What role can I play in making our school a fairer place? (Complete scheme of work)

What role can I play in making our school a fairer place?

About this scheme of work
This scheme of work is designed for use in the early days of students’ Citizenship education at secondary level. It provides an excellent introduction to active citizenship within the school context. It forms part of our model core curriculum which is exclusively available to School and College Members.

Fairness, rights and responsibilities lie at the heart of the unit. Students use the UNCRC as the starting point for creating a class charter. They then go on to compare this to the school behaviour policy and question SLT about how the policy relates to rights and responsibilities. They explore the concept of power and consider the pyramid of power. Are students able to have their say in school? How? 

In the final three lessons, students focus on carrying out their own rights investigation within school. Working in groups, they investigate research methods before planning and carrying out research into a right. They use their findings to create a presentation highlighting fairness issues, which they then deliver to a changemaker in school. This provides a real opportunity for students to share their perspectives and start to understand that they can have an influence in school.

National curriculum links

Understanding of the rights and responsibilities of citizens; presenting reasoned arguments and taking informed action; the nature of rules; the roles played by public institutions and voluntary groups in society, and the ways in which citizens work together to improve their communities, including opportunities to participate in school-based activities.

Citizenship skills
Representing your views to others, decision-making, evaluation, collaborative working, negotiation, communication, active participation, informing others’ opinions, discussion, influencing, teamwork, critical reflection, representing others’ views, planning.

Citizenship concepts
Justice, fairness, rights and responsibilities, equal opportunities, community cohesion, respect, raising awareness, power, participation, community, change, making a difference.

Building progression

This scheme of work is part of ACT’s 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 7 scheme of work include:

Year 7: Who has the power to bring about change in our local communities?

Year 9: Community volunteers or social media influencers – who has the most power and influence?

Year 10: How can I be a changemaker in my local community?

Join as a School and College Member to access this complete collection of lesson plans, slides and support resources.