Hi, I'm Ms. 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.

I hope you enjoy the lesson.

This lesson is called What Issues Are There in My Community, and it comes from the unit of lessons.

How can I be a change maker in my community? By the end of this lesson, you will be able to identify different communities and the issues that exist within these.

Our keywords for today's lesson are community, which is a group of people living in the same place or having a particular characteristic in common, change maker, which is someone who wants change in the world and by gathering knowledge and resources, makes that change happen; and issue, which is an important problem, or topic to consider discuss or debate.

Our lesson outline for what issues are there in my community is first we're going to look at what communities am I a part of, and we're then going to look at what issues exist within these communities.

So, we'll start by looking at what communities am I a part of.

So Andeep is saying a community is a group of people living in the same place or having a particular characteristic in common, and he's asking, which communities do you belong to? So, pause and have a think about this question.

So, you will be part of many different communities.

You'll have to be a part of your school community, a local community, a national community and a global community and many of you will also be members of other communities, such as religious communities or sporting communities or communities that are based on your hobbies.

As a member of your school community, you spend time with peers and school staff each day.

You likely wear a uniform, follow an agreed curriculum, and abide by the school rules.

Your school will also have its very own ethos and culture, and this might be described by special school values, for example respect and resilience.

As a member of your local community, you will live close to other residents and share many of the same local facilities.

Some local communities are very close and can be considered a cohesive community, meaning there is equality, and people are working together to achieve the same goals, whereas other local communities are less cohesive, with the residents not mixing or working together.

So Andeep is saying my local community is very cohesive, we have a neighbourhood watch scheme, an active community centre, and residents are always offering to support members of our local community who might need help.

Whereas Izzy is saying that sounds lovely, my local area is really nice, but people tend to keep to themselves, there aren't any opportunities for local people to get together.

I don't even know my next-door neighbour's names, so although we're all a part of different communities, those communities themselves will have differences.

Let's have a check for understanding, which would you not expect to see in a cohesive community? We've got equality, togetherness and segregation.

So, you would not expect to see in a cohesive community segregation, c.

As a member of a national community, you might share a nationality, language and cultural identity with others.

However, the UK is very multicultural, which means our national community is full of rich diversity, which has shaped its identity.

As a national community whilst living in this country, we all must follow the laws that have been set by parliament, and that's something that all members of this national community have in common.

As a member of a global community, you share a planet with others.

As a global community, we have both huge differences in terms of resources, economy and identity, but we are also heavily interconnected through trade, the internet, travel and culture, and this is known as globalisation.

What people do and how they behave at a local and national level can impact people at a global level, and these impacts can be both positive and negative.

So, Andeep is saying in a citizenship lesson we learn how China is often used to manufacture a lot of clothing that we would class as fast fashion.

This is meeting global demand, but it's causing lots of pollution and waste within the country, and Izzy is saying in a geography lesson we also learn about how Japan is sharing its technology with Thailand to help improve their transport systems. This is an example of positive connectivity.

So again, you can see there both those positive and those negative relationships.

Let's have a check for understanding.

True or false? People's actions in one country have no impact on other countries.

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

Why? Countries are all interconnected meaning the actions of one country can and do impact on others.

For example, demand for fast fashion across many countries negatively impacts China, who produce the clothing and as a result have high pollution and waste.

Within all of these communities, there will be positive things to celebrate as well as areas where improvement is needed due to injustice and equality.

As a result, within each community there are change makers, people who want to change the world for the better by thinking of new solutions and taking action and collaborating with others.

Anyone at any age can be a change maker.

Let's have a check for understanding.

Identify and correct the mistakes in this paragraph.

Let's read it together.

As a result within some communities there are change makers, people who want to change the world for the better by thinking of new solutions, taking action and working solo to make it happen.

Anyone over the age of 18 can be a change maker.

Identify and correct the mistakes.

Let's see if you were able to spot them.

So, this is what it should be.

As a result within each community there are change makers, people who want to change the world for the better by imagining a new reality, taking action and collaborating with others to make it happen.

Anyone at any age can be a change maker.

For task A I'd like you to complete a table that describes the features of your school, local, national and global community.

