Main Menu

• Home
• About ACT
• ACT E-Membership
• Citizenship News & Info
• Conferences & Events
• This Month's Theme
• Theme Archive
• Teaching Case Studies
• Ask the Experts
• Links
• Become a Member

Sign up for our FREE newsletter

Info Pages

• The proposed New National Curriculum
• How do I become a Citizenship education teacher?
• Citizenship education explained
• National Curriculum - Secondary
  • Citizenship education in the Secondary Curriculum
  • Importance of Citizenship Education
  • Key Concepts of Citizenship Education
  • Key Processes in Citizenship Education
  • Range and Content in Citizenship
  • Curriculum Opportunities in Citizenship
  • Eight Level Scale KS3
  • Eight Level Scale KS4
  • How to implement a Citizenship education curriculum and develop assessment
• National Curriculum - Primary
  • Ideas for creating a curriculum that brings together history, geography and citizenship
  • Disciplined change in Citizenship education in Primary: case study
  • CPD for Primary Citizenship
• CPD Modules
• ACT's Journal: Teaching Citizenship
• Teaching Resources (Secondary)
  • The case of Abu Qatada
• Citizenship education outside England
  • Five Nations Network
• Quality Standard Award
• ACT Conference 2013

Members Only Area

• Primary Resources
• Secondary Resources
• Articles and Resources from Teaching Citizenship
• Theme of the month (archive)

Related Resource Suggestions & Reviews

Parliamentary Education Service

This site offers a plethora of excellent teaching resources for teaching about Parliament and democracy.

It includes online educational games, videos, whiteboard resources, lesson plans, printed resources and even an app!

This is the best place to get all your resources for teaching about the work of our national parliament. - ed.

Website Link :
http://www.parliament.uk/education/online-resources/

The Road to Democracy

This is a fabulous teaching resource from the National Portrait Gallery!

Pupils are asked to look at a portrait of the House of Commons from 1833, then asked to prepare an artists' brief for a painting of today's House of Commons to illustrate today's democracy.

The resource is online. It links Citizenship to art and to history so is brilliant as a cross-curricular activity, but you don't need to be an artist or historian to use it.

It examines democratic freedoms, the role of the monarch, the role of the electorate, women in parliament, the role of MPs, the role of protest and what the Parliament of the future should be like.

Website Link :
http://www.npg.org.uk/webquests/launch.php?webquest_id=36&partner_id=portrait

Arab Spring

This ACT teaching resource helps teachers understand the issues and asks questions such as "why do they want democracy?" It also looks at the roles of social media, the government, the people and international media coverage in bringing about the Arab Spring.

We give you ideas for lessons and resources to use in class.

Website Link :
http://www.teachingcitizenship.org.uk/page?p=142

Giving Nation

The Giving Nation is a free active-learning programme for secondary schools in England. Giving Nation encourages students to identify, plan and deliver a mini-charity or community project through becoming volunteers, campaigners and social entrepreneurs. This is supported by comprehensive lesson plans, training and £50 start-up cash for every class.

This year there's a revamped website with an online project profile page, resources for alternative education settings and funding opportunities for hundreds of new settings. Get involved while you can!

Website Link :
http://www.g-nation.org.uk/

Powerplay

PowerPlay is a new Citizenship resource for engaging students in issues around democracy, decision making, understanding the validity of evidence and analysing different sources of information. In so doing, PowerPlay meets many of the key learning objectives of the citizenship curriculum as well as providing some literacy and humanities coverage.

This resource is endorsed by ACT. It uses the current energy challenges facing the UK as a context for this activity. The challenges we face are real, complex and require careful reasoning in order to develop solutions based on meeting the needs of a range of stakeholders. Specifically, we are looking at the issue of nuclear energy and thinking about the role this will play in future energy provision. All content within PowerPlay is real and has been sourced from reputable organisations. A number of key issues are covered in relation to energy provision including safety, security of supply and environmental impact.

PowerPlay is designed to be used as both an online and offline tool and to be played in teams with reflection and team feedback built into the process. The game will take about six hours to complete and can be played over a period of time – usually a half term.

Website Link :
http://www.powerplayonline.co.uk/

Active Citizenship Toolkit

The Rax Active Citizenship Toolkit is the first coursebook solely to address the key skills and processes part of the Citizenship Studies Key Stage 4 curriculum - the only aspects that is statutory in schools in England and Wales. It gives teachers and students the tools for Critical thinking and enquiry, Advocacy and representation; Taking informed and responsible action. Through the use of games and activities, all presented in visually stimulating design, students will improve their confidence and social skills and make meaningful and effective practical work.

Most citizenship material is predictable and prescriptive, making students feel they are being dictated to about the issues they should be concerned by. The toolkit takes a different approach, one that is more true to the inspiring aims of the curriculum: it facilitates the development of all the tools students need to form their own opinions about the issues they care about most.

The toolkit provides a wide variety of points of view through the Rax interviews: presenter Jon Snow, singer-songwriters Thom Yorke and Ms Dynamite, trade unionist Bob Crow, President of the Supreme Court of the UK Lord Phillips, Patrick Mercer OBE MP (Con), Simon Hughes MP (Lib Dem), Emily Thornberry MP (Lab), Caroline Lucas MEP (Green) and Sir Hugh Orde (President of the Association of Chief Police Officers) and more, all being brought to bear on the central issues of youth engagement in active citizenship.

This resource is endorsed by ACT.

Website Link :
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Rax-Active-Citizen-Toolkit-Citizenship/dp/1906523452