Lesson video

Hey everyone, and welcome back to the unit of work, how does the UK still play a meaningful role in the international community.

I hope you enjoyed last lesson, and that you are ready to begin your learning today.

Please make sure that you are somewhere quiet before you continue with today's lesson.

So for this lesson, you are going to need your exercise book, or some paper, and it will be really useful if you did this in the same place, or alongside your previous lesson, so you can keep your notes together for this unit.

And you will also need a black and blue pen, and if you have one, a different coloured pen, so you can self-assess your work, as we are going through.

So the aims of today's lesson are to look at the history of the Commonwealth, and to find out why and how it developed.

We are going to look at the aims and purposes of the Commonwealth, to discover what it's role is in the world today.

And we're also going to look at what the UK does within the Commonwealth, and kind of some of the projects it supports.

So that's X for our first question then, what is the history of the Commonwealth? On your screen, you can see a map, and some of the map is in grey, and some of the map is in blue.

And the kind of countries which are shaded in blue are a very important kind of indication as to the history and origins of the Commonwealth.

Can you take a minute to have a think about why this may be? You might want to think back to maybe kind of some of your history lessons, which you might have covered this in.

So the history of the Commonwealth really ties in with the idea of the British Empire.

And the Commonwealth's origins go back to the history of the British Empire, which was a period in which Britain ruled over a large proportion of the world.

And as countries around the world gain kind of, a kind of independence from kind of from British rule, some still wanted to pay their allegiance, or their loyalty to the Monarch, whilst others wanted to remain connected, and cooperate with one another.

But none wanted to be controlled by the British, and how they got into their country.

So it was decided in 1949, with the London Declaration, that the modern Commonwealth would be established.

And this is, kind of at this simplest level, an international association between the UK and many states, kind that were previously part of the British empire, who are sometimes known as British colonists.

But, you do not need to be a former British colony to join the Commonwealth, although other kind of many members are, you just have to be kind of open to following what's called the Commonwealth Charter.

And if you were here for the United Nations lesson, we looked at the idea of what a charter is, it's just basically a list, or set of rules that you agree to abide by.

And today, there are 47 members of the Commonwealth, and everyone joins kind of voluntarily, and everyone is considered equal, or there's no hierarchy, and there is no forced membership among nations.

And the Maldives is the most recent member of the Commonwealth, and this joined in February, 2020.

And here are just some pictures of people meeting in the Commonwealth, so this is a small states meeting in 2010.

We have the most recent heads of government meeting in 2018, which was held in London.

And you can see the Prime Minister , Boris Johnson, who is joined by Commonwealth leaders from around the world.

And here we have some members of the Commonwealth, so we've got the UK, we've got Australia, you can see The Bahamas on the end, the prominent members include India and Canada, it is really a global organisation.

So what I'm going to ask you to do is have a think back, and see if we can answer these questions in full sentences in your notes.

So please pause the video now, and use what I've just gone through to answer the questions on the screen.

Okay, so hopefully, that was very doable for you, and well done for giving that a go.

Here are some of the answers, so if you've got that different colour pen, you might want to grab it, just so we can go through them.

The British Empire was the period of history which the Commonwealth has its origins.

The year it was founded in 1949.

There are 47 members.

Some members include India, Rwanda, and Canada.

Okay, so we are on to question number two of today's lesson, which is, what are the aims and purposes of the Commonwealth? So on your screen, you can see five pictures.

And the Commonwealth has a number of aims, and these are contained within the Commonwealth Charter, but they can summarised by these five pictures below.

So what I would like you to do is pause the video, and have a go at seeing if you can make a list, or just think of what is being depicted by the five pictures on your screen now.

So pause the video and have a little think.

Okay, so hopefully, that wasn't too hard for you, and you have got some ideas.

Well, the five main aims and purposes of the Commonwealth are the Environment and Sustainable Development.

So, the Commonwealth works with member states to protect the environment, and ensure that changes, which are made over the different countries do not, kind of, negatively impact future generations.

That is the sustainable bit of the aim.

Trade, so the Commonwealth works with each other to try and encourage members to trade with one another, so buy and sell things from Commonwealth members to support each of those economies.

We've got democracy, so the Commonwealth support the idea that, you know, nations should be kind of democratic, and they work with members to promote their system of government, which is rooted in free and fair elections, where all members are given the eligibility to vote, and voice their opinions on how the country is run.

And we've also got the idea of social development, so the Commonwealth work with its member states to improve society for everyone.

And key focuses here include access to education, health, sport, and the promotion of gender equality, especially to do with women's and girls' rights, and access to kind of education and healthcare.

And finally, we've got small states, so a number of Commonwealth states are small geographical areas, places like, kind of, Fiji, for example, islands, and under the Commonwealth brings members together to support these states with their unique challenges, because those places are going to face different challenges, compared to you know, somewhere like India, which you know, has a massive population, and quite a big land mass.

So, just to see if you were listening, there are six main aims of the Commonwealth, is that true, or is that false? You can just say the answer out loud.

Hopefully, you said that was false, because there are indeed five main aims of the Commonwealth, and hopefully, you got that from our little picture task we have just done.

Okay, so question number two, kind of aims of the Commonwealth are put forward in the Commonwealth Charter, is that true or is that false? Hopefully, you said it was true, because that's where we find our five main aims of the Commonwealth.

So the aim of trade encourages member states to work to overcome issues, such as access to education, and gender equality.

Is that what trade means, true or false? Indeed, that is false, so well done if you said false.

And social development actually means to help member states overcome issues concerning access to education and gender inequality.

So the explanation was right, but the aim was wrong.

