Does our legal system protect citizens' rights? (Unit of work)

Does our legal system protect citizens’ rights?

This unit of work introduces students to key concepts of law, justice, rights, democracy, and fairness, exploring their relevance and application in modern society. Across six lessons, students engage with the Rule of Law, civil and criminal law, court systems, and the roles of juries, magistrates, and police. Interactive tasks, discussions, and reflections help students develop critical thinking and contextualise legal concepts through historical and modern examples. Lessons also examine the youth court system and its role in protecting children’s rights, encouraging empathy and understanding.

The later lessons focus on sentencing, punishment, and incarceration, prompting students to assess the effectiveness of the UK’s justice system and compare it with international approaches. Activities like speech writing and persuasive tasks challenge students to form and articulate informed opinions on prison reform and justice. Through formative assessments and real-world applications, such as Amnesty International’s advocacy projects, students gain a comprehensive understanding of how the legal system supports democracy and fairness.

National curriculum links
Human rights and international law; the legal system in the UK, different sources of law and how the law helps society deal with complex problems.

Citizenship skills
Using a range of research strategies, weighing  up evidence, making persuasive arguments, substantiating  conclusions.

Citizenship concepts
Justice, equal opportunities, fairness, identity, rights, democracy, ethics, discrimination, diversity, race, ethnicity, disability, change, gender, responsibilities

Building progression
This scheme of work is part of ACTʼs model core curriculum for Citizenship in secondary schools, which has been designed to develop and deepen students’ knowledge, skills and understanding throughout Key Stages 3 and 4. Other units linked to this Year 11 scheme of work include: 

Year 7: How do laws affect us?

Year 8: Does the criminal justice system serve everyone fairly?

Year 9: How well is justice served through the criminal justice system?

Year 10: What tools can we use to challenge injustice in our communities?

Year 11: Does our legal system protect citizens’ rights?

This unit of work forms part of our model core curriculum, which is exclusively available to School and College Members. Check out the full key stage 4 curriculum overview map here.