Lesson video

Hello, everyone and welcome to a citizenship unit all about how citizens can take action.

So this is the second lesson in this unit, and today we're going to be looking at different groups that can take action in our society.

So, it's really exciting, it's all about how people like you and I can make a difference in the world that we live in and also in our local communities.

So I hope that you're all ready to learn, and by now you should have found yourself a nice quiet space where you can focus.

If you've got the earning on your phone today, please turn any apps or notifications off so that you can stay with us.

If you're on your computer, I hope you've got a bit of space around you.

And then a little bit of quiet if you could find some at home so you're able to concentrate.

I'm going to meet you in just a moment and tell you what you need for today's lesson, and tell you a little bit more about what we'll be doing.

So looking forward to catching up with you in just a minute.

Welcome back everybody.

So hopefully you've found yourself somewhere nice and quite to work by now, and you're ready to start our lesson.

So, what do we need for today's lesson then? Well, as always, we need our minds, our brains to be working, and we absolutely need them to be engaged and thinking about lots of questions and ready to answer lots question.

We need an exercise book or some paper to make a notes on and also a pen or pencil to write with.

So hoping that most of you've have brought those things with you, as you're expecting to see some learning.

But if you haven't, you can pause your video now in order to go and grab some and meet the rest of us in just a moment, ready to start the first half.

For those of you who have got everything, let's get ready to move on.

Okay, everyone, so let's have a look at what we're going to be finding out about today.

First thing we're going to looking at is which groups can create change in society.

Then we're going to focus on a pressure group case study, a protest group case study, and then look at which methods we think are most effective, and before we know it we're going to be at the end of the lesson, and it's going to be time to do your exit quiz, and show me exactly what you've learnt, and surprise yourself with how much you can remember.

'Cause I know you're going to pay loads of attention and doing really well in this lesson.

So, let's get started and thinking about which groups can cause change or create change in society? And of course when we're talking about changing citizenship, we're talking about change for the better.

Important concepts then that we need to think about today and you would probably want to make a note of as we go through, is the idea of a pressure group, a protest group, and a social movement.

And you'll be coming across these terms as we move through the lesson, and we'll also talk about exactly what they mean.

Okay, so let's get started by looking at this picture.

I'm sure you've seen images of this or like this very recently in the news over the past year.

Perhaps in certain Fridays you see pictures of this on the news or in the local newspapers, or perhaps people doing something like this in a town or city near you.

So, very, very quickly I'd like you to think about what could these people be doing? What could they be thinking? And where are they or where could they be? Okay.

So in other words, not where in the world could they be, but what would we describe them as being at? I'm not going to ask you to write that down, you can write it down if you want to, but really, in about maybe 10 seconds, I'm going to ask you to think about your answers or shout them at me, and see if you got the same answers or ideas as I have.

So let's get that timing going.

And in five, four, three, two, one.

Are you ready to go through those answers with me? Fantastic.

So what could these people be doing? So let's have a look.

We've got some hints there haven't we? We've got a real focus with somebody holding up what seems to be a sign, a homemade sign at that, and it says, "Wake up", and it's got an image of the globe and that globe is on fire.

So they're certainly trying to get a message across.

So what could they be doing? Well, I think they're trying to get a message across and quite clearly that message is around the world and what's happening in the world.

So what could they be thinking? I'm guessing that most people that are at this event are thinking the same thing, that they have got a worry, or concern, or want to do something about what is happening to the globe, or what is happening to the world.

And most people, when they see images like that global on fire and they talk about wake up, and you might also have seen similar images, like there's no planet B, things in that.

I've talked to you about our environment, our world, our climate, all of these things are in a desperate state and we need to do something about that, and many of you will know about Greta Thunberg and doing those kinds of strikes.

So where are they? Again, that links to this idea of being part of a demonstration or a strike in connection with the environment or climate and raise awareness of the damage that people are doing with the environment.

So probably this image has made you think about quite a lot of things, perhaps things that you've see on the news.

But when we start questioning that, we realise that all of the people here that are at this even have got one idea and one mind, and that idea is that they want to cause change.

They want to make people realise there's a problem with the environment, we need to be something about it.

What can we do? How could we get our voices heard by other people? Some people might be sitting at home writing letters will do it, but this group of people have decided that they need to meet together to raise awareness about this cause.

So over to you now, straight into task 1 everybody, and on your paper or in your books I would like you to do a little diagram please of groups that you think could create change.

And they might be groups that you're already aware of, groups we've already studied, they might be groups that you learned about at school, it might be groups that you've learnt about inn your own community.

