviour data, reports on trends in behaviours such as bullying and discrimination in staff meetings, and feedback from our Pupil Welfare Officer about student interaction with police and the justice system. If our intent has been successful and students love the subject, they will engage in discussion with parents, carers and friends about what they see in the media; we would also expect that parents and carers will report on consultation evenings that students are eager to discuss their interest in Citizenship issues and political events such as elections and are keen to complete volunteer work. In the longer term we would expect to see students applying for courses and choosing careers in the public services and third sector, politics, law and finance, based on the knowledge and understanding gained during their time studying Citizenship at Harbour Vale School.