Lesson video

Hi, hello, and welcome to our lesson today.

My name is Mr. Miskell, and I'll be your citizenship teacher for our lesson today.

Now the focus of our lesson is going to be on a really important citizenship question.

And our really important citizenship question is, what can I do as a citizen to protect the rights of others? And it's part of a series of lessons where we're trying to ask this really big overarching question about how has the COVID-19 pandemic affected our rights? Now, to take part in today's lesson, you'll need a pen, a paper, and a quiet space.

If you haven't got any of those things, hit the Pause button now and restart the lesson when you're ready.

So let's get going today with our lesson.

Now, what we are going to be doing today is we are going to be considering the question that I introduced to you a few seconds ago.

And the question I introduced to you a few seconds ago was this one.

And it was, how as a citizen can I help to protect the rights of others? Now, in order to do that, what we're going to do is we're going to look at the Convention of the Rights of the Child that we've covered in previous lessons but to bring everyone up to scratch about it.

Then we're going to have a little look at the implications for education of COVID-19 as a pandemic, and we're going to go in the UK, but also across the world.

And then we're going to think a little bit about citizenship action, and what does it involve, taking citizenship action to do something and protect the rights of others.

And then I'm going to introduce you to a potential citizenship action that you could choose to take.

So it's a really exciting and fun lesson today.

Now, the first thing that we said that we were going to do is that we were going to focus on the Convention of the Rights of the Child.

Now, the Convention of the Rights of the Child is a United Nations document.

It has 42 rights, and each one of these rights is contained in an article.

An article contains a different right.

The ones that I've got in front of you today, for example, Article seven that says you have the right to a name and a nationality that many of us take for granted but unfortunately, some young people around the world don't get that right given to them and it's taken away from them.

You have the right to a medical care, which is Article 24.

And the right that we're really focusing in on today is actually Article 28, which is that you have the right to an education.

Now to look at this in more detail, you can see on the screen now, but also attached as part of a worksheet for this lesson is a copy of all those 42 rights, all those 42 different articles for you to have a little look over and to make yourself aware because that will really help you in your understanding of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child.

Now, today we are going to just recap something that we've touched on in previous lessons because quite clearly the right to education is really, really important.

And we know that throughout the COVID-19 pandemic it's been really difficult for us here in the UK to be able to have full access to our right to an education.

And these newspaper headlines on the screen at the moment show the exams have been cancelled for year 11 and 13 and that those students returned to the classroom will be doing so in really very different environments to what we might be used to, with lots of social distancing and without those lovely things that we normally do in our schools, like often playing quite closely with our friends, sharing our lunches or doing group work that so many of us love in our lessons.

But when we think about some of these issues in the United Kingdom and the fact that we haven't been able to get access to our right to an education in lots and lots of different ways, despite wonderful things like the Oak lessons that you're using at the moment, actually we know that many people around the world have had that education disrupted even regardless of the pandemic that's been happening.

And many millions of people don't have access to an education.

Last lesson, we had a guest join us to tell us about the right to an education around the world.

And that's because in citizenship lessons we like to use real sources of information and evidence as we explore really complex issues in the world.

And sometimes that includes inviting an expert into the classroom.

And last lesson, we invited Katie to come and talk to us.

Now, Katie is a UK trained social worker who's been working with children and families involved in the conflict in north-east Nigeria.

Now you can look back at that interview with Katie by going back to our last lesson.

But Katie told us that many children around the world and particularly in north-east Nigeria miss out on school often because their schools are targeted because of conflict.

And even when that conflict doesn't mean that their schools are targeted, then it's expensive to go to school and many families can't afford it.

We also heard that it was even more difficult for girls to go to school because the education that they need was often not prioritised by their families because unlike in Britain, education is often something that people have to pay for in different parts of the world.

Now, when we think about the situation in north-east Nigeria, it's really awful in lots of different ways for young people in terms of getting their right to an education.

And we really could be forgiven for asking ourselves a question like this that's on the screen at the moment from another year seven student.

And this year seven students says, "Yes, life is difficult for many people "around the world, "but what can I really do about it?" So let's find out about one young person who did something about people's right to an education.

Now, the picture in front of you on the screen is of Malala Yousafzai.

And she is someone who many of you might well know about already.

And this is a picture of Malala, actually she was at the United Nations, which gives us a little bit of a hint about just how successful her campaigning has been over the years.