Maybe there's a local group that works near you that have created change, that have done something for the better for a certain group of people or for a certain reason.

So anything goes here, as long as you know they've created change and that change is for the better.

So pause your video now and then press play when you've completed.

I'd suggest you spend no longer than three minutes on this task.

Well done everybody.

So hopefully you have got lots of ideas on your diagram.

Some ideas could include Amnesty International, which is a charity, a group and an NGO, a non-government organisation, that works abroad and in this country dealing with human rights, and they create change for human rights, for example, they get people who have been imprisoned illegally released from prison.

And also on a national level you've got organisations like the RSPCA who will campaign for change and help animals that are being treated poorly.

And they will even take people to court and prosecute them.

So, two groups that have created change locally, and internationally, and nationally.

So hopefully you'll have an idea of what you should do.

So, how do we influence government? What could we as citizens do to influence government? And lots of people want to influence government to make sure their views are head.

One way to do this is to take part in an election to vote for the political party you believe will represent your view in the best way.

However, elections only take place every five years.

So when there's not an election, how else can people influence the government to bring about change? So imagine that you've made that vote, you've decided to vote for a political party, and then when they get to power, they're not doing things that you thought they would, or they're not doing things as quickly as you hoped they would.

You don't really want to wait another five years to get the chance to vote for someone to see if they do things more quickly.

So what can we do in the need to being heard to try and create change, to try and bring pressure, say, on the government you voted for, in order to get something happening that will make things better for people? Let's have a look.

So the first thing that opened to citizens who want to create change is to join a pressure group.

Now, a pressure group is a group of people who want to influence the government about a specific issue.

I'm sure lots of you have heard of the word pressure group.

And if you think about what the word pressure means, it's normally about about putting force on something isn't it? And if we think about putting pressure on something, perhaps you push down on it, or you're forcing it to do it.

And the idea of the pressure group, it's kind of similar, it's a group of people who try and put pressure on the government, using a number of strategies to do so.

And all the people involved in that pressure group are wanting the same thing about a particular issue.

So let's have a little bit of a look and see how pressure groups work.

Now there's lots of different pressure groups, and sometimes around an issue, they work on different sides of the argument.

Let's read on.

Pressure groups represent different types of issues from across society.

Sometimes there can be different pressure groups representing each side of a cause.

For example, the issue of badger cullings to prevent the spread of disease.

The Badger Trust campaign to stop this process arguing it is cruel and unneeded.

However, the National Union of Farmers campaign to protect farmers and want the badger cull to prevent disease spreading to the farmer's cattle.

Now here we've got two pressure groups working in very separate groups in our community.

So the farmers, they're saying, look, we need to cull badgers to protect our cows from tuberculosis.

And the Badger Trust who are there to look after the welfare of wildlife, particularly badgers, are saying, actually, this is unneeded, there's little scientific proof that this cull is helping and it's a cruel and unnecessary thing that you're doing.

So both of these groups go the government and say, one says, we please carry on with what you're doing, we need it to happen.

And another one says, please stop what you're doing, it's unfair and we don't permit it to happen.

So both of these groups are putting pressure on the government, the government in the middle, there's both applying pressure, but different sides of the argument.

So if you're in the government or if you're a politician, often it's very difficult to keep everybody happy.

And as a member of a pressure group, it can be very difficult to create change when you've got other pressure groups working with you or working against you.

So being part of a pressure group means that you have to use lots of skills and understand that although you have your views about what change should be, sometimes other people have a different point of view to you.

There's different types of pressure groups that you could belong to.

So we're going to have a look at these a little bit more.

The first group is called an insider group, and they have close links to the government and decision makers.

Their views are often asked for when decisions need to be made.

Then they normally represent a certain section of the population or an issue.

So if the government needed to make a decision about badger culling, they may well ask for the vies of the Badger Trust and the National Farmers Union on that on that view.

So that will be an insider group.

They have the authority, people would go to them and say you are respected group, we would like to know what you think? Then we have outsider groups.

So they're not on the inside, they don't get talk to government, they're not close to government, they're out here, locked away.

So these don't have influence on decision makers and they rely on getting the public to support them and raise awareness about an issue.

So these are often the pressure groups that we see having big demonstrations, getting lots of media interest, so to them, getting support is really important, in order to make sure that the government realise that there is support for the change they want to cause.

And then there's an interest or an issue group.

An issue pressure group campaigns about a key issue they wish to change.

An issue group campaigns for sectors of society, for example, welfare, health, and business.

Okay? So the issue is just about one issue.

So very, very specific matter.

