Lesson video

Hello, I'm Mrs. Kennedy, and I'm really pleased that you've decided to join me for today's lesson.

I'll be guiding you through the lesson, helping you along the way.

Today's lesson comes from the unit What are our identities and our communities? And our lesson is called How do Identities Change? By the end of today's lesson, you'll be able to explain how and why identities change over time.

Our keywords for today are identities, who people are, or the qualities of a person, or a group that make them different from others.

Belonging, the sense of security and support when there is a sense of acceptance, inclusion, and identity for a member of a certain group.

And finally, the United Kingdom, an island country that sits northwest of mainland Europe made up of mainland Great Britain, England, Wales, and Scotland, and the northern part of the island of Ireland, Northern Ireland.

So let's have a look at the first part of our lesson, what does it mean to belong? Feeling that you belong is an important part of being a human being.

It allows you to understand who you are.

And this is all connected to your identity as an individual.

Belonging is the feeling of security and support when there is a sense of acceptance, inclusion, and identity for a member of a certain group.

Our sense of belonging can shift with our identity.

Let's have a look at an example of that.

For example, while you're in school, you feel a sense of belonging to the school.

But as you move on to college or perhaps a workplace, your sense of belonging adjusts to the new environments.

Have a think.

Where do you feel a sense of belonging at the moment? True or false, you will always belong to the same groups.

Do you think that statement is true or do you think it's false? So that's false.

Let's take a look at why.

Your sense of identity changes through life, and so will the groups that you get a sense of belonging out of.

So you will not always belong to the same groups.

That might change as you age and go through that.

So Aisha asks us, where do you feel a sense of belonging? And I asked you that question a moment ago too.

Jacob says, "I belong to my school, and I'm a member of the athletics team.

I enjoy belonging to a large family with four brothers.

I'm also part of the Youth Parliament, which means that I can represent young people in politics.

I belong to lots of friendship groups because I seem to get along with many different people." So Jacob's given us lots of examples there of where he feels a sense of belonging.

He talks about his family, he talks about teams he's part of, the athletics team, and he also talks about the Youth Parliament and politics, as well as his friends and different groups of people.

So there are all sorts of different groups that Jacob gets a sense of belonging from.

And Aisha asks, how does belonging to these things and these groups help you? So Jacob tells us, "I feel supported by my friends and my school.

I have fun in athletics and feel like it encourages me to be fit, healthy, and have a good time.

I get a sense of security from my family 'cause my brothers protect me.

Belonging to different groups allows me to relieve stress and feel together with people rather than separate." So again, Jacob's managed to tell us lots of different ways that belonging to all the different groups he mentioned helps him and helps him feel like he's part of something bigger and not just a separate person.

So which of these options can a sense of belonging feel like, do you think? Is it a, security, b, support, c, separation, or d, stress.

What can a sense of belonging feel like? So we have two possible answers there.

So you might have selected security and support as being things that a sense of belonging feels like, but it definitely doesn't feel like separation or stress.

So well done if you've got one or both of those right.

So we've got a task for you.

Where do you feel a sense of belonging? I'd like you to write a paragraph explaining what groups you belong to and the reason you belong to them.

And Jun's gonna give us a helpful hint.

He says, "Think about clubs, family, friends, groups, and school." So all of those things might help you with your paragraph.

Pause the video now and have a go.

I asked you, where do you feel a sense of belonging? And I asked you to write me a paragraph explaining what groups you belong to and why you belong to them.

So your answers might look quite different from mine, and don't worry if that's the case.

We all have our unique identities and we will all belong to lots of different groups.

But your answer might have looked something like this.

I belong to many different groups which help form my identity.

I'm a member of a school.

I belong to class 7C because of my age and where I live.

I'm part of the school netball team and captain of the rounders team.

And I enjoy belonging to those because I'm good at sport.

I also belong to my family because I was born into it and my friendship groups that I chose because I get along well with them.

I am part of the United Kingdom because I was born in England.

So lots of different examples of groups that this person belongs to and why they belong to them.

I wonder if you had any similarities in your answer.

You might like to read a few of your friends' answers and find out a bit more about them and their identity.

