Lesson video

Hello and welcome to our lesson today.

My name is Mr. Miskell.

And I'll be your citizenship teacher for today's lesson.

Now today's lesson is part of a wider unit of work.

And that wider unit of work is on the issue of how does local democracy work.

And it's lesson than three of six within that unit and it looks at what is the role of a local councillor and that's what we're going to be focusing in on today.

Now before we get started with our learning together, I need to make sure that you've got a few things sorted.

Firstly, you need to make sure that you've got pen or pencil by your side and that you've got a piece of paper so that you can take notes but also you can participate in the tasks that we're going to be doing together.

Something else really important is that you need to make sure that you're in a quiet space so that you can take part in our learning together without any interruptions whatsoever.

Now once you've got all those things sorted, you can start our lesson.

Now, if you've not got those things sorted you can pause our lesson now and you can be started in a short while.

So let's get going with our learning today.

Now we are today looking at local councillors.

And the first thing that we're going to do together is we're going to define the role of a local councillor.

So what is their job? Now these people are elected representatives, elected means they have to win an election and be the representative of individuals in a local area.

We going to meet a local Councillor, someone called Councillor Sophie and you're going to get an opportunity to listen to me as your teacher interview counsellor Sophie, and then participate in a task about that interview.

We're then get a look about a day in the life of a local Councillor.

We're going to look at a blog from Councillor Sophie.

We are going to try and think about what she is doing on a day to day basis.

And how that links to the role of the local councillor.

And that's going to lead us into question, who would be your ideal local councillor? And by that I mean, what kind of skills and qualities would your ideal local councillor have? And that really links back to the local councillor.

Now the last thing that we're going to do together is we're going to try and avoid any confusion between the differences between local councillors and a set of people who also do things in the local council called council officers as well.

So there's a number of things that we're going to be doing as part of our lesson today.

And let's get going with our learning.

So the first thing that we said that we were going to do together was that we were going to look at what we meant by the role of a local councillor.

Now local councillors play a vital role in their community.

And their role involves doing these four different things.

Now I'm going to make this full screen so that you can zoom in on the text much more closely.

You may also want to pause our lesson and after I've introduced each bullet point.

So you can join the role of local councillors because it'd be really important, it's the tasks that we're going to be doing later when we interview a local councillor, councillor Sophie.

So the role of local councillors involves representing an area.

A councillors primary role is to represent that area, ward and people who live within it.

Providing community leadership of their area.

They develop a vision to improve their ward for residents.

Developing council policies.

Helping the council to create services that better serve the needs of residents.

Taking part in planning and licencing decisions.

Councils are regulators, for example issuing planning permission for new buildings and licences from restaurants and taxis.

Now there's something that I've got to make absolutely clear here.

One of the words is a bit difficult and it's about a regulator.

What we mean by the regulator is a group of people that looks over an organisation to make sure that it's doing its job properly.

So in education in schools, our regulator is off study isn't, but the regulator for kind of pubs and restaurants to make sure that they are doing the right thing and making sure that the food is healthy that they serve and they're not serving under age people alcohol for example.

Those staff regulator is the local council, also with taxes as well.

Now there are also a number of different words that we need to make sure that we clarify.

And those words are part of our glossary at the end of this lesson.

But let's go over one or two of them now.

Now, the first one is about a ward.

And what we mean by a ward is a smaller part of a country, city, a town that elects a councillor or a set of councillors.

And the other one that you might be a little bit confused about policies.

And what we mean by policies are courses of actions or goals that people plan to carry out or are in the process of carrying out.

Now you can fast forward a lesson at any point and look at the glossary at the end of our lesson that we were going to go over if you are confused on any of the words that we're using today.

Now Looking at that will help us in our task.

So task one is about the role of a Local Councillor and I want you to use the information provided to write a short paragraph outlining the role of a Local Councillor.

So your job now is to pause our lesson and to have a goal of writing a short paragraph that explains, that outlines the role of a local Councillor.

Good luck.

So well done for doing that task there.