And the interest group might campaign or a certain group, so it might be for issues more to their nature, interest with health, or interested in welfare, or interests within certain business groups.

And they apply pressure around that.

So, task 2 everybody.

I would like you to decide whether each of the groups are issue or interest groups.

So you can draw a little table, one side saying interest and one side saying issue, and decide whether or not you think these four groups are interest groups or issues groups.

So, pause your video now and complete the task.

Welcome back everybody.

So, hopefully you can see the two groups, or the four pressure groups split into the two sections.

So issue protest groups are Surfers Against Sewage and Greenpeace.

Because they are campaigning, actually both are campaign really about the environments.

And then you've got the interest protest groups.

So Age UK, who campaign for the elderly, and Liberty, who campaign for human rights.

So where does the government fit in with this then? We know that the purpose of a pressure group is to create change with policy makers, and politicians, and MP's.

So where would the government come to there? Well, when governments are planning new policies, pressure groups will often try to influence the new policy.

So let's pretend, or let's say for the moment, that the government is writing a new welfare policy for animals.

So who might like to talk to the government about welfare? There's a number of pressure groups that would want to do that.

The RSPCA, the pressure group, would jump in, and they would obviously want to talk to the government who are writing the animal welfare policy, because it's what they do, they take people to court, they rescue animals who were treated badly.

So any laws that come out in animal welfare, the RSPCA will be involved in it.

So it's natural that they would be part of actually writing and help to plan it.

Perfect.

We also have campaigns, for example, like Naturewatch, and their main goal is to change laws to support animal welfare.

So again, they would be very keen to be involved in consulting with the government and helping to put their ideas forward before the government wrote any new policy.

And then we have organisations like PETA, who tried to establish the rights of all animals, and they would also want to be involved, and they would be very for the rights of animals then.

So on the side of the diagram, you can see very much pressure groups who are in favour of the rights of animals and thinking very much on an animal welfare.

Then we move on to the National Union of Farmer.

Now their main aim would be the rights of farmers.

So farmers, obviously want their animals to be healthy and safe, but they also need to consider how farms work and the pressure that any new laws or policies would put on farmers and farming as a whole.

So the National Union of Farmers may have very different answers to some of the ideas put forward by the other pressure groups.

This is also the case for the Countryside Alliance, and they talk about the voices of people, really, in rural areas.

So for example, if you live in an area where some wildlife is becoming pests, and it needs a culling for example, then Countryside Alliance would speak up for those interested groups and talk about the issues they face.

Whereas, PETA would be against any form of culling, and therefore those two protest groups and pressure groups would be in opposition to each other.

So when the government is listening to them they would be listening to groups with two very different views.

But as a cause of change, sometimes pressure groups can be very difficult because they work against each other as well as working for a cause.

So to create change as a pressure group, you have to work very hard to get the attention of politicians, and governments, and MP's, and make sure that you have enough support that your voice can be heard and policies are being made.

So what message do these pressure groups use so they can actually get heard and get there ideas made in some kind of policy implement? There are different methods which pressure groups can use to influence MP's.

Some are very traditional, for example, encouraging people to write to their MP.

However, now we have social media, new methods are developing.

Methods include lobbying MP's and councillors, media appearances, running advertising campaigns, petitions, marches, email and letter writing campaigns.

Now there's a whole host of things that different pressure groups can do with that main issue on my mind of how to get to the MP's? How to get the policy made? Now lobbying is where you meet with your MP or councillor, and you put forward your argument, and you can do that either locally in their offices in your constituency or your local area, or if it's your MP, you can actually travel to the House of Commons and ask to meet with an MP at the House of Commons.

Now this is a process which is called meeting commons, where you go to the MP in the House of Commons and you say who you are and you ask to see your MP, and they should if they're able to, come out to talk to you.

So task 3 everybody, organising an event for a pressure group.

So the RSPCA are a well known group which works to protect animals of all kinds.

Looking at the methods the pressure groups can use, decide a method that would be effective for the RSPCA and why? So if you think back to those methods that we just looked at, from lobbying your MP to writing a letter to using social media, which one do you think would be effective for the RSPCA and write down why you think that would effective.

Make sure you explain in as much detail as you can.

So pause the video now and complete the task.

Welcome back everyone, hopefully you've got some really good ideas.

This is just one example of something that you make ripple.

The RSPCA would try to tell you lobby MP's when they are passing laws about animal welfare.

This will be effective as they could get their views written into law.

The RSPCA could also use media appearances to show the public why they need support and what the effects of animal rights abuses are.

This would increase their support.

