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 We Achieve Our Goal? And it's taken from the unit of lessons, How Can I Be a Change Maker in My Community? By the end of this lesson, you'll be able to understand the methods that you can use to achieve your active citizenship goal.

Our keywords for today are goal, which is a desired result or outcome that a person or group aims to achieve.

Method, which is a way of doing something to help you complete your project or reach your goal.

And success, when you achieve what you planned or aim to do in your project.

Our lesson outline for How Can We Achieve Our Goal is, first, we're going to look at what makes goal achievable, and then we're going to consider what methods will help me achieve my goals.

So we're going to start by looking at what makes a goal achievable.

So Lucas is asking, "What does the word goal mean to you?" So pause and have a think about that.

A goal is a desired result or outcome that a person or group aims to achieve.

So, for example, for some people, that might be to learn a new language or win a football tournament.

They would both be examples of goals.

Goals are important within active citizenship because you are ultimately trying to change something about the issue that you have chosen, you are trying to make a positive impact.

What does the term changemaker mean? Pause and see if you can remember.

A changemaker is someone who learns what they need and takes action to make the world better.

Your goal is the change that you want to see, such as raising awareness, changing a rule, helping the group, raising money, or influencing opinions.

Considering what your goal is going to be is something you will need to consider at the start of your active citizenship project, during the get planning stage.

You will also refer back to your goal when evaluating your project during the measure impact stage.

So it's really important that you are really aware of this throughout.

Using SMART targets helps to break big goals into manageable steps and also increases the likelihood of meeting your goal.

SMART targets are specific.

Your goal should be clear and focused to your citizenship issue.

They're measurable.

You can track progress and will know if the goal has been achieved.

They're achievable.

The goal is realistic both in time, have you got enough time to do it, and also resources, like actual things that you've got to help you.

Relevant, the goal should align with citizenship concepts.

And time-bound, there is a deadline and action plan to meet this.

Making your goal specific, clear, and focused is useful in two main ways.

It informs others about your action and what it hopes to achieve.

For example, to back a cause, they will need to understand it, and having a specific goal help with this.

And it makes your success easier to measure, as you will have a specific goal to refer to.

Your goal should define the what, where, and why to both your team and to others.

So, for example, "We are going to gather a petition," so that's the what, "at school," that's the where, and, "because we want our senior leadership to reconsider the uniform policy," would be your why.

So it's really important that you have the clear what, where, and why to support your goal.

Let's have a check for understanding, true or false.

The goal, "We are going to improve human rights," is a specific goal.

Is that true? Is that false? And can you tell me why? And that's false.

And why? It's really vague.

It doesn't give any information about the what, the where, and why.

Improved human rights could mean anything, so that's not a specific goal.

Making your goal measurable is important.

This means you have something tangible to use to evaluate whether or not you have actually been successful.

Using numbers can really help to make your goal measurable.

You can also set time targets to track your progress during your citizenship project.

So, for example, it might be that you want to have a petition.

A petition to change the uniform policy can be made more measurable by setting a goal, like, for example, saying you want to get 500 signatures.

You could then also break that down week by week.

So, for example, you could say, "By the end of week one, we want to have 100 signatures.

By the end of week two, we want to have 200 signatures," et cetera.

So this will help it to be much more measurable because you'll ultimately be able to get to the near the end of week one.

And if you've got 80 or 90 odd signatures, you're on track to meet that target.

Whereas if you've only got 10, then you know that things are going a little bit wrong.

So having those number targets makes it more measurable and much more easier to keep an eye on.

Let's have a check for understanding.

Explain why Jun's goal is measurable.

As Jun is saying, "I want to raise awareness about the rising need for food banks.

I aim to communicate with 150 pupils and 50 members of staff.

I'm going to keep a weekly tally." So Jun has set a clear goal that's linked to numerical data.

By keeping a weekly tally, Jun will be able to identify whether he's on track to meet his goal.

An achievable goal is one that is realistic, considering the amount of time you have to complete your action and the resources available to you.

It's important to set realistic goals, for example, if school won't allow fundraising, like, non-uniform days, don't rely on that.

Also, changing the law takes years, but raising awareness or changing opinions about it is possible.

So just be really, really careful when you're thinking about what it is that you want to do.

Be really, really realistic, is that going to be achievable? Let's have a check for understanding, true or false.

The goal, "We are going to raise 500,000 pounds for a local charity," is achievable.

Is that true? Is that false? And why? And it's false.

Why? 500,000 pounds is a very, very, very large amount of money to raise, especially in a short amount of time.

This makes a goal highly unlikely to be achievable.

A relevant goal is one that links clearly to a citizenship topic.

It should also be something that others support as well.

And you can check this by asking people what they think about your issue to check actually is your goal one that's something that people are going to support, that people are going to believe in.