In the next part of the lesson, we are going to look at why can identities change over time.

So identities change over time because people grow, learn, and experience new things.

As you grow up, your interests, values, and friendships might shift or change.

Your identity reflects how you see yourself and the world.

And since life is full of change, your identity can change with it too.

Identities can change for lots of reasons.

So some examples might be personal growth.

So as you learn, grow, get older, and mature, your views and understanding of yourself and the world will change.

Gaining independence.

Again, as you grow older, you might start to make more of your own choices than you did when you were a younger child.

Learning new ideas.

Exposure to different beliefs, knowledge, or experience can shift your perspective.

Let's have a check.

So I want you to match up the definition with its meaning.

So we've got three definitions here.

We've got personal growth, gaining independence, and learning new ideas.

And three different meanings.

We've got A, exposure to different beliefs, knowledge, or experiences can shift your perspective.

B, as you learn and mature, your views and understanding of yourself will change.

C, as you grow older, you make more of your own choices.

So can you match the definition with its meaning? So let's have a look and see if you matched them up correctly.

So first, we had personal growth.

So number one, personal growth should have matched with B, as you learn and mature, your views and understanding of yourself will change.

Number 2 was gaining independence, and you should have matched that one with C, as you grow older, you make more of your own choices.

And finally, we had learning new ideas, Number 3, which should have matched up with a, exposure to different beliefs, knowledge, or experiences can shift your perspective.

Well done if you managed to get all three of those correct.

So Andeep asks us, why else can identities change? I wonder if you can think of any reasons why else, why other reasons than we've already looked at our identity might change.

So identities can change for lots of different reasons.

So it could be personal choice, developing interests, or new hobbies.

It could be life events, for example, moving or changing school.

It could be new experiences, influence of new people you meet, or going to new places.

So just three other examples of how your identity can change.

I wonder if you could think of any others.

So Andeep has joined his local football team, and this has changed his identity.

He now views himself as a footballer.

So he's got a new characteristic as part of his identity.

He feels he's now a footballer.

Izzy has moved from year six to year seven.

Her identity has changed because she now views herself as a mature secondary school student.

So she's left year six, left primary school and gone, and she's seven.

And that change in her life has had an impact on her identity and how she views herself.

True or false, swapping hobbies can change your identity.

Do you think that statement is true or do you think it's false? So hopefully you said it was true.

Let's take a look at why.

So choosing a different hobby can impact your life and therefore could change your identity.

So we've got an example here.

If you started playing snooker, you might consider yourself having a new identity as a snooker player.

So for your next practise task, I would like you to have a go at creating a timeline for me.

And in your timeline, I'd like you to add some different identities you have had in the past that you have now.

And then have a think to the future.

What might your identity look like in the future? Pause the video now to go and create your timeline.

So I wonder what your timelines look like.

I asked you to create me a timeline.

On it, I wanted to know about your identity in the past, I wanted to know about your identity now, and I was also interested in what you thought your identity might look like in the future.

Now your timeline is likely to look quite different to mine because your identity is unique, but let's have a look at some examples of things you might have popped on your timeline.

So in the past, I had brown hair.

I was English, I was born English.

And I was a baby.

And in the present, you might have said, I'm currently a pupil in year seven, I love cats.

And I'm an active citizen, so I like to make a difference in my community and make positive change happen.

And what might my identity look like in the future? And I'm not currently a guitar player, but I have been asking for guitar lessons and I'm really interested in learning.

So I'm hoping, in the future, I might develop an identity as a guitar player.

And I'd really like to move somewhere a bit warmer.

So again, in the future, my identity might involve living in Portugal.

And I really like running, and I've done lots of running, but one day I would like to complete a marathon.

So again, my future identity might be as a marathon runner.

I wonder what you put in your past, present, and future identities.

For the next part of your task, I would like you to think about, why does your identity change throughout your life? Write a paragraph explaining your response.

Now Jacob is gonna give us some interesting points that you might want to include in your answer.

So Jacob says, "There are many reasons, including personal growth, gaining independence, learning new ideas, personal choice, life events, and new experiences." So all of those different things that Jacob has listed are things we know might change our identity.

