How can young people be involved in local decision making?
Lesson details
Learning outcome
I can describe how young people can be included in local decision making and plan an active citizenship campaign.
Key learning points
- Local issues are concerns or problems that directly affect a specific community or area.
- Campaigning techniques include petitioning, protesting, raising awareness and volunteering.
- Young active citizens take action to improve areas by identifying issues, planning, working together and evaluating.
Keywords
Issue - an important problem or topic to consider, discuss or debate
Campaign - actions or events organised by an individual or a group of people to achieve an aim
Action - practical steps designed to try to raise public awareness or influence key decision-makers
Active citizen - a person who actively takes responsibility, becomes involved in areas of public concern and tries to make a positive difference in their community
Common misconception
Young people can't have a real influence on local decision making because they are not old enough to vote or be a councillor.
Young people can have a significant impact by speaking up, raising awareness, organising community actions and engaging with local leaders. They can be powerful voices for change, especially when working together and being persistent.
Teacher tip
Pupils could be encouraged to put their Task C plan into action in their local communities in order to improve their active citizenship skills.
Licence
Lesson video
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Prior knowledge starter quiz
6 Questions
Q1.Which word describes having the right to vote?
Q2.The minimum age you can register to vote in Scotland and Wales is ...
Q3.Match the voting eligibility criteria to its correct meaning.
where a person lives
where a person is from or where they are a citizen of
how old a person is
Q4.What is the name of the event where the main purpose is: to encourage people to register to vote, inform them of the voting process and encourage them to vote on election day?
Q5.Put the voting steps into the correct order, starting with the earliest.
Q6.Which of these are examples of being an active citizen?
Assessment exit quiz
6 Questions
Q1.What term is used to describe when people are affected by things like litter, noise or pollution in their local area?
Q2.When vermin, pollution, noise and litter begin to affect a local community, it can have a negative impact on people's health and ...
Q3.Choose step three from the following options. The correct order for planning a campaign action is to 1) plan, 2) take action and 3) ...
Q4.Which of these are ways young people under 18 can influence decisions in their local area?
Q5.Match the campaign method with its examples.
displays, posters, art, performances
social media, vlogs, blogs, hashtags
protests, marches, community gatherings
talking with others, holding meetings with officials
Q6.Order the words to create a sentence that describes what an active citizen is.
To help you plan your 7 citizenship lesson on: How can young people be involved in local decision making?, download all teaching resources for free and adapt to suit your pupils' needs...
To help you plan your 7 citizenship lesson on: How can young people be involved in local decision making?, download all teaching resources for free and adapt to suit your pupils' needs.
The starter quiz will activate and check your pupils' prior knowledge, with versions available both with and without answers in PDF format.
We use learning cycles to break down learning into key concepts or ideas linked to the learning outcome. Each learning cycle features explanations with checks for understanding and practice tasks with feedback. All of this is found in our slide decks, ready for you to download and edit. The practice tasks are also available as printable worksheets and some lessons have additional materials with extra material you might need for teaching the lesson.
The assessment exit quiz will test your pupils' understanding of the key learning points.
Our video is a tool for planning, showing how other teachers might teach the lesson, offering helpful tips, modelled explanations and inspiration for your own delivery in the classroom. Plus, you can set it as homework or revision for pupils and keep their learning on track by sharing an online pupil version of this lesson.
Explore more key stage 3 citizenship lessons from the How does local democracy work? unit, dive into the full secondary citizenship curriculum, or learn more about lesson planning.