Lesson video

Hello, my name is Mrs. Harris and I'm the person who's going to be guiding you through today's learning.

Today's lesson is called How Can Young People Be involved in Local Decision making? And it's part of a larger unit called How does Local Democracy work? By the end of today's lesson, we're going to be able to say, I can describe how young people can be included in local decision making and plan an active citizenship campaign.

Now, some of this learning might be new to you and some of them it might be challenging, but not to worry because I'm here and I'm gonna take you all the way through it.

We'll do it together.

Let's start with our key keywords then.

I'm going to say the word and you're going to repeat it back, are we ready? Issue.

Campaign.

Action.

Active citizen.

Our first learning cycle is called, What are Local Issues? In the United Kingdom, it's local governments or councils who manage, lead and provide for services for things like schools, transport, road safety and waste services.

These local governments, these councils are led by local councillors and those people are responsible for making all the decisions about those local services.

They don't do it on their own though they're supported by council officers who are often the experts in the area.

So you'll have experts in education, experts in health, building planning and so on.

The most important part though, of being a local counsellor is to be connected to the local residents, to have a link to them and for them to feel like they are understood and that you're on their side.

Izzy here says, When residents live in an area, they are directly affected by many positive and negative things.

And then Alex says, It is the councilor's job to listen to the local residents so that the local issues they're facing can be sorted out? Quick check for understanding then.

Can you fill in these missing words? Councils are led by local mm, who are responsible for making decisions about local mm.

Two gaps to fill there, I'll give you a few seconds and we'll come back and do it together.

Okay, councils are led by local counsellors who are responsible for making the decisions about local services.

Did you get those? Great job.

So what issues might affect a local community then? Well, with schools it might be about school places.

Can people get space in a school that is actually close to their home or are they having to travel quite a far distance? It could be about school transport, maybe the bus services to get children there on time.

It could be about support for children with additional needs.

Are they getting what they're entitled to? Are they getting what they need to be able to have a successful school time? It could be about the standards of education.

Are parents and carers happy with the learning that is happening in schools? With transport, it could be things like cancelled public services.

It could be the times of the services.

Maybe they don't serve the area well enough.

Could be about the cost of the transport as well, or maybe it's very overcrowded and you can't actually get a space on it.

Road safety as well.

That's a big one, isn't it? Speeding cars could be an issue.

Horse signage, maybe the roads aren't being kept very well.

Potholes or parts of the pavements which are cracking away.

Pedestrian crossings.

Are there enough to keep people safe? Or it could be the lighting as well.

You might have some streets that are poorly lit and that has all kinds of dangers for people, both road drivers of road users and pedestrians too.

One, the things like waste services.

Are there lots of missed collections? So people have got their bins for another few weeks.

Could be a lack of recycling facilities which are very difficult for people to get to, perhaps.

Overflowing bins causing vermin and rubbish or might be littering and fly-tipping where people just decide to just discard their litter at the side of the road, for example.

Issues for parks and open spaces.

Maybe there isn't the right quality or there's a lack of the facilities for people.

They might be poorly maintained, so broken.

They might be poorly lit, might be antisocial behaviour where people are hanging around in those areas and behaving in a way which is stopping other people enjoying that space.

Be things like dog fouling, so dog mess around as well.

Planning on licencing, that's another big issue too.

Maybe there's too many rules to meet and people feel like they want to have an extension or they want to build or they want to set up a business, but there's too many rules and regulations for them to meet to be able to do that.

Maybe some people don't like too many new buildings and they feel like it's changing the area too much.

There might be too many buildings so there's not enough open space for people.

So back to these parks and open spaces again, perhaps they're building in areas that are already very busy and it's just going to make the problem worse.

That could contribute to noise and disruption and make people's area that they live in very pleasurable to be there.

So these are all issues that might affect the local community.

A quick check for understanding then.

So which of the following could be an issue a local resident has about waste services? So which one is regarding waste services? Could it be poor lighting? Road maintenance? Or littering and fly-tipping? Which of these is related to waste services? I'll give you a few seconds.