And to introduce Malala and a story, which will hopefully give us some inspiration about our own ability to make our own voice heard, I'm going to play you a short clip from BBC News.

And after it, I'm going to ask that you do a little task to recap on what you have just watched.

Thank you very much for watching that clip so intently and learning more about Malala and her life.

Now I'd like you to add a little bit of a task based upon what we have just watched there from the BBC.

And remember you can go back over that video clip and watch it again if you want to look through it a second time as well.

Now, the task in front of you will involve you trying to select the correct missing words to complete the sentences.

Now, using the clip that we've just watched obviously to guide you, you've got eight words and eight gaps to fill.

Now, to do this, you're going to have to grab yourself a sheet of paper, a pen, and pause our lesson in a second to see if you can work out the missing words.

I put this full screen so that you can look even more intently into it now.

Let's have a go at the task.

So well done for having a go at that task.

Now, what I'm going to do is I am going to put some answers in the form of a little bit of feedback on the screen so you can see if you got it right.

I'm also going to read through the whole passage together with you.

Now, it tells us this, doesn't it? It says: After an attack that nearly killed her, Malala and her family moved to Birmingham.

She first spoke out for girls right to go to school when she was 11 in Pakistan.

Her home came onto the brutal rule of the Taliban who wanted to stop girls from going to school.

Today Malala has become the face of millions of out of school children across the world.

And I'll just make that bigger on the screen so that you can you can have a quick look at it now to check your answers.

So we've learned that Malala is someone who has been campaigning for her right to an education, since she was about your age really, when she was 11.

A journey has taken her right across the world quite literally.

She's met world leaders and she's been and even spoke at the United Nations.

But in fact, Malala continues to speak out and she continues to speak out about education.

And more recently, she has spoken out about COVID-19 and girls education.

And she's done that as part of a foundation that she set up to try and highlight some of these issues to world leaders and decision-makers around the world.

Now Malala said this.

She said that "In a crisis like COVID-19, "girls and your women are "the first to be removed from school "and the last to return.

"But educated young women are also critical "to public health and economic recovery.

"Malala Fund is calling on governments "to start planning now to ensure "that all girls are able to return to school "when the crisis has passed." So Malala is really concerned about the impact of COVID-19 on education.

She's someone who from a very young age has used what we call citizenship skills in order to make her voice heard and to feel empowered to have her voice heard.

But what do we really mean by this phrase, taking citizenship action? Now, in citizenship, it's important for children, for young people to be able to learn and experience the process of taking what we would say is democratic action, just like Malala did as well.

And in explaining this particular aspect of citizenship for us today and going through it, I'm going to show you this rather impressive home tool box or toolkit, which might well be something that you have in your garage or your shed if you're fortunate enough to have a little bit of outdoor space during this time.

Now, the picture is here because it's important to say that citizenship as a subject gives us the tools and the skills to make our voice heard.

Now, there are three important things to know about taking citizenship action.

And they're shown here on the screen.

I'll just make it a little bit bigger so that you can get an even closer look at this now.

Now, those three important things to know about taking citizenship action are number one, and the first one is that active citizenship involves people acting together or individually to achieve a change or a benefit in society.

It's about making a difference in society.

The second important thing, number two, is that active citizenship can be big, like Malala has been talking about and achieving, or it can be small as well, which is still very important.

And the third thing, number three, is that active citizenship is an important part of a democratic society, a very important part of living in a democratic society.

Now, a different way of looking at this is the active citizenship learning cycle from the Association of Citizenship Teaching.

Now, don't wait too much if you're struggling to read each individual step, but what this really means is that there are three big stages to any citizenship action.

There's the planning stage where you choose an issue and consider how you will know if you've been successful.

There is the taking action stage where you put that plan into action.

And then lastly, there's the measuring impact stage where you reflect back on the success that you've had in your action.

And I've seen students plan and take action on a whole host of exciting campaigns over the years in some of my classes.

Some have been really local ones like citizenship actions at school, which might be seeking to persuade school governors to fund improvements to outdoor seating and playgrounds.

And to more complex actions that have been trying to persuade people to buy fair trade clothes and to ask the government and clothes retailers to do all that they can to improve the conditions of workers in less economically developed countries, like Bangladesh for example.

Now, citizenship actions can be both small or large, and I'm going to run you through a few ideas for possible actions that we can, that you might choose to use as part of our lesson today.

Now, the first stage of the projects that we've talked about involves planning and I'm going to run you through what you could do in terms of how you could start planning a particular action.

