How can we hold our leaders to account?
Lesson details
Learning outcome
I can explain what the separation of powers is and how it is used to hold leaders to account.
Key learning points
- The main branches of power in the UK are executive, legislative and judiciary.
- The three branches perform checks and balances on each other.
- Leaders are held accountable through debates, questioning and parliamentary inquiries.
Keywords
Legislative - the law making body of the state, i.e. Parliament in the UK
Executive - the branch of government that is responsible for putting laws or decisions into effect
Judiciary - the branch of the state that is responsible for enforcing the law; it is composed of judges and other legal officials
Common misconception
Citizens aren't able to make a difference and hold leaders accountable.
Citizens hold leaders accountable through raising concerns, participating in inquiries and contacting MPs.
Teacher tip
Use case studies to provide real life examples of how each branch of government checks and balances the others. This will help pupils to understand how the theory of checks and balances plays out in practice.
Licence
Lesson video
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Prior knowledge starter quiz
6 Questions
Q1.What are the three parts of UK Parliament?
Q2.Who is the head of the Government?
Q3.The House of Commons is made up of MPs from a variety of different and independent candidates.
Q4.Match the correct part of UK Parliament to its role.
to create laws
to review and debate laws that have been proposed
to sign the Royal Assent
Q5.Who chairs debates in the House of Commons?
Q6.If there is not a majority in a general election, a government can be formed. This is when two or more political parties may work together and form a to control a majority of seats.
Assessment exit quiz
6 Questions
Q1.Match the word to the correct definition.
the lawmaking body of the state, i.e. Parliament
responsible for putting laws into effect
composed of judges and legal officials who enforce the law
Q2.The branch is made up of the House of Commons, House of Lords and the monarchy.
Q3.How does the legislative hold the executive accountable?
Q4.Which of the following is not a reason why the branches of government in the UK are kept separate?
Q5.Which of the following is a way citizens can hold government leaders accountable in the UK?
Q6.What is a parliamentary inquiry?
To help you plan your 11 citizenship lesson on: How can we hold our leaders to account?, download all teaching resources for free and adapt to suit your pupils' needs...
To help you plan your 11 citizenship lesson on: How can we hold our leaders to account?, 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 4 citizenship lessons from the Should the UK be called a democracy? unit, dive into the full secondary citizenship curriculum, or learn more about lesson planning.