Lesson video

Hi, I'm Mrs. Allchin, and I'm going to be taking you through this citizenship lesson today.

I'm going to give you all the information that you need to be successful, and I'm also going to pause and tell you when to complete a check for understanding or a task.

Hope you enjoy the lesson.

This lesson is called "How can I build my skills to become an active citizen?", and it's taken from the unit of work "How can I be a changemaker in my community?" By the end of this lesson, you'll be able to identify the skills needed for active citizenship and explain how these will help you.

Our keywords for today's lesson are: skills, which are the abilities or expertise gained through practise or experience to perform tasks effectively; active citizen, which is a person who actively takes responsibility, becomes involved in areas of public concern and tries to make a positive difference in their community; and changemaker, someone who wants change in the world and, by gathering knowledge and resources, makes that change happen.

Our lesson outline for today is first we're going to have a look at what skills does an active citizen have, and we're then going to look at, how will these skills help me? So we'll start by looking at, what skills does an active citizen have? So first of all, let's have a think, what is an active citizen and what does this have to do with being a changemaker? Pause while you have a think about that question.

Active citizens are changemakers because they are people who want to change the world for the better and take action and collaborate with others to try and make it happen.

Some people might want to do something to change a particular issue, but they do not.

Perhaps because they do not know how, they lack confidence, or they haven't got the time or the energy.

Whereas active citizens are literally active.

They're doing something about it.

They are actively doing something to make a positive change.

Let's have a quick check for understanding.

What are the missing words? Active citizens are changemakers because they are people who want to change the world for the something and take action and something with others to try and make it happen.

Active citizens are changemakers because they are people who want to change the world for the better and take action and collaborate with others to try and make it happen.

Anyone at any age can be a changemaker.

They just need to be passionate about an issue and have the skills needed to be successful.

So let's just imagine that Laura wants to persuade her school to switch to Fairtrade products as she's concerned about the rights of international farmers.

She would need to speak to a range of adults, research possibilities, work out costings, gather opinions, present facts, and persuade others.

There's a lot of things there that Laura would need to do.

So Laura is asking, "What skills would I need to do this effectively?" So just pause for a minute and just think or try and list as many skills as possible that you think Laura will need to be able to carry out this action.

So Laura would need a range of skills, and these include all of these.

I'm going to read these through so you've got a bit of an understanding of them.

So communication, critical thinking, analysis, evaluation, research, teamwork, confidence, resilience, creating reasoned arguments, decision-making, advocating for others' views, and also being persuasive.

So lots of different skills there, and hopefully you've got some of these on your list as well.

So Laura's asking, "Well, what do these skills look like in practise?" So if you like, pause and have a think about that by yourselves, and we're going to have a look at some of these during the lesson.

So to make a positive impact, you need a full understanding of the issue.

This means knowing the facts and understanding different viewpoints as well.

You'll need to explore existing sources like blogs, news articles, and interviews, and also gather your own data through tools like questionnaires.

Once collected, your research must be analysed carefully, and this involves critical thinking, considering what the evidence shows and how reliable it is.

A lot of active citizenship also involves communicating with others.

Changemakers need to gather public views and inform or persuade others about the issue that they're addressing.

So being able to talk to a range of different people is an important skill.

This requires strong communication skills, speaking clearly, confidently, and with passion.

You may need to address unfamiliar people or those in authority using persuasive language, facts, and reasoned arguments.

Let's have a check for understanding.

What does critical thinking involve? So critical thinking involves considering what the evidence shows and how reliable it is.

Active citizenship involves making decisions and forming arguments so that you can effectively tackle the issue that you are addressing.

You'll need to evaluate your actions and decisions throughout your project to ensure that you are effectively supporting those you aim to help.

This may mean making difficult choices or adjusting your plan to improve its impact.

Active citizenship also involves working with others.

Although some changemakers might have worked on their own to make a difference, at some point they still would have needed to collaborate with others at some point.

The majority of people carrying out active citizenship will do this as a member of a group.

So to do this, you'll need to have good team working skills, so to be able to work together as a team.

This means that you'll be able to listen, show adaptability, so change sometimes when change is needed and also carry out your individual responsibilities so the wider team can be successful.

So that's about understanding the importance of what you are doing and how that can impact your team as well.

Resilience during active citizenship is also very important.

Change does not happen overnight, and many changemakers need to keep going for months or even years to make a positive impact.

So in a way, resilience is a little bit like running a marathon.

You need to think about staying positive, being adaptable and working hard, because change doesn't happen straight away.

So let's have a check for understanding.

12 skills have been introduced to you and explored during this lesson.

How many of them can you remember? Pause and have a go.

So these were the 12 skills: communication, critical thinking, analysis, evaluation, research, teamwork, confidence, resilience, creating reasoned arguments, decision-making, advocating for others' views, and being persuasive.

For task A, I'd like you to think about each of the skills below.

I'd like you to score yourself out of five, with zero being poor and five being excellent, and provide a brief reason why.

So let's have a look at some of these skills in a bit more detail just so you could be really, really successful with this task.