So your task is to write me a paragraph explaining why does your identity change throughout your life and try and include some of the interesting points that Jacob has suggested.

Pause the video now and have a go at that.

So I asked you to write to me a paragraph explaining why identity changes throughout your life.

And we've got an example answer here.

I wonder if your answer looked anything like this.

So it says identities change over time due to personal growth, new experiences, and different interests.

As you learn and mature, your understanding of yourself expands.

Life events like moving house, meeting new people, or changing schools can shape who you are.

The influence of family, friends, and culture also plays a role in changing your identity.

As you gain independence, you make more choices that reflect your identity.

And learning new ideas can shift your perspective over time.

So lots of examples in there about why identity might change throughout your life.

I wonder if you picked up any of the same examples or if you had any additional ideas in your answers.

And for the final part of our task, I would like you to think about which identities might stay the same.

Write me a paragraph to explain your response.

And this time, we've got Sofia with a hint.

So Sophia tells us to think about things you inherit and things you cannot change.

So go away and write me a paragraph about which identities in your life might stay the same.

Pause the video now to do that.

So for this final part of the task, I asked you to think about which identities in your life might stay the same.

So your response might have looked something like this.

The biological traits you inherit from your parents stay the same throughout your life, which means part of your identity is fixed.

For example, your eye colour, facial features, and bone structure tend to stay the same as you get older.

Although you might become a dual national, your main nationality will stay the same because it is dependent on where you were born, which is part of your nature.

So we've learned that there are definitely things in your identity that may well change, but we also have some things in our identity which might be fixed.

So for the final part of our lesson, we are gonna look at how has the United Kingdom's identity changed.

So let's do that now.

The United Kingdom is made up of four constituent countries.

So we've got England, Northern Ireland, Scotland, and Wales.

The United Kingdom does not include Ireland.

So Great Britain is the island which contains England, Scotland, and Wales.

So you can see that in that map.

So we've got England there in red, we've got Scotland in blue, and we've got Wales in yellow.

And when you put England, Scotland, and Wales together, you've got Great Britain, the island.

The United Kingdom is Great Britain but also Northern Ireland.

So can you see the difference in that map? So we've still got England in red, we've got Scotland in blue, we've got Wales in yellow, but we've also got Northern Ireland there in green, and that's what makes up the United Kingdom.

So you might sometimes hear people talking about Great Britain, which is England, Scotland, and Wales, and other times you hear them talking about the United Kingdom, which is Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

And the identity of the United Kingdom has changed over time.

So let's look at some of the ways that that's happened on this timeline.

So our timeline starts in 1707.

The Kingdom of Great Britain, which is Scotland, England, and Wales.

And if we move forward to 1801, we've got the United Kingdom, Great Britain and Ireland, Scotland, Wales, and Ireland.

And then if we move forward even further into 1922, we've got the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, which is Scotland, England, Wales, and Northern Ireland.

And Ireland leaves the UK.

So can you see the difference in the United Kingdom from 1801, when we had Scotland, England, Wales, and Ireland, and then when we move forward to 1922, Ireland has now left.

We've got England, Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland.

So true or false, Ireland is not part of the United Kingdom.

Do you think that statement is true or do you think it's false? So that statement is true.

Northern Ireland is part of the United Kingdom, but Ireland is a separate country.

And Ireland gained independence from the United Kingdom on December the 6th, 1921 and officially left in 1922, which we saw on the previous timeline on the previous slide.

So each nation in the United Kingdom, so that's England, Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland, has its own unique traditions which contribute to their own national identity.

This means that the United Kingdom has its own identity but also multiple identities.

So England, Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland, as separate countries, will all have their own identities.

They also come together to create the multiple identity of the United Kingdom.

People who live in England might celebrate St George's Day because St George is their patron saint.

Students or pupils who go to school in Wales learn Welsh to celebrate their diversity.

People who live in Scotland might celebrate Burns night because of a famous Scottish poet called Robert Burns.

And people who live in Northern Ireland might celebrate St Patrick's Day because St Patrick is their patron saint.