And remember, the more support you can show you have of a pressure group, the more likely you are to be able to create change.

So hopefully you've managed to come up with some examples.

There's no right or wrong answer there, it was all about how well you explain that and the idea that you chose, as long as you could justify why you chose it, you did the right thing.

Okay, so what role do pressure groups play in creating change? So how good are they? More people are able to take part in politics by being part of a pressure group.

More people are educated about important political issues through pressure groups.

The rights of small groups in society can be represented.

So it's a way to help more people views be shown in politics, rather than just waiting for an election.

So in the green colour, you can see all the positive things and all the good things that pressure groups do in our our community in creating change.

However, some people suggest that it's not just a positive outcome that pressure groups have.

This is because you need money to be successful, so not all groups have given the same opportunity as others.

And some pressure groups who are close to decision makers could distort the information.

So those big insider groups that are always able to talk to the government, sometimes be more successful than the smaller, outsider group that don't have any money, and don't seem to get to the point with decision makers quite so much.

And other people have suggested that just isn't fair.

Some pressure groups may not represent the view of all of their members.

And this is really important, because when we looked at what a pressure group was we said it was a group of people with the same issues and interests.

But sometimes if there's disagreement within the pressure group, then the results aren't quite right, and some members feeling that the campaign doesn't represent what they mean.

So, task 4 already, everybody.

I'd like you to write a paragraph to explain the role of pressure groups.

Your added challenge is to see if you can include all of the key words that are at bottom of this page.

So they're all words that we've covered so far in the lessons, let's see how many you can use in your explanation of what a pressure group is and what it does.

This task will probably take you about maybe seven to eight minutes, so pause your video now and complete your task.

Welcome back everyone.

I hope you managed to get all of those words in.

This is an example of how you could have done that.

Pressure groups work in society to allow citizens to have a greater role in politics.

Insider groups have contacts with MP's to influence change.

Outsider groups rely on public support to make a difference.

There are two main types of pressure groups, issue groups, who campaign about an issue they wish to change, or interest groups who campaign about the interests and rights of groups of people, such as health and welfare.

Pressure groups use different ways of campaigning, including petitions to show support for an issue and the media for publicity.

So, if you have written something a bit like that and managed to use a few words, well done.

So, apart from pressure groups, what else can create change in society? Well, a social movement is one thing.

Now this is a group of different people who want the same thing.

They might act in different ways to reach this.

They normally involve a large number of people working for the same goal.

So within a pressure group, you tend to have people that join in with things, they all campaigns the same way, a group of them will go to their MP, and it will be very organised.

But a social movement is slightly different.

It seems to have a broader spread that might go across the whole of England, the whole of the UK, or sometimes a social movement might be so strong, it will go all over the globe.

And one example of this would be the environmental social movement, where more and more people are becoming aware of issues around environment and trying to do things to improve that.

So, one example of a social movement case study is so.

Social movements are similar to pressure groups but they involve many people from different areas working for the same aim or issue.

An example of a successful social movement was "Frack Off".

This social movement was formed when the government allowed energy companies to begin to search for shale gas in England.

Lots of groups were concerned about this including Greenpeace and Friend of the Earth.

A social movement began to protest against fracking for shale gas.

Now shale gas is a form of energy that is found very, very deep underground.

And basically in order to extract it, you have to send a great big pipe under the ground, then pump water into that pipe all the way underground, then cracks would appear from the water balloon sent down there, and then the gas would come back up the pipe.

And what people had noticed in certain areas, not just in this country, but abroad, there have been links to earth tremors where fracking had taken place.

So you could that the fracking process is extremely bad for the environment.

So, Frack Off was this national campaign that local groups could join for support, resources, and advice.

It just had one aim, to stop fracking in England.

By using its resources and information on the website, people from South East Coast or the North East could campaign on same issue using the same materials.

Campaigners went to marches, held protest at sites of fracking, used local newspapers and television to report their activities.

So rather than just being one group go against this one group of people, what we had was different people with the same aim across the whole country, using the same resources from one website, but at different time, different days, different stage in the year, with the same message, no fracking here.

And fracking is a shortening of hydraulic fracking.

So hydraulic is being used to pump the water.

And eventually there was success for Frack Off, because in November 2019 the governments released the statement that banned fracking.

So fracking already takes place across the world, including the Us, Canada, and Argentina.

Ministers have always been clear that the exploration of England's shale gas reserves could only proceed if science showed that it was safe, sustainable, and with minimal disturbance to those living and working nearby.