Alright then the answer is C, yes, littering and fly-tipping.

Great job if you've got that answer.

So you have people living in a local area and they have different issues and they are not enjoying the place that they live because these issues, these negative issues are stopping it being a nice place to live for them.

But how might that actually begin to affect people? It could be things like health and wellbeing.

So if the litter noise, pollution, antisocial behaviour, it actually starts to affect people's physical health and their mental health as well because it's something they're putting up with day after day after day.

It might be their worries about safety and security, so worries about them being safe, maybe their properties being safe, things like accidents and injuries.

If we were saying about pedestrian crossings, if there aren't as many of those, that might lead to more people becoming involved in accidents or getting injured.

Things like crime as well is a big safety and security risk.

But with all of these, there's also a real problem if it affects social connections and a community feel.

So if people aren't using the facilities, if people aren't feeling happy in an area, it can really affect how people connect with each other and that ultimately is what community is, isn't it? It's those connections with other people.

So if there's a lack of facilities or there's a lack of places to meet those connections and those friendships aren't going to be built up.

There might also be worries about the economic side of things and it affect people like that.

So if people having to spend more to get what they need so there aren't the shops around so they're having to travel further distances or if the bus and the public transport services are costing more, that means people are spending more and more money just to do the basics of what they need to do.

There's also the equity and equality factors too.

So people who have less money might not be able to afford to move or travel to avoid the issues that they're facing and so that makes things unfair for them.

Another check for understanding then.

So which effect is missing here? So local issues may begin to affect people in the following ways: health and wellbeing.

Safety and security, social connections and community feel, equality, equity and? Which one is missing? I'll give you a few seconds to think about it.

All right, the answer is, so we've got here health and wellbeing, safety and security, social connections and community feel, equality and equity and the economic side of things.

Yes, that how much it's costing people financially.

Yeah, well done.

So you're onto your first task already then.

So part one of this task is you are going to look at the photographs of the town.

You're going to write a list or circle the different issues that you can see.

I'd like you to think about issues that impact people's lives in a negative way.

It might be things that are bad for the environment.

It might be things that might annoy the residents to frustrate the people who live there or anything that you think might be unfair.

So write a list or circle the different issues that you can see.

Here are the pictures of the town.

Have a go at that task.

Pause the video here to give yourself the time to do this and then we'll come back together and work through the answers.

How did you find that then? Let's go through some possible answers together.

Your answers then may have included things like traffic queues, heavy traffic right in the centre of the town where there's lots of people, lots of pedestrians.

Dangers are inconvenient parking.

Yeah, those people parked on double yellow lines, it's not good, is it? They're there for a reason.

We have boarded up shops, so that means if the shops are closed and they're not about selling things that they need people having to travel further to get just the basics of stuff.

We've got graffiti here as well.

Now some graffiti can be really artistic and it's there for a reason and it's there to brighten up.

But this graffiti doesn't seem to be like that does it? It just seems to be scrawled on people's properties, which is a different thing altogether.

And if that's your property and people have done their graffiti on it, that could feel really annoying, really frustrating and quite hurtful as well.

We've got pollution here on this fourth picture.

Lots of litter on the fifth and sixth pictures there.

It's not pleasant for anybody, is it? And then on this last one, we've got lots of broken playground equipment.

That's just not safe, is it? You can't have children playing on broken playground equipment.

So there there's lots of different issues that the residents might be facing at the time that are affecting them in a negative way.

Well done if you've got all of those.

The second part of your task then is to create a diamond 9.

So you could choose to use the issues that you've just looked at in those pictures or other ones that we discussed in the first part of this lesson.

Or you might want to use issues from your own local area.

You're gonna place the most important issues to you at the very top in the number one space and the least important at the bottom.

So again, what is most important to you out of those issues goes at the top, the next ones and then the next ones.

And then as you work your way down, you should have the least important issue to you at the bottom.

