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 Do I Inform Others? And it's taken from the unit of work Can I Be a Change Maker in My Community? By the end of this lesson, you will understand who you could inform about your issue and why this might be useful.

Our keywords for today's lesson are inform, which is to give someone information or tell them about something, report, which is a written or spoken account that gives details about something that happened, active citizenship, which is the process of learning how to take part in democracy and use citizenship knowledge, skills, and understanding to try to make a positive difference.

Our lesson outline for How Do I Inform Others is we're going to look at why is it important to inform others, and then we're going to look at who can I inform.

So let's start off by looking at why is it important to inform others.

So Step 7 of the active citizenship cycle refers to reflecting and evaluating, but it also refers to reporting.

So Laura's asking, "What does reporting your active citizenship project actually mean?" So pause and have a think.

A report is a clear and organised piece of writing that gives information about something that has happened.

It is usually written after research or an activity to explain what was done, what was found out, and what the results or outcomes were.

An active citizenship project report is therefore written at the evaluation stage and provides a summary of the project and its impact.

The report can then be accessed and read by a much wider audience.

People can learn about what you did and why you did it.

So Laura's asking, "Why might reporting your active citizenship project to others be a good idea?" Pause and have a think.

So let's have a check for understanding.

An active citizenship project report would include what? And you've got the sentence starters there to help you.

Pause and have a think.

Let's see how you got on.

So an active citizenship project report would include what was done, what was found out, and what the results or outcomes were.

So Laura was asking about what's the benefit of reporting your action.

Well, reporting your action to others can be a great idea as it can raise awareness to a wider audience, it can encourage further support and participation, it can create a much more longer lasting impact, and of course it promotes active citizenship.

So Laura is saying, "What might these look like in practise?" So you've got those four bullet points there.

Pause and have a think.

What might that actually look like in practise? So let's have a quick check for understanding.

Identify and correct the mistakes.

There is one within each of the bullet points.

So let's have a read.

Reporting your action to others can be a great idea as this can raise awareness to a smaller audience, discourage further support and participation, create a shorter lasting impact, and promote apathy.

So identify and correct the mistake within each bullet point.

So let's see how you got on.

First of all, these were the mistakes.

So raise awareness to a small audience.

Smaller was a mistake.

Discourage further support and participation.

Discourage was the mistake.

Create a shorter lasting impact.

Shorter was a mistake.

And promote apathy.

Apathy was the mistake.

And this is what they should have said.

Raise awareness to a larger audience, encourage further support and participation, create a longer lasting impact, and promote active citizenship.

When carrying out your citizenship action, you'll have already engaged with an audience, perhaps through your primary research or when you're presenting your issue to others.

Creating a report allows you to raise awareness about your issue and how you tackled this with a much wider audience.

The report can be shared with many different people in many different ways, and this can raise awareness with that wider audience.

And by producing and sharing a report with others, this could encourage wider support for your issue and encourage others to participate in action.

When people hear about your project, they might want to get involved or support your campaign.

You could gain allies, so people that are going to support your cause, volunteers to help you, or even funding if your message reaches the right audience.

So Laura's asking, "Our teacher asked if she could share our reports with other classes.

Why does she want to do that?" Pause and think about the answer to Laura's question.

The purpose of reports is to be read by others, allowing them to gain a clearer understanding of the information and insights they contain.

By sharing your report with others, you are promoting a longer lasting impact.

For example, a group from the next GCSE cohort could decide to continue exploring your issue.

So you could really be inspiring that next cohort of students.

Your report will focus on what was done, what was found out, and what the results or outcomes were.

This can be inspiring to others as it shows that active citizenship is possible.

By showing others what active citizenship looks like, this can inspire them to take responsibility in their own communities.

It demonstrates how citizens can make a difference through democracy, justice, and participation.

Let's have a check for understanding.

What are the missing words.

By showing others what something citizenship looks like, this can inspire them to take something in their own communities.

It demonstrates how citizens can make a something through democracy, justice, and something.

Pause while you try and figure out what the missing words are.

Let's see if you've got those correct.

So the first missing word was active, we then had responsibility, we then had difference, and then we had participation.

So by showing others what active citizenship looks like, this could inspire them to take responsibility in their own communities.

It demonstrates how citizens can make a difference through democracy, justice, and participation.

For Task A, I'd like you to write a motivating message to Izzy that will help her to see the benefits of writing a report to summarise her active citizenship project.

So let's have a listen to Izzy.

Izzy's saying, "I really don't see the point of writing a report stating what we did, what we found out, and what the outcomes were.

It's over now.

Do I really need to write a report?" So you're writing a motivating message back to Izzy that will really help her to see those benefits of writing a report.

So pause while you have a go at Task A.

So your motivating message may have included: Hi, Izzy, I know writing a report might feel like extra work now that your project is finished, but it's actually one of the most powerful parts of what you've done.

Your report can raise awareness by sharing your message with people who didn't see your action.

It can encourage others to get involved, support your cause, or even start their own actions.

Most importantly, it helps create a longer lasting impact, not just something that happened and ended, but something that continues to matter.

And by showing what active citizenship looks like, your report can inspire others to take part in making change too.