We're really thinking quite deeply about the role of a local Councillor in an area.

And this is an example of a piece of work that students in my class have done in the past.

Using the information about the role of a local Councillor you may want to use this to add to your task and to make it even better as well.

So let's read through it together.

Local councils play an important role, they represent an area which means that they speak up for residents in their ward.

As part of this, councillors also provide community leadership for the area, often developing a vision for improving the ward.

As part of the whole Council, they also helped to develop policies with a view to creating services to serve the needs of veterans.

The final role involves councillors taking part in committee meetings that decide on planning permission for new buildings, licencing of restaurants and taxis as well.

Now, I'll make this full screen so that you can pause our lesson now if you want to use this to make your answer even better as well.

So thank you very much for participating in that task there.

Now we're moving on to an exciting and interesting part of our lesson.

And I want to introduce you to councillor Sophie Wilson.

Now councillor Sophie Wilson, is a councillor in Sheffield.

She was first elected in 2017 while she was studying for her degree in English Literature at university.

So she's a local counsellor that we're going to bring into our lesson in a short while.

But before we do that, I would to like you to look out for when we bring Councillor Sophie into our lesson.

And the first thing I'd like you to look out for, question one is this.

Why did you decide to stand for election and become a local Councillor? So we're really thinking that about what the reasons that Sophie gives us about why she decided that she wanted to become a local Councillor.

Why she decided to stand for office.

Question two that I'd like you to look out for and make some notes on is what do you enjoy the most about being a local councillor? Question three is why are councillors important in their community? So what does Sophie say about why councillors are important in their communities? Now, all of these questions are attached as part of the worksheet for this lesson.

So that may help you as well.

But what I will do is I will make this full screen out before I introduce councillor Sophie.

And you can copy down these questions and that will help you answer them when you're watching interview with councillor Sophie.

Hello Sophie and thanks so much for joining us in our lesson today.

It's lovely to have you here.

Hi, Mr. Miskell.

Thank you for inviting me.

It's lovely to see you.

And Sophie we are really interested in your role as a Local Councillor and we've got some questions for you that our students are going to be really interested in finding out.

And can I ask you, why did you decide to stand for election and become a local Councillor Sophie? Well, at the time I was already an activist, I was already very into politics.

I was looking what my own local councillors were up to in the town hall, that's where councillors congregate and make decisions.

And I was following their decision some I thought were really great.

Some I thought were really bad.

And I just didn't really see myself represented.

I mean young, working class young woman, grew up in relative poverty and didn't see people like myself involved in the counselling involved in that decision making process.

And I thought actually, people like me are really under represented and I should go for this and I should actually see if I can have a say in these decisions and see if they would work for people like my team.

There was a by-election.

So that's when one councillor and that team unexpectedly comes to an end due to, they just leave or death.

And so we had a by-election in my local area.

So I gave it some serious thought.

I thought about what a councillor is.

And I thought actually, I quite like to do that.

And I went for it and I won the election and I've never looked back since.

Well, congratulations Sophie, and what you enjoy, obviously really enthusiastic about being a councillor? What we enjoy the most about being a local councillor? Quite a good question there, I definitely say that variety of work and having a purpose in my work, it's really great to wake up.

And yeah, a lot of it is hard work but you're actually making a meaningful difference.

And it's a real privilege to represent my community, to represent people I grew up with, people I've known all my life that is really, really great feeling.

But yeah, definitely the variety one day I could be helping out in a food bank or another local charity and the next I will be in full Council, which is where all councillors meet every month to make the decisions for that month and pass motions, give speeches and take important votes.

So it's really different day to day and that's probably what I enjoy the most.

And Sophie last question, why councillors are so important in their local communities? And that's quite a tricky one, I'd say.

And I'd say we're probably the first point of call as well as the last point of call for many out there struggling.

So we serve the community and no one else.

Whereas a lot of people, people go to for complaints and to get an issue sorted or to get a question answered.

They might be working for a company or have an no that agenda.

So local councillors solely serve their community.

They are there to represent them and help them.