Take some time to do that and then we'll come back and share our answers.

Okay, let's share our answers then.

Your answers might look something like mine.

So here for me, I put traffic at the top and pollution and play spaces next.

Then parking, litter and antisocial behaviour in that middle section there're going across.

And then the local pool has closed and shops have closed in the next one down and the last one is graffiti.

So they're all issues.

I've ranked them in importance to me.

I wonder what yours looks like.

Really well done on that task.

Good thinking there about what those issues are and the order of importance to you.

It's time to move to our second learning cycle now.

What are the ways to take action? What's the ways then that people can have a say about the issues that they face in their neighbourhood is by using their right to vote in the local elections.

Now having this right to take part in the election is a really key part of local democracy and that's when the residents, they vote for the local counsellors, the leaders that they want to represent their views and to make things better in the area.

Now obviously it's really important for residents to have a say, but not everybody in the whole of the UK is eligible to vote in local elections.

Remember, eligible means that you are allowed and that you meet the criteria of being able to do something and no, not everybody is eligible and Izzy is there now reminding us that to be able to vote in local elections, people have to be age 18 and over or 16 plus if you're in Scotland and Wales, you have to be registered to vote so on the electoral role and you have to be living in the UK and be a British, Irish or a Commonwealth citizen.

So that's not everybody.

What about all of the people that don't fall into that category? So true or false then? Every person living in the UK is eligible to vote.

Is that true or false? A few seconds to think.

Alright, of course the answer is false.

No, not everybody is eligible to vote and why? A few more seconds to think.

And why then? Well citizens must be living in the UK, they must be aged 18 or over or again 16 if Scotland or Wales.

They must be registered to vote and they must meet the nationality requirements.

So they must be a citizen from a certain country.

Good job if you've got that one.

Alex here says, I'm 12 years old, I'm not old enough to vote.

I'm not even old enough to register to vote.

Sofia says, Same for me.

Does this mean we don't get a say in what happens in our local area for six more years? Izzy's here to make things a lot better.

She says, Absolutely not.

There are many ways you have a say in what happens in your area.

Even before you're old enough to vote, there is no age limit on becoming an active citizen.

So that's what you are when you're involved in your community and you want to make a positive change.

So one of the ways that you can do this is by creating a campaign.

Campaigning is when people take action and they work together to try and change something that they care about.

Campaigns can be run by anyone from local residents to big organisations and they can focus on all kinds of things as well.

And Alex remembers, Oh yes! People near me set up a campaign to stop their running club closing down.

It was started by the members and they got so many people involved, it worked too.

And Sofia remembers, In my town they were going to build on a huge grass patch.

The space is nothing special, but loads of people get together and play football there and walk their dogs, things like that.

People wanted to keep it as it is.

So they created a campaign to save the area.

Quick check for understanding.

So campaigning is? A, actions or events organised by an individual or a group of people to achieve an aim? Is campaigning considering an important problem or topic and thinking about discussing or debating it? Or is it C, the part of democracy which allows residents to vote for the people they want to lead that area? You have five seconds to think about the correct answer.

All right, campaigning is A.

Isn't it? Campaigning is actions or events organised by an individual or a group of people to achieve an aim.

Very good if you've got that.

Let's start looking at some of these different campaign actions then.

So letters and petitions.

So that's using writing to the people who make the decisions to help press for change, for things to become different.

And it might involve getting others who agree with you to sign to show that they also think the same as you.

Crowd funding and fundraising, that's about raising money for community projects or to go towards making a campaign even bigger so it can reach more people.

There might be online campaign events, might be virtual events or talks, it might be social media campaigns.

And they are really, really easy to reach lots and lots of people and doesn't cost a lot of money either.

There might be physical events, so things like protests when people say no, we don't want this to happen and they get together in big groups.

There could be demonstrations and marches or it could be a local community event like a fair or a fundraising event.