I'm going to introduce you to an individual, and the individual that I'm going to introduce you to is someone called Zac.

Now let's find out about him and see whether his story can help give us any inspiration for planning an active citizenship action.

Now, Zac is a year seven student at Everytown Academy.

Since the start of the pandemic he's been at home with his two sisters and parents.

Like many families, they don't have much space at home, but Zac uses the kitchen table to take part in Oak lessons and tries to do some of the distance learning set by his school.

His family has one laptop and the broadband connection is very slow, which is frustrating.

Now that everyone is at home, the family gas and electricity bills have skyrocketed, that is, increased, which is a problem as his mum is worried that she may soon be made redundant at work.

Now redundant means that you wouldn't necessarily have a job, which would obviously be an issue financially for Zac's particular family.

So having run through Zac's story I'm now going to ask that you think back to it and that you use it to help you spot potential citizenship action opportunities.

Now, this is a task that I'd like you to do but before you do this, I'm going to run you through my own worked example and show you how I would complete the task.

Now, I would complete the task by doing this.

So in the example, the first column asks you to think about what the issue is.

So what is the issue? Now, looking back to Zac's story, he said that like I guess many families, that they only have one laptop.

So that's really an issue or a problem.

And I'm going to focus on that as part of my active citizenship project.

Because not having a laptop might make it difficult for Zac to access home learning and could put him at a real disadvantage to his peers.

Now, the second column asks us to consider what can we do to help? Now, I put down that because his parents can't necessarily afford to purchase more laptops for his family, some people might argue that the school could supply Zac with his own laptop.

Now, the problem here clearly is that the school would need extra funding in order to do that.

So extra financial support from the government would really be required in order to make this happen for Zac, for other people just like Zac.

The third and final column asks us to consider who could help to make this a reality? Now here, it's asking us to consider who your active citizenship campaign should be best targeted at to gain the best support.

And I've listed the head teacher, and the head teacher be really important because this is a school project, isn't it, about schools providing laptops.

It might also be the local councillor, who might be able to offer support in this city or town or county council.

Or it might even be a government minister, who leads a particular government department like the department for education.

And that person, the government minister, will be responsible for decisions about funding for schools.

So it would be really, really important here.

So let's go back to the actual task.

Let's go back to the actual task and see if you can choose another issue or problem from Zac's story.

Now, do feel free to pause or go back to the particular part of the lesson, where we were talking about Zac and his particular situation.

Now remember, of course that you can use that for inspiration to help you carry out this particular task.

So well done for giving that task a go and thank you for looking really deeply about how you could plan an active citizenship project.

Now, what I'm going to do is introduce an exciting global campaign that focuses on children's rights to education that you might wish to get involved with after taking part in our lesson today.

Now, the example that I'm going to share with you is of a campaign called Send My Friend To School.

We know that most children will return to class once the COVID-19 pandemic is over, but 258 million children around the world do not go to school at all.

Now, Send My Friend To School is a global campaign that calls for children around the globe to have equal access to a good quality education.

Now, this year their campaign focuses on how the climate emergency has impacted children's rights to an education and what can be done about that.

And it's a really interesting case study for us to be looking at today.

Now, the focus or the target of this campaign are decision-makers.

And because it's a big global issue and relates to the UK government's funding to support other countries and how it encourages child rights around the globe, its focus really is on persuading Members of Parliament or MPs for short.

Now the picture that you see in front of you, and I'll make it full screen so that you can see, really is from the House of Commons.

The House of Commons is one part of the House of Parliament where laws are made in the UK and where each week the government gets scrutinised on the promises they make.

Now, the scene that you see here is just one of those occasions and was taken, well, I guess it was taken well before social distancing arrangements were put in.

Now it's Prime Minister's question time here and the chamber, the room where it happens is jam packed.

And that's where questions can get asked to the Prime Minister, who currently is Boris Johnson.

So this campaign hopes to influence Members of Parliament and there are 650 of these Members of Parliament right up across the country and you have your own Member of Parliament, your own MP, in your constituency.

Now, to go into a little bit more detail about this campaign, this the citizenship action that you could choose to get involved with, Send My Friend To School, I'm just going to run you through three different steps of how you can choose to get involved with it.

Now, all of them have a supporting template and guides attached to this lesson as a particular worksheet.

Now, step one is that you read the case studies of children from around the world for inspiration.