We cover small areas.

So people in our community might know as really well.

So like I said earlier, I'm representing lots of the people I grew up with people I've known all my life.

And people I know really, really well and feel comfortable coming to me with really personal issues.

And the other point is we're always on the community side.

Yes, there might be two warring opinions in a community and it's our job to weigh that up.

And think, who I'm I going to support in this dispute? But at the end of the day, we are on the people side and nobody else.

And we were the people that can really get things done for them, make a difference, make those inquiries, sort out the problems. And yeah, so we're often the first point and the last point of call for people who are really in a pickle and just need someone to help them out.

Well, thank you so much Sophie.

And I've certainly learnt an awful lot from listening to you now.

I'm sure that our students have as well.

So thank you very much and thank you so much for joining our lesson today.

Thank you so much for attaching me, I have enjoyed it.

Thank you.

Thank you council, bye-bye.

See you later, bye.

So I hope you really enjoyed listening and taking part in that interview with councillor Sophie that I asked you to look out for three different questions that we were going to ask councillor Sophie what she was going to say about all those questions.

Now you no doubt, I've got some amazing answers but just to make sure that you've got everything down.

I'm going to run you through watch that.

Now feel free to ask to your answers, your notes about this because actually that will make them even stronger as well.

So question one, we asked Sophie, why did you decide to stand for election and become a local councillor? Now councillor Sophie said she was very interested in politics.

She said that she didn't see herself represented as a young working class woman and that she wanted to change that.

She said that she wanted to see people like her represented as local councillors.

Question two, she was asked and we asked her, do you enjoy the most about being a councillor and she said, it's a bit of a tongue twister that isn't there and that the vibrancy of work was something that she enjoyed.

She said that she enjoys having a purpose in a meaningful difference.

So she also said that one day she can be helping at her local food bank or making the speech at full Council.

So her job was quite valid.

Question three, we asked her why are councillors important in their communities.

And she told us the councillors are the first point and the last point of call.

And she said that councillors cover small areas.

And she said that people often feel comfortable coming to her.

And she also said that they were on the side of the community as well.

So councillor Sophie really did wellness through her role as a local Councillor, that quite a lot of detail.

Now what I'll do is I'll make this full screen so that you can pause the class now and you can use this to add to your notes to make them even better as well.

And I hope you enjoyed taking part in that interview with councillor Sophie.

Now, I'd like us to use the information that we've learned about the role of a councillor from task one, but also interview with Sophie a short while ago and I would like us to lead together this block from councillor Sophie.

And that's going to help us with the next task, an awful lot.

So this is a day in the life of a local councillor and it's councillor Sophie's blog and it goes over two pages.

Now she said, I wake up in the morning and check the media to see what local and national news stories are impacting people in my ward before I set off to work, I reply to a call from the local radio station, asking for my view on how the council is dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic.

My job involves me working in an office but on my way in, I noticed a pothole in the road.

After parking up, I report this to the council's cabinet member to get it fixed.

The most of the day I work, but my lunch break I use the phone to check emails and reply to messages from my constituents.

One resident in my ward is upset about a new housing development nearby.

I promise to look into it for him.

At 5 pm, I made the journey over to the town hall, I sit on the Children and Young People Scrutiny Committee, which covers education.

This means that I look into decisions made by the council that impact young people.

We quiz people about these and can vote to stop them taking effect if we disagree with them.

Now before we do the next task based upon this blog, now there are probably a few words that I should clarify.

Now these words are parts of the glossary that we'll go over in a short while and at the end of the lesson but one of those words that I'd like us to clarify is about a constituent and we mean when we talk about constituent a resident in an area that lacks a councillor.

Another word that might need clarifying is Committee.

Now a committee is a group of people, like councillors who get together and make decisions and look into an issue.

Now that was Councillor Sophie's blog and I'd like us to use Councillor Sophie's blog to do task two.

And task two is a day in the life of a local Councillor.

I would like you to choose two roles of a local councillor that you wrote about in task one and give examples of each from councillors Sophie's blog.