And that's basically isn't it, where people get the chance to actually physically come together and see each other in person and publicly show their support for a cause or a change or to make something better in that area.

Which of these images then is associated with events such as protests and demonstrations? Let's have a look.

Is it A or B or C? You have a few seconds to think about it.

Okay, so which of the images is associated with events like protests and demonstrations? It is C.

Really well done.

Some more campaign actions then.

Now it might be about raising awareness.

Sometimes people aren't bothered about something, not because they don't care, but they might actually just not know about it.

So if you can raise awareness and tell people about what is going on, it's a good way of getting people involved.

So people might use flyers, posters, displays, they might have artwork and things like music and performances are becoming even more common now to get people aware of different issues and to get their message across.

Another campaign action is about informing others.

So instead of having posters up where people are reading them and then maybe finding out more themselves, informing others is more about taking the time to actually go to people and speak to them maybe one to one or in groups and saying, did you know about this issue? Are you aware of this? And that sort of approach has a really personal touch because it's a bit different than just reading something on a screen or just reading a poster or watching a big event.

It's more face-to-face, more interactive.

Isn't it? And if the people can do that with people who can vote, and if you can do that with people who can actually make those decisions, can have a bigger impact as well because those people will feel more connected to your cause because you've taken the time to speak to them personally about it.

Another one is meeting with decision makers.

So going to your local council meetings, attending the council surgery dates.

So that's when residents can actually book with these decision makers and that gives the residents, that gives you the chance to speak directly to the people who make the decisions.

Another campaign action is to volunteer and to support.

So you don't need to be a voting age to volunteer, you don't need to be a voting age to support, but it's a really good way of learning about the needs of a community and contributing in a positive way your changing things in a good way by using your time and your skills for free.

So which of these images is associated with the campaign method of informing others? So which of these is associated with informing others? Is it A, B, or C? A few seconds to think.

All right, then the answer is A.

Yes.

It's that face-to-face contact.

Isn't it? of actually informing and telling others about your cause.

Another check for understanding then.

So which type of campaign and action involves when you give your time and your support to a community for free? Which campaign action is that? Is it raising awareness? Is it meeting with decision makers or is it volunteering? A few seconds to think.

Okay, the answer is C.

Yes, given your time and your support or your skills to a community for free.

Well done.

We're onto task B now.

The first thing you're gonna do is to choose four issues from your diamond 9 task from the first task that you did from task A.

And what you're gonna do is think about which campaign action would you choose to have the biggest impact on tackling that issue? So for example, if you picked litter, which of those campaign actions we've discussed just now, which would have the biggest impact on tackling that issue? And what you're gonna do is fill in the table identifying: the issue, the chosen campaign action, the one that you want to use.

Why you chose the action? You see here? What's the issue? What's the chosen campaign action? And why did you choose this action? Take some time to do that by pausing the video and then we'll come back together to look at some answers.

Okay, let's go through some possible answers then.

So your answer might have been something like mine.

Now obviously we've got different opinions, so yours won't read exactly the same as mine.

Let's have a look.

So what is the issue? So I chose litter.

What is the chosen campaign action? I chose an event.

And why did I choose that? Well, cleanup days are really good to tackle the litter directly.

It raises awareness about importance of keeping public spaces clean.

So if you see a big group in a park all doing the same thing, you're gonna wanna get involved and find out why they're doing that.

And that raises that awareness of, oh yeah, litter is a problem around here.

Another one I went with was about the lack of play space.

Alright, and the chosen a campaign action I went for then was to have a meeting.

So to get communities together, to get the people together to discuss how important it is to have a play space and to try and get those people involved who can actually make a difference.

So people like local counsellors and businesses as well.

And hopefully together everybody can work at it to tackle it as a team.

Another one I picked was antisocial behaviour and the campaign action I chose was about raising awareness.

So this would be things like focusing on the education of it, so posters, workshops in schools and in young people groups to try and highlight the impact of it.