So communicating, being able to talk to other people.

Critical thinking, being able to look at something really, really deeply and think whether or not something is true or false.

Analysis is what you do when you're critical thinking.

So if you are analysing something, you're looking really, really deeply.

Evaluating, so being able to judge if something was successful or not successful.

Research, that's looking into things further.

Teamwork, so working with your team together, being able to work successfully together.

Confidence, having confidence in yourself, perhaps a confidence to do something new or to speak to new people.

Resilience, about not giving up.

Creating reasoned arguments, so being able to use that research and give good arguments for or against something.

Decision-making, literally being able to make decisions and potentially make decisions sometimes quite quickly.

Advocating for others' views, so thinking about what other people might think, perhaps people that might be vulnerable or at risk and speaking on their behalf and sort of sharing their story.

And persuasive, so being able to persuade others to your way of thinking.

So for each of those skills, really think about yourself and score yourself out of five, providing a brief reason why.

Pause while you have a go at this task.

So an example is shown here.

Laura is saying, "Communication: three out of five.

I'm okay at talking to people, especially my friends, but I get nervous speaking in front of the whole class sometimes." You might want to pause at this task now and just have a look at your work so far and seeing if it compares to Laura's example.

If you need to, give yourself a few more minutes to complete this task.

So when scoring yourself out of five the skills looked at this lesson, you may have produced something like this.

Communication: three out of five.

I'm okay at talking to people, especially my friends, but I get nervous speaking in front of the whole class sometimes.

Critical thinking: four out of five.

I like solving problems and thinking about things in different ways, especially in science or maths.

Analysis: two out of five.

I find it hard to break down big bits of information, especially in English where we have to analyse texts.

Evaluation: two out of five.

I'm not that confident at judging whether something is good or not in schoolwork.

I usually just go with what the teacher says.

You may have continued with, research: three out of five.

I can find information online when I need to, but sometimes I don't know if what I found is actually useful or true.

Teamwork: five out of five.

I'm on a rugby team, so I work with others all the time.

I try to listen and play fair.

Confidence: three out of five.

Depends on the day really.

Sometimes I feel confident, especially if I know what I'm doing, but other times I overthink things.

Resilience: four out of five.

If I make a mistake, I usually try again.

I don't like quitting even when it's hard.

And you may have continued further with, creating reasoned arguments: three out of five.

I can give my opinion with reasons, but sometimes I don't explain it clearly enough.

Decision-making: two out of five.

I struggle to make choices quickly, especially if I think I might get it wrong.

Advocating for others' views: four out of five.

If someone's being left out or ignored, I try to speak up for them.

I think that's important.

Persuasive: three out of five.

I can sometimes convince people but only if I really believe in what I'm saying.

So that's just some examples of things that you might have said or how you might have scored yourself.

There isn't really a right or wrong with this task.

It's all about getting you to think about those skills that are really important to active citizenship and where your skillset lies.

So now that we've looked at what skills does an active citizen have, we're going to really start to consider how will these skills help me? So how will those skills really help you in your active citizenship to be successful? So Laura is saying, "Okay, so I now know what skills an active citizen has, but how will these actually help me to make my school a Fairtrade school?" So if you remember, Laura was concerned about the global rights of farmers and she really wanted her school to be a Fairtrade school, to have more Fairtrade products.

So now you understand these skills a little more and you've thought about these skills, pause and have a think, how would Laura be able to really use these skills to help her to be successful? Before we have a look at this in more detail, let's have a quick check for understanding about these skills that were just on the slide.

So Laura has said, "I've tried to write down all of the skills I will need for my active citizenship project, but I have forgotten three of them.

Can you work out what they are?" So quite a tricky check for understanding this one.

Have a look.

There are three missing.

Can anyone work out which three they are? So the ones that were missing were: evaluation, confidence, and decision-making.

Well done if you managed to get any of those.

So let's have a look then at the skills that Laura is going to need and how she's going to really use these skills to be successful.

So she's saying, "I guess I need to use research skills to find out as much as I can about the topic." And absolutely, that's really important.

So Laura could ask staff at school what they think about Fairtrade and how more Fairtrade products could be introduced in her school.

She could research Fairtrade schools to see how they did it and how similar ideas could work in her own school.

So if she was to use the internet or word of mouth to find out about schools that were really, really embracing Fairtrade products, she might be able to learn from those.

She could also collect facts and statistics on how Fairtrade supports farmers and use them to really help her to persuade others.

Laura's also saying, "Communication is going to be important too.

How can I ensure it goes well?" So what steps could Laura make to make sure that communication, that skill of communication, is really helping her to do well in her action and that it's going really well? Pause and have a think.

So Laura will probably speak to the school catering lead.

So planning her questions and taking notes will help her to make the most of the time.

It might be that she's only got 20 minutes or 30 minutes with this person, so she needs to make sure that she's not wasting that time, she's really planning and thinking about what she's going to say, and she'll need to be persuasive and she'll need to be ready for some tough questions.

So sometimes it's a really good idea to go into those meetings thinking, okay, what might they not like? What questions might they have for me? Because then you can start to plan that communication.