Now, step two is that you make your paper hearts, and I'll talk to you about what this means in a second, but either printing out the worksheet or maybe just drawing your own.

Step three is to select a barrier to education and a solution to overcoming it.

Or you could write your own based upon our lesson today.

And step four is to send off your heart or message to your Member of Parliament.

And we'll run you through, I'll run you through how you do that in a second.

So let me take you through all of those steps in case you do want to get involved in this really interesting campaign.

Now, step one involves reading one of the case studies of children from around the world for inspiration.

Now, the case study that I've attached to this lesson as part of our worksheet that you can use is Jess from Malawi.

Now don't worry if you can't read the words in front of you, it is part of the worksheet.

Now remember also that we've learned about many examples of children who might be struggling to get the right to an education today by learning Malala's story and the work we've done last lesson on the right to an education in north-east Nigeria.

Well, that's step one.

Step two is a little bit different.

Now, once you've done step one, you're ready for the next step, for step two.

This is where you make your own paper heart by either printing out the worksheet or drawing your own.

Basically, this is a letter that you could send off to your MP, your Member of Parliament.

And you could also send it off as an email if you want to cut down on postage costs or maybe because leaving the house at the moment might be difficult for you or your family.

The third step, step three, involves you selecting a barrier to an education and a solution to overcoming it.

Send My Friend To School this year is focusing on the problem of the climate emergency and education, but you could choose to tell your MP about a problem that you found out about as part of our lesson today and you can ask her or him for help.

It's entirely up to you.

Here you can see that Send My Friend To School have given you lots of potential climate emergency thing problems and solutions, and you can use their resource, which is attached as a worksheet to this lesson, and you can match it up with a solution that's also is part of the worksheet to help explain even more clearly to your MP, because speaking really, really clearly to decision-makers will really, really help you to persuade them even more.

Now, the last stage involves sending off your letter to your MP.

Now here, I'm going to stop a little bit and I'm going to explain that while Send My Friend To School as a campaign targets Members of Parliament as decision-makers, as key decision-makers and people who they're trying to influence, well the types of citizenship actions might focus on influencing other people.

For example, if the issue or problem that you're working on was local, then you might choose either maybe your school council.

You might choose your school's head teacher.

You might choose the school governors or local councillors.

You might choose the police and crime commissioner.

You might choose a Member of Parliament nationally if your issue was kind of a national focus.

You might again choose your Member of Parliament.

You might choose a government minister who is either an MP or a Member of the House of Lords, who is in charge of setting the direction of a government department and running the country, so to speak.

It was an international issue.

Again, you could choose to get in touch with your Member of Parliament and you could choose to get in touch with a government minister.

So that gives you a bit of an idea of who you could choose to contact if you are trying to influence people beyond the Send My Friend To School campaign.

Now taking you back to the Send My Friend To School campaign, step four, if you choose to take part, would be to send a heart letter or I guess an email to your particular Member of Parliament.

Now what you'll see and I've just made it a little bit bigger on your screen at the moment, is that if you want to, if you want to, you could choose to use this excellent online tool to send a message to your Member of Parliament free of charge.

And it also helps you find out who your Member of Parliament actually is, who your MP is.

And the bonus of this is it also helps you find out who your local councillors are, which might really be appropriate if your issue in your local town or city or county is really kind of a local thing.

So it's specifically about the area where you live rather than kind of nationally, regionally or internationally.

And what you need to do is you need to enter your postcode and then you'll be directed to your local MP so that you can contact them right from that page.

It's really a great online tool that helps you to get your voice heard in lots and lots of different ways.

Now, I do hope that you have enjoyed our lesson today.

We've covered lots and lots of different things.

Now, what we did was we started out by focusing on our question and our question for today is, what can I do as a citizen to help protect the rights of others? Now, in order to do that, we focused in on the Convention of the Rights of the Child.

Then we looked at the implication for education of COVID-19 and we recapped, so what we've done in previous lessons on the right to an education in north-east Nigeria, but then focused in on Malala and her story as well as looking at what education was like in the UK at the moment with COVID-19.

We then used that and particularly the inspiration from Malala to then start thinking about what taking citizenship action actually involves.

And then we introduced a variety of different kind of things that you could choose to get involved in.

And I used a case study of the Send My Friend To School campaign that you might choose to get involved with.

Now, it's been a pleasure to have you as part of our lesson today, and thank you very, very much for taking part.

Thank you very much.

Buh-bye.