Make sure you think about relevance from the very start when choosing your issue, and always check this with your teacher.

Let's have a check for understanding.

Explain why Sofia's goal is relevant.

So Sofia was saying, "My local community centre is at risk of being closed down, and lots of local people are concerned about this.

I'm going to lobby decision-makers and raise awareness of this issue within my school community.

So, hopefully, they will support the issue too." So explain why Sofia's goal is relevant.

The issue is relevant to others, as there are concerns the community being voiced.

The issue also links to citizenship, as it is to do with local services and involves lobbying decision-makers.

Having a goal that is time-bound is useful in many ways.

Firstly, it sets a final deadline.

This is a point at which your citizenship action should all be completed and evaluated.

By having this end date in mind, you are then able to create an action plan that will break down tasks week by week, or even day by day, to ensure that that deadline is achievable.

Action plans leading up to an agreed deadline are used within all types of organisations and businesses for good reason.

They really help to keep people focused, and they provide a clear pathway through the tasks at hand.

So deadlines are something that are used outside of citizenship as well.

They're really, really useful.

An action plan with a deadline will really help to keep you focused.

Let's have a check for understanding, true or false.

The goal, "We are going to have visited all year seven form groups to raise awareness of legal rights by November," is time-bound.

Is that true? Is that false? And can you tell me why? That's true.

And why? There is a clear number identified.

They're saying that they're going to go round all of the form groups, and there's also a deadline attached to the goal, which is November.

For task A, I'd like you to explain how SMART targets can help make a goal achievable.

For each target, briefly explain what it means and provide an example of what this might look like in practise.

And just to remind you, you've got the written down there for you.

Pause while you have a go at this task.

When explaining how SMART targets can help make a goal achievable, you may have included specific, this means your goal is clear and not vague.

So instead of saying, "I want to help the environment," you might say, "I want to start a school recycling scheme." It helps because you are explaining exactly what you are trying to do.

Measurable, this means you can track your progress with numbers or targets, for example, "I want to collect 300 signatures for a petition." This helps you to see how close you are to reaching your goal.

Achievable, the goal should be realistic for you to do with the time and resources you have, for an example, "Get 10 classmates to help with a community clean-up," is more achievable than, "Get every student in year 10 to take part in a community cleanup." Relevant, the goal should matter to people and link to citizenship.

For example, a campaign to improve local bus services in an area where poor transport affects people is relevant and matters to people.

And time-bound, you set a deadline and create an action plan to achieve it, for example, by setting a number of the amount of people you want to discuss an issue with or the number of signatures on a petition.

Let's now take a look at what methods will help me to achieve my goals.

Let's have a look at some methods.

So Lucas is asking, "What does the word method mean, and how can we use methods to help us to achieve our goals?" Let's see what you thought.

So a method is a specific approach that you can use to help plan, carry out, or improve your active citizenship project, so you are more likely to achieve your goals.

There are lots of different methods that will support you in achieving your active citizenship goal.

Some of these are creating a detailed action plan, asking for feedback, using technology wisely, and carrying out a SWOT analysis.

So Lucas is asking, "What do these methods involve?" We're going to have a look at some of these, but do you know anything about these yourself? So once you've chosen your issue, you will then need to start thinking about the different actions that you could take.

At this stage, it is important to create an action plan that clearly states what needs to be done, who is responsible for getting it done, and when it needs to be done by.

So let's have a check for understanding.

How did referring back to their action plan help Izzy's group? So Izzy is saying, "When looking at our action plan for our goal of lobbying local decision-makers about youth services, we realised that we were on target for everything.

We were even ahead of target for raising awareness about the issue in school, but we were behind schedule for writing letters to our MP, which is quite important." So how did referring back to their action plan, do you think, helped Izzy's group? By referring back to their action plan, Izzy's group noticed that they were falling behind in one area, which was writing letters to their MP, but they also saw that they were ahead in other areas, which means that they could shift their focus or reassign tasks to get the letters written in time.

Your teacher will be able to provide valuable feedback at various points along your active citizenship project.

Although it's important for the action plan to be pupil-led, this doesn't mean you cannot ask for help or advice.

They will have experience of previous actions and will have lots of tips and ideas that could help you to be more successful.

So definitely don't be afraid to reach out and seek advice from your teacher about your action and your action plan.

You could also ask for feedback from your peers in your class that are not in your group.

Think of them as critical friends who may be able to look at your action plan with fresh eyes and suggest things that you hadn't thought of.

If you have access to technology throughout your active citizenship project, consider how you could use this to work smarter and not harder.

So this could include working on shared documents that all your group have access to.

This will allow you to see who has done what and add comments, and also ensure that the work doesn't become delayed if someone is absent.