Her research will help her explain what other schools have done and guide a positive conversation about doing something similar.

She's now asking, "I want to make sure I am advocating for other people too.

How can I do this well?" So remember that skill of advocacy is speaking on behalf of others.

So in this case, perhaps speaking on behalf of literally the farmers who potentially aren't having their human rights met, but also other people that might be agreeable to Fairtrade.

So just pause and think, how can she do this well? So Laura could do this by sharing what she's learned about how Fairtrade helps farmers.

She's already speaking up for them by literally really driving home that positive message about Fairtrade and the impact it can have on others.

She can also represent her peers by using surveys or petitions to show that wider support.

This will strengthen her case and help her advocate for change in school.

Laura's also saying, "My friends Izzy and Sam are also going to help me.

How can I ensure we work well together?" And Sam and Izzy seem pretty up for it because they're saying, "Let's do this!" So pause and have a think.

How can Laura ensure that her team are working well together? Laura and her friends should think about their skills, their goals, and how much time that they can give.

Giving everyone a clear role will help them to work better, and they can also use teamwork and vote on decisions, and they should regularly check and update their plan as needed.

So now Laura is looking a little bit gutted, she looks a little bit sad, and she's saying, "Ugh, everything is taking ages, and I don't feel like we are getting anywhere." Can you remember what skill is it from that list of 12 skills that Laura is going to really need to dig deep and use if she's starting to feel like this? So Laura might be really starting to feel frustrated if progress is slow, but she needs to remember that change does take time and it's important to celebrate small wins too, like raising awareness, even if those big goals aren't being met quite yet.

Setting milestones can help us stay motivated and build the skill of resilience.

So being resilient is a skill that Laura is going to really need to draw upon if things are feeling slow.

And this might be a skill that you will need to draw upon as well if it feels as though your action isn't quite going to plan or it's taking a little bit longer than you first thought.

So Laura is now saying, "I now understand how my skills can help.

I'll start by researching Fairtrade suppliers and seeing which ones could work for our canteen.

Then I'll use my communication skills to explain my findings to the head teacher and catering staff.

I'd also work with others by starting a Fairtrade committee to lead the project together." "I know not everyone will agree at first, so I'll need to stay resilient and keep going through setbacks.

I'll use critical thinking to tackle challenges like cost or limited options and find realistic solutions.

I'm excited to get started on my active citizenship project." So Laura's really thought about what she wants to do and she's really considered how she can build on those skills and use those skills to help her be successful.

Let's have a check for understanding.

Unscramble these three skills that Laura will need to be successful, and then briefly explain how the skills will help.

So I'm not going to attempt to read these scrambled words because they're all in a complete muddle, but one, two, and three are different skills that have been all scrambled up.

So first you need to work out what they are and then you need to briefly explain how the skills will help.

So first of all, let's check and see did you manage to unscramble them? So we have got, one was research, two was communication, and three was resilience.

Then in terms of explaining how the skills will help her, you might have said something like this.

Research will help Laura find out important facts and figures that she can then use to persuade others.

Communication skills will support her with explaining her project clearly to others, including adults and people she might not know very well.

Resilience will motivate her to keep going even when progress seems slow.

For task B, I'd like you to choose three skills from the list below and explain in detail why they are important skills for active citizenship.

If you have started an active citizenship project, have ideas for a project, or have completed a project in the past, you can also explain how the three skills you have chosen have helped you.

And I've just listed the 12 there just to remind you.

So choose any three that you want to pick, and remember, this could be talking about an active citizenship project that you've started or even something that you've done in the past.

So really think about the three skills that you've chosen and how they have helped you.

So when explaining why your three chosen skills are important, you may have written something like this.

Critical thinking is key in active citizenship because it helps you look at issues from different sides.

At my youth club, we used it when raising awareness about girls' education in Afghanistan.

We avoided stereotypes and focused on real causes to encourage action.

It also helped us choose fundraising ideas that actually worked.

For another one, you might have gone on to say: research is vital.

You need to know your facts if you want people to take you seriously.

For our campaign on girls' education in Afghanistan, we used reliable sources to understand the issue and what charities were doing.

This helped us sound confident and gain support when speaking to others or running events.

And for your third, you might have gone on to say something like: teamwork is essential in any active citizenship project because you can't create big change alone.

In our youth club project, everyone used their strengths, from designing posters to organising events.

Working together meant we got more done, supported each other, and made the project more enjoyable.

I learned that sharing ideas and listening to others makes the work better and easier.

So in summary of the lesson "How can I build my skills to become an active citizen?", active citizens use key skills like communication, critical thinking, and teamwork to create change.

A changemaker needs confidence and resilience to lead, speak up, and stay motivated through setbacks.

Research and analysis help you understand issues deeply and support your actions with evidence.

Persuasion and reasoned arguments are vital for gaining support and influencing others.

And advocating for others ensures all voices are heard, especially those affected by the issue.

Well done for all of your hard work this lesson.

I hope that you enjoyed it and that you'll be back for some more citizenship lessons in the future.