You've got four different examples there from the different countries that make up the United Kingdom of ways that they have their own unique traditions which contribute to their national identity.

Things are constantly shifting across the nations that make up the United Kingdom.

So we've got some examples of that here.

So one example is that Scotland voted on independence in 2014.

And that meant they had a vote, a referendum that asked them if they wanted to remain a part of the United Kingdom.

If it had been successful, so if they had voted for independence, they would no longer have been part of the identity of the UK.

Migration is the movement of people between different countries, and it also causes a change in the UK's identity.

So we're gonna have a look at a diagram together which shows some of the events that have happened to change the United Kingdom's identity over time.

So let's have a look at our first one.

So all the way back in the 5th Century AD, the Romans left and Anglo-Saxons took over.

So our identity shifted at that point, as the Romans left and Anglo-Saxons came.

We then moved forward to the Middle Ages.

We had lots of skilled trades people from Germany and Belgium settling here.

And that again shifted the identity of the United Kingdom.

Moving forward again into the 17th century this time, we began to trade with China, and many Chinese sailors arrived.

So they migrated into the country, and that again had an impact on our identity as a country.

And in a more recent example, after World War II, the UK government asked people from the Commonwealth to come and work.

So again, we had lots of people migrating to the country to come and work here and build skills gaps that were left after the war.

And that changed the United Kingdom's identity.

So as you see, migration have quite an impact on our identity.

So after which war did the UK government ask people from the Commonwealth to come and work? Is it a, World War I? Was it b, the Russia-Ukraine War? Was it c, World War II? Or was it d, the Vietnam War? So after which war did the UK government ask people from the Commonwealth to come and work here in the UK? So it was after World War II.

Well done if you've got that one right.

So here we have another example of how the UK's identity has changed.

On the 30th of January, 2020, the United Kingdom left the European Union.

And this was called Brexit.

This event changed the identity of the United Kingdom and everyone who identifies with it.

We saw lots of changes.

One of the those was passports.

So we know that passports are a main form of identification in the United Kingdom.

And before Brexit happened, they were a burgundy colour.

If you looked at the front of them, they had European Union written on them.

But once Brexit had happened, passports changed colour.

So now, if you apply for a passport, you will be given a blue passport.

And it won't say European Union on the front.

Instead, it will say British Passport on the front.

That's just one example of many of how Brexit has begun to change the identity of the United Kingdom.

So have a think.

What colour are the most recent British passports? Are they red, black, or blue? So well done if you said blue.

That is the correct answer.

Okay, so we've got a task for you here.

So there is a paragraph here, and I would like you to have a read of it and fill in the gaps about how identities have changed in the United Kingdom.

And if you look at the bottom of the slide there, you have a word bank.

So you need to fill in the gaps in this passage with the words that appear in that table at the bottom.

So if you pause the video now and have a go at that.

So I wonder if you managed to fill in all the gaps on our passage using the word bank that we provided.

So let's have a look.

So we said the United Kingdom's identity has changed throughout the years, and it has multiple identities because it contains four different nations.

After World War II, lots of migration happened because members of the Commonwealth were invited to come to the United Kingdom to work.

In 2020, the United Kingdom left the European Union, which was called Brexit.

This resulted in lots of changes, including our passports changing colour to blue.

It transformed the way some individuals viewed their own identity.

Did you manage to get all the words in the right place? Well done if you did.

And that brings us to the end of today's lesson.

Let's have a quick summary of what we've talked about.

Identity as part of a group gives us a sense of belonging, and safety, and security.

We talked about the fact that identities can change over time, but there are also parts of our identity that are fixed by nature, like our hair colour or eye colour.

There are lots of different reasons that identities change.

Some of these are because of personal choices we make, like moving.

But others are as a result of external factors, such as the influence other people's views may have us.

And finally, it can be a whole country's identity that might change, which will change our own identities too.

For example, we looked at the UK leaving the European Union, which might have changed the way individuals view their own identity.

I hope you have enjoyed exploring with me how identities change.

I'm interested to see how your identities continue to change.

And I look forward to seeing you in another lesson.