What are local councils and what do they do?
Lesson details
Learning outcome
I can explain the key services a local council provides and how these are funded.
Key learning points
- Local councils provide many services including education, healthcare, transport, housing and waste management.
- Local councils are given a budget through government funding, council tax and business rates.
- Local councils have the power to make decisions on planning, local laws and public services.
- Community members can get their voice heard by voting in elections or attending council meetings.
Keywords
Local council - a system of government that operates at local level providing services to its community
Council tax - a local, direct tax calculated on the basis of the value of a property and the number of people living there
Grants - a sum of money gifted by an organisation or person that does not need to be repaid
Common misconception
Local councils have full control of their spending so can make all decisions themselves.
Part of their funding comes from national government so they sometimes have to priorities government led initiatives over local need.
Teacher tip
To give learners the chance to see specific examples of local council's income and expenditure, it would be good to adapt examples to their local authority.
Licence
Lesson video
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Prior knowledge starter quiz
6 Questions
Q1.What is this describing? A system of government that operates at a local level providing services to its community.
Q2.A council {} is someone with specialist knowledge who works for the council and supports local councillors to make decisions for the local area.
Q3.Which of the following statements is true about local councils?
Q4.Match the sentence starter to the rest of the sentence.
issues or matters on which regional areas can decide.
issues or matters on which the UK Government can decide.
when the central government makes decisions on the majority of issues.
Q5.Complete this sentence: Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have their own parliaments or ....
Q6.Which of the following best describes devolution?
Assessment exit quiz
6 Questions
Q1.What is the main role of a local council?
Q2.Where does a local council get its funding from?
Q3.Which of these is a service provided by local councils?
Q4.What is council tax based on?
Q5.A sum of money given by an organisation that does not need to be repaid is called a .
Q6.Match the term to its correct definition:
essential local services like schools and waste collection
money collected from residents to fund council services
money given to support services, sometimes as a grant
To help you plan your 11 citizenship lesson on: What are local councils and what do they do?, download all teaching resources for free and adapt to suit your pupils' needs...
To help you plan your 11 citizenship lesson on: What are local councils and what do they do?, 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 Where does power reside in the UK? unit, dive into the full secondary citizenship curriculum, or learn more about lesson planning.