So your job here will be to think back to task one where we looked at the roles of a local councillor, choose just two of them.

And once you've chosen two of them, I'd like you to give examples of each of those from councillor Sophie's blog.

So good luck with this task.

Now well done for really really trying hard with that particular task there and linking our learning from earlier on in the lesson with councillor Sophie's blog.

Now you no doubt could have come up with some different answers.

And these means that I'm going to feed back to you with the students often give me in my classes and you may want to check your answers even better by adding these in as well that will make it even stronger.

Now two of the roles of a local councillor are highlighted in councillor Sophie's block and these are the ones that I've chosen.

Representing an area, she said one resident in my ward is upset about a new housing development nearby.

I promised to look into it for him.

That's representing an area representing her constituents.

Developing council policies, and the example here from Councillor Sophie's blog is I sit on the Children and Young People Scrutiny Committee, which covers education.

This means that I look at decisions made by the Council that impact young people.

Now remember, that's where the policies is a difficult one.

It's covered in our glossary, we mean causes of action or goals that people plan to carry out or are in the process of carrying out as well.

I'll make this much bigger now so that you can pause our lesson and you can add to your answer to make it even stronger.

Now we've looked at councilllor Sophie blog and we've looked at the role of local councillors and I'd like you to use that information as part of task three, to really consider your ideal Local Councillor, so my ideal Local Councillor.

Now I'd like you to create your own ideal gingerbread Local Councillor.

Based upon your learning today, write down five skills and qualities that you would like to see in your Ideal Local Councillor.

Thinking about this may help you in considering who to vote for when you can legally vote in a local council election at the age of 18.

Now, if I was doing this, I'm not amazing at drawing.

So I would just try my best to draw a gingerbread person, but your job will be to draw an amazing gingerbread person and within that gingerbread person, you would try to put the different skills and qualities.

You find five different skills and qualities that you would have in your ideal Local Councillor.

Now, if you do want a template for this particular task of a gingerbread person, then you can look at the worksheet that is attached to this lesson, which may help you as well.

So good luck with this activity.

So there are a large number of potential skills and qualities that you could put down as being part of your ideal Local Council.

But our students who are gingerbread person for me and my lessons, normally give me the sorts of answers.

Now they say, well actually we'd quite like Mr. Miskell, a councillor that is hard working.

We want one that speaks up for the community.

One that's honest, someone that cares about the most vulnerable and by vulnerable we mean people who might need special attention because perhaps they have got some sort of issue which makes them need more care and attention.

And has a vision for the area.

And it has local links and knows about the issues that residents face as well.

Now no doubt you've got some amazing ideas and that I've just made this full screen so that you can take the opportunity to add these in if you feel strongly about these things, being part of your ideal Local Council as well.

That may make your gingerbread person even stronger if you want to add them as well.

So in thinking about local councillors and then thinking about their role and what your ideal Local Councillor would be, we've kind of got to understand that local councillors are people who are elected, they're elected by their constituents, people in their area, and they elect the people within a ward.

And they're very different to people who are called council officers.

Now I want to introduce you to someone called Fred who that picture is up on the screen.

And it says My name is Fred and I'm a Council Officer.

My job is to implement and that means to put in place political decisions made by local councillors.

I'm not elected and I'm there to advise coucillors.

There are council officers that are specialists on lots of different topics, but I'm an expert in planning.

This means I help councillors make decisions on whether new housing developments should be allowed.

Now, this is Fred and here he is a Council Officer.

Now, just to be clarifying this and the difference between local councillors and council officers, there's a table here that will help you out with that.

Now just to go over local councillors, their role is that they are elected by people in their Ward to represent them.

Now most councillors are members of political parties and the decisions they take are put in place by council officers.

In terms of the pay, local councillors do not get paid a wage.

They get in small allowance for carrying out their duties and they usually have another job or perhaps they're retired.

Accountability, and what we mean by that is who kind of looked over them so to speak, so like in a school, a main school, a normal teacher, the accountability will be the head teacher.

So the head teacher could kind of fire a teacher.

If a teacher was doing something that they shouldn't be doing for example, now, accountability here for local councillors is to the electorate.

An electorate is a fancy way of saying voters who can get rid of them at the next election.

And now comparing that to council officers in terms of their goal, their job is to implement that means put in place the political decisions made by councillors.

They are not elected and they're to advise councillors.

Often they are experts on certain services that the council bonds.

Now it's important that they are impartial.

Now impartial is a difficult word.

What we mean by impartial is we mean that they don't translate to one political party or another.

They're meant to kind of just give advice and it'd be impartial.

And it not be translated by one political party or another one side or the other.

In terms of pay, they are paid staff members, they get a salary.

And in terms of their accountability, it's not to the elector, the voters like local councillors, it's to the chief executive who is the most senior Council Officer.

Now I'll make this much bigger because you may want to jot down some notes here to help you with the next task that we're going to do together.

So if you want to do that, now's the time to pause our lesson.

So that leads us to using this information that we've got about local councillors and the difference between local councillors and council officers to advise like now in previous lessons, Zac has made an appearance and the reason that we use Zac is that we try and use him to explain why learning this information is actually relevant.

Why do we learn about the role of local councillors? Why is it Why is it actually important in the real world? Now Zac and his friends are due to attend a council meeting to give their view about a skate park that is planned in their ward.

Zac turns up to the meeting, but is confused about the different people sat around the table.

Your job in task four is to write a short text message to Zac explaining the difference between local councillors and council officers who are both attending the meeting.

So this will help him make an even better case, a battle escape part that is planned in his ward.

Remember, a text message is meant not to be really long, it's meant to be quite short as well.

So good luck with this particular task.

Now you no doubt have come up with and the sorts of answers that students often give me in my lessons.

Like the ones on the screen at the moment.

And this text message says, "Hi Zac, councillors are elected representatives.

"They make decisions, but are advised by council officers, "who are the experts.

"Council officers run services on a day to day basis.

"Good look today.

"Ben." Which is mine name.

So well done there for having a goal with that particular task there.

Now what you need to make sure that you do is that you use the information in our feedback that's now full screen there to make your answer even better if you are particularly struggling with that task there.

Now, today's lesson has been quite valid.

We've looked at the role of local councillors and that has taken us to interview a local councillor who was Councillor Sophie.

We've then looked at a blog that Councillor Sophie vote which involves a day in the life of a local Councillor.

And that information was then used to create a gingerbread person of your ideal Local Councillor.

And then we thought very much about what is the difference between local councillors and council officers.

And you provided some advice to Zac, who was in a meeting where a decision would be made about a local skate park in his area, and which made it much more real and kind of explained a little bit more about why we're actually learning this information.

So I hope you have enjoyed our lesson today.

Now, throughout our lesson, I have been referring to a glossary.

And these glossary words are quite important.

I'll just cover them.

And a constituent is a resident in an area that elects a councillor.

And committee is a group of people like councillors who get together and make decisions or look into an issue.

A Ward is a smaller part of a country, a city or town that elects councillor or set of councillors.

Policies are courses of actions or goals that people plan to carry out or are in the process of carrying out.

Planning and licencing is the committee in the council that awards planning permission for new buildings or licences to operate taxi services.

And so that is an elected individual who represents constituents in a ward.

A Council Officer is an unelected expert who advises councillors.

And allowance is this small amount of money given to local councillors to carry out their particular role.

Now, today's lesson has involved a variety of different tasks and you may want to share your work with Oak National.

Now if you would like to, please ask your parent or carer, to share your work on Twitter tagging @OakNational and using the #LearnwithOak.

Now the materials in today's lesson have been provided from the Association for Citizenship Teaching.

Now I do hope that you've enjoyed your lesson.

I've certainly enjoyed being your citizenship teacher today.

Now this is just a quick reminder to please make sure that you complete the exit quiz now.

It's been a joy to be your citizenship teacher and I hope you have a great day.

Bye-bye.