On the basis of the disturbance caused to residents living near Cuadrilla's Preston New Road site in Lancashire and this latest scientific analysis, the government has announced a moratorium on fracking until compelling new evidence is provided.

So an moratorium, that means that it is suspended, it's delayed until any new evidence comes about.

And as yet, still no change from fracking being allowed in England.

So, you can imagine that those people that were part of the social movements of Frack Off were very pleased with the outcome and felt that all their hard work had really paid off.

So, next task then everyone.

Why do you think Frack Off were successful in their campaign to bring about change? So what do you think it was that made this campaign successful? Give out in your answer the methods they use, the number of people involved, and their aim.

This task should probably take you about five minutes, and pause the video now to complete the task.

Welcome back everybody.

I hope you've managed to do that.

Here's an example of something that you could've written.

One reason Frack Off may have been successful in their campaign was because they were organised and had a websites to visit for resources.

This means they could easily spread a clear message.

Another reason they may have been successful was because they had one clear message that everyone agreed with.

This was to stop fracking.

As Frack Off was a social movement, it had people from across the country working together, which led to a lot people being involved.

This would have helped their success as MP's from different areas would see that people were very concerned about fracking.

And this is really important as a social movement, that you could get more and more MP's involved.

Because the more areas you cover, the more constituencies, so the areas that people live in, MP's that represent those constituencies can all be made aware of how unhappy the people that vote for them are.

So, let's have a look at our last group, and that is a protest group.

This again is an organised group of people who take actions to try and bring about change regarding a specific issue.

And you notice there's a pattern here that all of our groups have one thing, or a specific issues that they want to change? And so they've always got a lot of focus about changes they'd like to created.

So, a protest group focuses on one issue and it's an outsider group.

So, they're not very often listened to by the government and they need to make sure they get a large amount of public support so the government will listen.

Protest groups can be concerned with a range of issues, however, one of the largest protest groups was on the 15th of February 2003.

The protest was called Stop the War March: the aim was to prevent the UK joining in military action in Iraq.

People campaigned in 600 cities on that day, with an estimated 1 million people marching in London alone.

So 1 million people marching in London and there was 600 other cities taking to the streets that day.

This is thought to be the biggest march in British history.

So the issue was clear, they wanted to prevent British soldiers getting involved in the war in Iraq.

They were a protest group because they were protesting against this happening.

They didn't have direct access to MP's or policy makers.

The people literally took to the streets to carry out a march.

So here's a picture from that very march on that day, and you can see how just many people in the little stretch there were, all about the war in Iraq.

Following the protests, parliament held a debate on whether to go to in March.

Despite the feeling of the population, the votes were 412 for going to war and 149 were against.

And this just goes to show that sometimes a protest is not enough.

So despite so many people taking to the streets in so many different areas, because they were an outsider group and they didn't have direct influence with the MP's and policy makers, it was very difficult for them to create the change that they needed.

So the country did go to war in the Iraq war.

Next topic everyone, that's our six.

What other methods could Stop the War have used to increase their chances of success? So instead of just carrying out a protest march, what else do you think may have helped them prevent Britain going to war at that time? So you could include in your answer lobbying, use of media, email or letter writing campaign.

Try and explain why you think each of these things would be effective.

Pause your video now and spend about eight minutes or nine minutes on this.

Okay, so hopefully your answer looks something like this.

Stop the War has had a clear aim and method, and lots of support.

However, their protest group still did not create the change it wanted to.

To stop the UK taking military action, MP's had to vote against it and they did not.

One method Stop the War could have used to influence MP's was to lobby them.

So many people were involved in the campaign that if they had all been in contact with their MP, they would realise how people felt about this issue.

Another method would have been to use letter writing and email campaigns which were cheap, quick, and easy.

This would also get the message across to MP's.

Finally getting media coverage and interviews would highlighting the message before the MP's voted in parliament.

So there's a range of ideas explaining why those things may have helped as well as the process, as well as demands.

Really, when you're working out how to create change, you need to think about who is going to make the decision.

And in this case it was the MP's, and unfortunately the protest walk didn't manage to influence the MP's.

So we've got to the end our lesson already, doesn't time go quickly? And you've found out about these three big points that can create change in society.

And the great thing is that before very long, if you find something that you feel strongly about, you could become part of one of those groups, and you could create change too.

So, thinking about that, one of the things that we could do to follow up on this lesson would be to find out about other pressure groups that support an issue or interest you care about.

What methods do they use? What change have they created? There's so many different groups out there with so many different causes, you're bound to find someone that you could feel strongly about.

And then for your action part of your take away task, is there a way you can take part in a pressure group that you care about? