Active Citizenship - GCSE Citizenship Action Toolkit and Resources

What is the GCSE Citizenship Action Toolkit?

As a subject, Citizenship aims to develop students’ understanding of their place in the world. It equips them to have a say and play an active role in their school, neighbourhood and society as informed, active citizens.

Now, more than ever, young people are living in a fast-paced world with a constantly evolving political landscape. Active citizenship not only allows them to understand and make sense of this, but also gives them an opportunity to use their skills and knowledge responsibly and effectively to make a difference to the world around them. In doing so, they gain the confidence to take part in democracy at a local, national and global level.

The active citizenship investigation at GCSE

The active citizenship investigation might seem like an insurmountable task, but it needn’t be. The action that students take doesn’t have to change the world – and the nature of political change is such that they probably won’t see the change that they would like to make within the time-span of their project. Focus their attention on who they can influence or those whose behaviour they could change.

This toolkit guides students through six steps to help them to complete their citizenship action project as well as providing advice and suggestions for things to do.