It can be a real, real problem if you've all come to school for your citizenship lesson and a member of your team isn't there, and they've done work on their computer, and you're thinking, "Ah, how am I gonna be able to get hold of that work? We really need it, or we're gonna start getting behind." If you are all using shared documents that you've all got access to, it takes away that potential problem.

You could also use calendar apps to make a note of all the different deadlines that you have created, and you can then check these off as you go along, so that everyone can see the progress being made.

So as well as maybe having like paper deadlines or perhaps writing deadlines in your planners, using online calendar apps can be really useful as well 'cause you can literally use different colours, and you can tag when things have been completed, and it means that everyone can see it all at once.

Online surveys can also save lots of time, as the results are instant and likely to also be more accurate because there's not gonna be that human error of making mistakes while counting them up.

They are also more secure, as you can save a copy of these online without worrying about lots of individual pieces of paper and having to keep all of those safe.

Consider how you could also use school email systems. Although it's important to check your school policy on this first, especially about students sending emails potentially to staff members.

Sending emails with key information or using emails rather than letters when communicating with decision-makers can be more time-efficient and easier to keep organised because a reply will come straight to your inbox.

Again, you don't have to worry about losing pieces of paper.

Let's have a check for understanding.

Why was Sam's group's method of carrying out a referendum efficient? So Sam is saying, "We decided to run a staff referendum asking, 'Should the age of criminal responsibility be raised?' I got permission from my teacher to make a simple online questionnaire with just a yes or no option.

We sent it to all staff using the school email and included a short explanation about why we were asking and how it linked to our project." So why was this method efficient? Sam's group won't need to count all of the responses, as it's done automatically online.

Emailing it also saves time and avoids having to explain the project multiple times to different people.

So Lucas is asking, "What is a SWOT analysis, and how could this help us to achieve our goal?" So have you heard about one of these before? Pause and have a think.

A SWOT analysis involves thinking about the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats related to your active citizenship project.

By considering these early, you can plan for them and use this information to help you to be more successful.

If a group of pupils wanted to complete a citizenship action, where the goal was to raise awareness of the refugee crisis with their peers and also raise money for a local refugee charity, their SWOT analysis might look like this.

So the S stands for strengths.

So they might say that their strengths are that they're passionate and they know a lot about the topic.

"Our headteacher has given permission for us to lead an assembly." W stands for weaknesses.

So it's a good idea to consider weaknesses.

So they might have said, "We only have five weeks to carry out our action.

So fitting in, raising awareness, and fundraising will be tight." The O stands for opportunities, so the opportunities that could be available to them.

So for them, that opportunity is that they could ask the local refugee charity to come and speak in assembly.

And then, also, the T stands for threats.

So really thinking, "Ultimately, what could go wrong?" And in this case, it could be that people might ignore our message or not donate.

So this is ultimately what a SWOT analysis is, you're thinking about the potential strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats in carrying out your action.

So let's have a check for understanding.

What could they do to address these potential threats and weaknesses? So let's just have a reminder of what they were.

So for the threat, "People might ignore our message or not donate." And the weakness, "We only have five weeks to carry out our action.

So fitting in, raising awareness, and fundraising will be tight." Any ideas what they could do to address these potential threats and weaknesses? So they could carry out primary research to find out whether people might be likely to donate.

The results could then be used to decide whether to keep this as part of their goal.

Creating a detailed action plan will also ensure they don't waste any time and that they use each week wisely.

For task B, read the active citizenship overview, and then explain how they could use the methods discussed in this lesson to help them.

So the active citizenship overview is, "We want to raise awareness in our school and community about the poor condition of the local play park.

Our plan is to share the issue, start a petition, find out how it's affecting people, and then ask the council to take action." And Lucas is reminding you, "Consider action planning, asking for feedback, using technology, and carrying out a SWOT analysis in your answer." So pause while you have a go at this task.

When explaining how they could use the methods discussed this lesson to help them, you may have included, "The group could use a detailed action plan to set clear steps, like creating a petition, designing posters, and setting a date to contact the council.

Teacher feedback could help improve how they present their issue, making sure their message is clear and respectful.

They can use technology to create and share an online petition, design digital posters, and also email the council.

The SWOT analysis would help them think ahead by identifying strengths, like pupil support, and threats, like the council not responding." In summary of our lesson, How Can We Achieve Our Goal, your goal should clearly identify what you aim to achieve through completing your active citizenship project.

Using specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound targets breaks a goal into manageable steps and also increases the likelihood of meeting your goal.

Using methods such as creating a detailed action plan, asking for feedback, using technology wisely, and carrying out a SWOT analysis can also support your active citizenship project's success.

That brings us to the end of the lesson.

Well done for all your hard work.

And I hope you come back some more citizenship lessons in the future.