If you like you may wish to include commonalities that they share.

When completing your table, you might have included something like this.

So, for school everyone follows the same rules, wears a uniform and takes part in lessons.

We all learn together in one place.

Local, people live nearby, use local facilities and join events.

There's often a sense of togetherness similar to a school.

National, people follow the same laws as local communities also do and often share a language.

National identity includes shared values and diversity.

And global, countries are connected through trade, travel, the internet and world events just as they are in smaller communities, just on a global scale.

So, now we've got a good understanding of some of the different communities that you're a part of, we're going to look at what issues exist within these communities.

Within school, local, national and global communities, there will be issues that are shared, for example inequality and injustice.

These are common issues that can be felt and experienced at varying degrees within all communities.

So, in school communities some pupils might not have access to the same resources as their peers, for example, laptops.

And although the allocation of resources might be based on need, this could still be felt as unfair by some.

And in local communities some people might have better access to facilities such as parks, and open green spaces.

This could depend on their proximity to transport or even how their particular street is positioned.

In national communities some people might feel certain areas of the country receive more funding and resources than others.

For instance, people may feel there is a disproportionate focus on London at the expense of other regions.

And in global communities there is inequality based on a country's economic status, which can mean huge human right injustices such as access to clean water, food, education or job opportunities.

There are also injustices based on different countries' leadership and how they approach discrimination and identity.

And for example, this might be how they treat and protect minority groups; that's going to vary country to country depending on who leads that country.

So again, lots of differences there.

As there are such a huge range of issues that can exist within communities, it can be useful to refer to national or global documents to help identify and address key issues at a school, local, national or global level.

For example, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights the UDHR is a universal document, meaning it should apply to all citizens regardless of their nationality.

When considering the 30 articles within the UDHR, issues relating to inequality and injustice amongst different countries can be identified.

Let's have a check for understanding: what does UDHR stand for, how many articles does it include, and why is it useful when considering global issues? So, it stands for Universal Declaration of Human Rights, it includes 30 articles, and it can be useful because it outlines the human rights all citizens should expect to have and therefore highlights issues when these rights are not met.

So, for example, if one of the rights which it is is right to an education, when we can see potentially people haven't got that right, or struggling to have that right, that is clearly showing an injustice.

Global issues can be seen in relation to Article 26, which states we all have a right to an education, so as I said, let's look at this one in a little bit more detail.

So, in Afghanistan, since the Taliban regained power women and girls have been denied the right to access education.

In India, children from lower classes have sometimes faced discrimination in schools, leading to low attendance, and similar issues have faced Roma children in countries such as Slovakia, making access to education difficult.

Global issues can also be seen in relation to Article 16, which states we all have the right to marry and start a family.

In many countries, same-sex relationships are criminalised, which means that the right for people from LGBTQ plus communities to get married and start a family are denied.

Another example is in China, where Uyghur Muslims have faced forced sterilisation and restrictions on who they can marry, with the aim of this being to control the population of minority groups.

Global issues can also be seen in relation to Article 23, which states we all have the right to a job, fair wages and join a trade union.

However, in many countries workers face exploitation, unsafe working conditions and no way of raising concerns or fighting for reform.

In Bangladesh workers in the textiles industry face low wages, long hours and really unsafe conditions and this was seen in Tazreen in 2012 when a fire broke out.

Fire exits in the building were locked, and combined with unsafe infrastructure, this disaster led to the death of over 100 garment workers.

More recently, in 2024, Bangladesh garment workers have been threatened with jail for joining trade unions and protesting about workers' rights.

So again, you can see a huge injustice there when compared to the UK.

So, in the UK, where factories have got really really strict health and safety laws that they must follow to keep workers safe, you can see this wasn't happening in another country.

Likewise, obviously the right to join a trade union is really really clear and free here, whereas in other countries it's not, so there's real challenges there.

Let's have a check for understanding.

The case studies examined so far have highlighted equality issues relating to which three articles of the UDHR.

It's the right to education, the right to marriage and family, the right to work, fair pay and trade unions.

When looking at issues that impact local and national communities, it can be useful to consider legislation that has been created to end injustice and equality for example, the Equality Act 2010.