So actually make people aware of how it affects other people, because sometimes people just don't know the impact of their behaviour, but if they're taught about it, it might encourage 'em to think a little bit more and maybe get positive interactions rather than feeling like they're being told off for stuff.

The final one I went with was the local swimming pool has closed and the campaign action I chose was a petition and I chose a petition because it shows how many residents value the pool and to see actually, there is a demand for it.

People do want to use it, and then you could present the petition to the local counsellors, or if it's a company responsible for the pool, you could present it to them as well to say, look, we really wanna keep this pool.

Really well done on that task.

I hope you managed to feel like you've done a really good job matching a campaign action with the issue.

Well done.

Onto our third learning cycle then.

How can young people influence decision making? So as we've said then, although young people cannot vote, they can be active citizens.

Now, being an active citizen is about taking part in democracy by being involved in your community, not just by following the rules, actually helping to shape and change the world around you.

It might mean caring about what's happening, it might be using your voice to speak up about what is right.

It might be taking positive action to make things better.

Sofia tells us here that learning to become an active citizen means that young people will be then more equipped and more prepared with skills that are then going to be vital for making a difference now, at this age, but also in the future as well.

Active citizens, then it is really, really important for them to be informed.

So that's about understanding the issues that you care about and finding out as much as you can about it because the more you know, the better equipped you'll be to try and take action against that and have positive change.

It's also really to work with others.

It's really difficult to make change completely on your own.

It might start with one person, but nearly always it snowballs when other people get involved.

And if you've got active citizens together, you can have stronger ideas and you can reach more people when you team up with others team.

So in other words, collaborative working is absolutely key.

It's also really important to be persistent.

Yeah, things do not happen overnight.

I know it sounds like a cliche, but they don't.

And it sometimes it feels like things are not changing and you're trying and trying and trying and it just isn't happening.

But persistence is about not giving up, it's about keeping working towards goals, even if it's really difficult because it's the small actions when you add them up over time, it's actually made a huge change.

Remember it's not overnight, it's about persistence.

When you complete the following sentence then.

For active citizens, it is important to be informed to work with others and? What's that missing thing there? A few seconds to think about it.

Alright, so for active citizens it's important to be informed, work with others and be persistent.

Yes, change doesn't happen overnight.

Keep on going.

Well done.

So let's look at this question then.

So how can young people begin to influence decision making? And there are three main steps to this, really.

The first one is to identify and plan.

Alright, the next one is to take action, and the third one is to evaluate.

Let's go through these.

The first step then, plan.

So active citizens need to think about things that matter to them in their local area.

And they might consider questions like, is there something I want to see improved? Is there an issue in my community that I really care about? And they then might talk to others who were affected by the same kinds of things and listen to their opinions as well.

So once they've identified this issue, they can then start to make a plan and they might team up with others who've got the same opinions.

Remember, collaboration is really important towards moving towards getting campaign success.

And active citizens like to think about what their aims are, decide which campaign action to use to achieve this, a little like you've just done in task B.

The second step then is to actually take some action.

So active citizens decide what steps they're going to take and they actually go and take them.

They don't just think about it, they actually do it.

So they might speak with local counsellors or decision makers, they might organise a petition and get others to sign it or they might organise and take part in protests, marches, or maybe something like a voter registration drive to get more people to register to vote.

It might also be about raising awareness of an issue through posters, flyers, social media and things.

And the third step is to evaluate.

Now evaluate is considering what you've done, considering your actions, and then evaluating and judging whether you think you've met your goals or not.

Questions like, have I seen anything change? Have things improved? Is there something else I could be doing or who else I could help? They're all really valuable questions in evaluating what you've done so far.

And that is really important to evaluate because it helps you identify what you can do next.

So what your next step is.

A quick check for understanding then.

So in which order should an active citizen do the three steps to influence decision making? So what order are those steps? Is it plan, evaluate, take action? Is it evaluate, take action, plan? Or is it plan, take action, evaluate? Which order is correct there.

I'll give you a few seconds to think.