Trade is where we encourage members to buy and sell goods from one another.

The aim of supporting small states encourages members to support smaller countries with their specific needs.

Is that true, or is that false? Indeed, that is true.

Well done for getting the answer right.

An aim of the Commonwealth is to encourage democracy.

True or false? Again, very well done if you said true, a really important aim of the Commonwealth is to encourage a democracy.

A democracy is at the heart of everything the Commonwealth does.

And so, what I would like to do now is pause this video, and access the worksheet, where you will find a very short clip, which just kind of puts into context some of the aims I've been talking about, and it brings it to life a little bit, by showing you some projects, and lets you meet some people.

So pause the video now, watch the video, and then come back to the lesson.

So hopefully you enjoyed that clip, and it helped you get a better understanding of the aims and purposes of the Commonwealth.

So if you had to in future , a really common question is to ask, kind of, how does the UK help the Commonwealth support its aims? And the UK does this in a number of ways, so kind of one of them is that it was a founding member of the Commonwealth.

So it kind of supported its kind of beginnings, it kind of got some of the early projects off the ground, and it continues to involve itself in all aspects of its work today.

A second way it helps is that it contributes a large sum of money towards the Commonwealth budget.

So for example, it contributed 4.

7 million pounds to the Commonwealth Technical Fund.

And the Commonwealth Technical Fund is a fund members can apply to to help them share expertise among members to help with the kind of establishment, you know, ongoing nature of projects, sharing technical expertise across Commonwealth countries.

It contributes kind of expertise to the projects, so for example, it might contribute political experts to a country who is trying to improve its democracy.

It might contribute technical experts to countries who are trying to, you know, kind of implement more renewable energy.

It might contribute people who are experts in kind of education and kind of gender equality to help countries kind of improve.

The UK themselves might call on kind of other countries to help them with their projects too.

So it's a kind of two way system.

The UK also speaks out against those members, countries of the Commonwealth, who fail to uphold the Commonwealth Charter.

And so, although all members have to sign it, it's kind of sometimes the case that not all members always kind of follow it.

The UK speak out, and are kind of quite vocal to ensure members around the world have their rights upheld.

Okay, so our third and final question of today's lesson is how does the UK support the Commonwealth to achieve its aims and fulfil its purposes? And for this, what I would like you to do is kind of leave the video, and access the worksheet, and on the worksheet, there are instructions on how to complete the task.

You will be asked to draw a table of recent information, and use that information to complete the table.

All information is explained on the worksheet.

So please pause the video now, complete the worksheet, and then come back to the lesson once you have finished.

Okay, so hopefully that task wasn't too much kind of too difficult.

And I'm just going to go through some of the answers with you now.

So one of the Commonwealth aims that we were focusing on is that the environment and sustainable development.

And hopefully, you linked that to the Blue Charter, this is where we are encouraging members within the Commonwealth to work together to keep the oceans free of pollution, and ensure fishing is sustainable.

So that means that kind of what people can fish now, kind of fish docks or whatever, they're there for future generations as well.

And, you know, people aren't over fishing, and kind of making some fish kind of become extinct.

How does the UK support this? Well, the UK has taken a leading role with kind of other members to coordinate efforts to reduce plastic pollution, because plastic pollution is one of the major contributions to kind of ocean pollution and oceanic degradation.

So it wants members to cut down on the use of plastic, and formed the Commonwealth Clear Ocean Alliance, as one of its ways to tackle this.

The next aim is democracy, and the project you have to fill out is the Ministerial Action Group.

And this project aims to bring together nine Commonwealth kind of foreign ministers, who work together to assess the democratic nature and actions of the Commonwealth members.

And how the UK supports this is that the UK is a leading supporter of democracy, we live in a democratic nation, and it involved itself in all decisions made by this group.

So for example, it was involved in expelling Fiji in 2009, who failed to uphold the democratic values of the Commonwealth.

However, as you will be aware, that Fiji were later allowed back in to the Commonwealth.

And the final one, oh, no, kind of started here, just some pictures of that meeting.

So we've got the nine Commonwealth kind of leaders there, in the middle of we've got the UK, with Jeremy Hunt.

And the final one is gender equality, okay, and with this project, we've got strengthening female involvement in conflict resolution and democracy.

One of the Commonwealth projects is that it is working with women in Pakistan to support them in involving themselves in decision making within the country.

And how does the UK do this? Well, it's kind of working with UK organisations, such as an organisation called Peace Direct, and this is supporting the project by sharing the expertise and research to enable Pakistani women to become activists, and involve themselves in democratic change in Pakistan.

Now kind of, obviously, we could only go through a very short, and brief number of projects, due to the time constraints.

But the Commonwealth regularly update their projects, there are regular news articles about the Commonwealth, so please make sure you do follow this to see what kind of things the Commonwealth are doing.

So if you need to kind of just finish it off, kind of make sure you pause the video in the proper place, make sure you've self-assessed it, and you're ready to complete the lesson.

So hopefully, in today's lesson, you now have a better understanding of how and why Commonwealth developed, so you can describe the historical reasons for its development.

And you can state the aims and purposes of the Commonwealth found in the Commonwealth Charter.

And you can explain, with reference to Commonwealth projects, how the UK is involved in the organisation.

Kind of, that last one will be especially useful for those of you who are doing GCC, because a lot of the questions we'll look at, kind of ask for how the UK is involved, and they want examples to support your point.

So, well done for all your hard work.

So, that is the end of today's lesson, kind of thank you very much for all your hard work.

Please make sure you do complete the exit quiz, kind of after the lesson, so you can assess your progress, and hopefully I will see you again for the next lesson.

Thank you very much, bye.