This legislation protects individuals in the UK from discrimination based on nine protected characteristics age, disability, gender reassignment, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief, sex and sexual orientation.

Issues may be identified at a local or national level that indicate this law is not working as it should because if this law was working really effectively, people shouldn't be facing discrimination based on those protected characteristics.

So, sex is a protected characteristic, yet data from the Office for National Statistics still shows a pay gap, with women in the UK earning less than men.

Home Office statistics also show the number of hate crimes continues to rise year upon year, with racially motivated crimes making up over two-thirds of all reports.

Now, while it could be suggested that this rise is a result of more accurate reporting, and recording, it does also highlight issues around discriminatory behaviour that still exists within the UK.

Let's have a check for understanding.

Can you identify the nine protected characteristics from the Equality Act 2010? They are age, disability, gender reassignment, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief, sex and sexual orientation.

Studies have also shown that people with non-white British sounding names in the UK are less likely to be offered interviews for leadership roles, or even job interviews at all.

This suggests that discrimination based on perceptions of race and religion still exists within the UK, and could impact employment opportunities.

Izzy is asking what issues relating to inequality, or injustice might occur within school communities? So, some schools may have uniforms that feel discriminatory to some pupils, such as allowing girls to wear skirts, but not allowing boys to wear shorts.

Some schools may have a curriculum and extracurricular opportunities that fit gender stereotypes, such as only boys liking football and only girls liking gymnastics, and that could translate into having an extracurricular football club, but not a football club for girls, for example.

Issues exist within school, local, national and global communities.

Some of these issues might be specific to a certain community, whereas others are experienced across all communities.

Issues relating to inequality and injustice can be seen and felt within all communities, and these can be even more evident when using the UDHR, or the Equality Act as a reference point.

Changemakers exist within all communities too, people who are taking action to address these issues and improve the life of others.

Let's have a check for understanding.

Which communities do issues exist in? Is it a, school and local communities only, b, predominantly national communities, c, less so in global communities, or d, within all communities? And it's d, within all communities.

For task b, I'd like you to identify one of the issues looked at in this lesson, and explain why you think the issue needs to be addressed.

And Andeep is saying it's a good idea to pick an issue that you are passionate about and interested in.

So, when identifying one of the issues looked at and talking about why it needs to be addressed, your answer may have included the gender pay gap reflects ongoing inequality in the workplace, where women are frequently paid less than men despite doing the same job with the same qualifications.

This undermines the principle of equal pay for equal work and highlights systematic discrimination that still exists today.

Under the Equality Act 2010, sex-based discrimination is unlawful, yet pay disparities remain across many sectors.

Closing the gender pay gap is essential for achieving workplace equality and ensuring that individuals are awarded based on merit, not gender.

An alternative answer may look like economic and employment opportunities in the UK are often concentrated in London and the Southeast, while other regions receive less investment and support.

This regional disparity can limit access to jobs, public services and cultural opportunities for people living outside of the capital.

It raises concerns about fairness and social mobility ensuring a more equal distribution of resources and infrastructure across the UK is vital so that all communities regardless of location can thrive and enjoy equal life chances.

Another alternative answer may have looked like hate crime is a serious form of discrimination where individuals are targeted because of their identity, such as their race, religion, sexual orientation or disability.

These offences go beyond individual acts of violence or abuse; they can create fear within entire communities.

Addressing hate crime is crucial for promoting social cohesion protecting human rights and upholding the values enshrined in the Equality Act 2010.

A society that effectively tackles hate crime shows a commitment to respect diversity and equality under the law.

So, in summary of the lesson, what issues are there within my community? As citizens, we are members of lots of different communities, including school, local, national and global communities.

Within each community there are things that we have in common as well as factors that separate us.

Issues exist within each of these communities some of which might be specific to a particular community, whereas others might be shared amongst a range of communities, and these are often relating to inequality and injustice.

Change makers exist within all communities, working to improve things for all citizens and make a positive difference to society.

That brings us to the end of today's lesson.

Well done for working hard, and I hope you'll come back for some more citizenship lessons in the future.