You've already made a difference, now your report can make that difference go even further.

Go for it.

So we've had a look at why it's important to inform others, now we're going to have a look at who can I inform, so considering the people that you can inform about your active citizenship project.

So Izzy's now saying, "Okay, you have persuaded me.

I will write a report.

But who should I share it with and why?" What do you think? How would you answer this question? So there are lots of people that you could share your report with, including your peers and wider school community, your local community, decision-makers, that could be local counsellors, MPs, and key organisations.

Sharing your report with your peers and school community should be relatively straightforward but with the potential of lots of positive impact.

You could share your report and discuss what you did for your action in assemblies, form groups, or classes.

You could take this further and ask the appropriate school staff whether you could create a visual display that highlights the key elements of your citizenship action, something fantastic and great that's on the corridors for everyone to see and be reminded about all of the time.

If your school has a newsletter or website, you could offer to write a condensed version of your report to be showcased publicly.

This will delight parents and carers to hear about your action too.

You could even ask to organise a lunch time stall where you could inform your peers about your action and signpost them to further ways in which they could support.

So this is different to doing primary research and asking questions.

It's actually telling them about your whole active citizenship project and telling them how they can continue to get involved in the future.

Let's have a check for understanding.

True or false.

Assemblies are the only way to inform your peers about your active citizenship project.

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

It's false.

And why? There are many ways to inform your peers, such as assemblies, form or class presentations, displays, or even information stalls.

Pick whatever is going to suit you and your issue the best.

Your issue may directly affect local people, and they have the potential to become powerful allies or voices for change.

You could ask to write an article for a local newspaper or a community website.

You could also create a poster or leaflet that could be displayed on a community noticeboard.

These are often located in local shops or libraries.

You may have even seen these yourselves.

You may have already engaged with decision-makers whilst carrying out primary research.

Now that you have come to the end of your active citizenship project, you may wish to consider how you can further inform a wider range of decision-makers about your project.

Contact details for local and national decision-makers, so local counsellors, MPs, are readily available online.

And there's no limit to the number in which you can contact to inform about your project.

So you might want to go further than just your local decision-makers and actually contact some national decision-makers too.

You may also decide to send a copy of your report to organisations and charities that are involved with your issue as these organisations can offer guidance, it could amplify your message and make it bigger, and possibly support your project further.

For example, if your action was looking to address the topic of homelessness, you could send a copy of your report to Shelter, Centrepoint, Crisis, St Mungo's, and Big Issue, which are all charities or organisations working to try and tackle the issue of homelessness.

Let's have a check for understanding.

Which would not be a relevant organisation to send a report about homelessness to? Centre, Crisis, the RSPCA, or Big Issue? Pause while you have a think.

And the correct answer was c, the RSPCA, because this is an animal charity.

It's not a charity that's relevant to homelessness, so it's not relevant to the issue.

Engaging with organisations about your active citizenship project can also support future engagements and therefore promote continued active citizenship.

For example, the organisation might write back to you to thank you for your work or to inform you of future projects they're involved in, which can encourage two way dialogue and motivate further engagement.

Let's have a check for understanding.

State why it can be useful to inform relevant organisations about your active citizenship projects.

You might have said that it can support future engagement, it promotes continued active citizenship, and encourages a two way dialogue.

For Task B, I would like you to write a motivating message to Andeep explaining the benefits of sharing his report with others, for example, peers, so other people in his school, the local community, decision-makers, and relevant organisations.

So let's hear what Andeep has to say.

So Andeep is saying, "I don't really understand the benefits of sharing my report with others.

We engaged with a few people from school and wrote to our local councillor when we carried out our primary research.

I don't see why I should also share my final report with them." So just like you did with Izzy for Task A, this time I'd like you to write a motivating message to Andeep explaining the benefits of sharing his report with others.

So consider what you've learned in this lesson.

Pause and have a go at Task B.

Your motivating message to Andeep may have included: Hi, Andeep, I get that it might seem like there's no point in sharing your report now that the project's done.

If you keep it to yourself, the impact stops with you, whereas if you share it, you could amplify your message and make way more people aware of the issue and even want to get involved.

By getting it out there, whether that's to friends at school, local people, or even decision-makers, you could encourage others to get involved or even take it further.

You may have continued to say, decision-makers, like councillors or your MP, need to see what young people actually care about.

Your report is proof of that.

And if you send it to the right organisations, it could start a connection that brings more support, funding, or chances to work together in the future.

Basically, sharing your report turns your project from a one off into something way bigger.

So don't stop now, keep the awareness going, and continue to develop those active citizenship skills.

So in summary of the lesson Who Can I Inform, an active citizenship report includes what you did, what you found out, and what the outcomes were.

Sharing this information with others can be very useful as it can raise awareness of your issue to a wider audience, it can encourage further support and participation, it can create a longer lasting impact, and also promote active citizenship.

The people you can inform about your active citizenship project include your peers, so other people in your school, your wider school community, so including some teachers, your local community, key decision-makers such as local counsellors or MPs, and key organisations that are relevant to your issue.

That brings us to the end of the lesson Who Can I Inform? Well done for working hard.

And I hope that you'll come back for some more Citizenship lessons in the future.