Alright, the correct order of these steps then is C, it's to plan, then take action and then evaluate.

Good if you got that.

Well done.

The final task for this learning today then is task C.

The first part of it, again, you are going to choose one of the issues you wrote down in your diamond 9 in task A.

You're going to create a campaign plan to address the issue, and you're gonna do that by answering the following questions.

So A, is what is the issue? B, is who else is affected by the issue? C, is which decision maker will you contact about it? And D, what campaign actions will you take? So you're going to choose an issue from your diamond 9 and create your campaign plan by answering these four questions.

Pause the video to give yourself time to do this and then we'll come back and look at some possible answers.

Alright, let's see some possible answers then.

So A, what is the issue? So I went with litter.

So here's an example answer.

There was a lot of litter in the park and it's making the environment unpleasant for everyone.

The park is an important space for people to relax, play and enjoy nature, but the litter is causing pollution and attracting vermin.

B, who else is affected by the issue? Because it's not just one person ever.

Is it, really? Other people who use the park, like families, runners, dog walkers are affected by the issue.

Local wildlife may also be affected as they can be harmed by litter.

Furthermore, the community as a whole suffers because a dirty park of affects the area's image and can lead to other problems like graffiti as well, where there's just general disrespect for the area.

Which decision maker will you contact? I'll contact local counsellors.

There are four in my local ward.

I'll do this by email first of all, but I could also visit them during one of their local surgeries.

And D, what campaign actions will you take? Petition, and this is to get a petition to get more bins in the park and to encourage the community to pick up litter.

Local groups could also come together for a park cleanup day.

Perhaps led by local counsellors.

Could also raise awareness.

So create posters with messages like keep our park clean or don't be a litter bug to put up in the public spaces to bring that issue to the community's attention because again, not everybody notices, not everybody's always aware that it's a problem.

And so it's about raising awareness and teaching people about it, isn't it? Really well done on your campaign plan.

The second part of it's to then reflect on what you've written and answer the following questions.

So A, how would you measure your campaign success? So how will you know if things are improving and what evidence might you see for that? And the second part of this is if your campaign actions don't work, what could you try next? How can you get others involved? Remember, collaboration, collaborative working is key, isn't it? Getting others involved.

So take some time to complete the second part of this task and we'll come back together to look over the answers.

All right, then let's see some possible answers.

So sticking with my theme of the litter.

How would I measure campaign success? So how would I know if things are improving and what evidence might I see? So if the petition gets enough signatures, the council might take notice and then be able to put more bins in place in the park.

If there's less litter in the park over time, this would then show that the campaign actions are having a positive effect.

So it is actually making a difference.

If there's more people using the park because it's cleaner and safer, that would also be a sign of success too.

And part B then, if campaign actions don't work, what could you try next and how can you get others involved? So if the counsellors don't respond or if the issue carries on, if it persists, I could organise a peaceful protest with placards because that might get the media attention, so the newspapers and the local TV, and it might then inspire others to take action on their own.

Social media could also be used to raise awareness.

For example, if you share the petition or about the cleanup day online, there might be then more people who get involved in that.

If the counsellors don't take the action, then there could even be a campaign hashtag, like for example, #CleanOurPark to get round, spreading the word as well.

Some really carefully considered work there and some lovely evaluation work.

If you've done your campaign plan and your evaluating of it as well.

Great job.

Let's summarise our learning for today.

Local issues are concerns or problems that directly affect a specific community or area.

This could be linked to services the council provides or issues caused by other residents.

Voting is a way of having a say in what happens in the local area.

Even when people are too young to vote, they can still take action and have a say by campaigning.

Different campaign methods include petition, protesting, raising awareness, and volunteering.

Young active citizens take action to improve their area by identifying issues, planning, working together, and evaluating.

It's important to be informed, work with others and be persistent.

You've worked incredibly hard on that today because there's a lot of information there and you've taken it in brilliantly and you've really thought hard about it.

Fantastic job.

I hope to see you again soon.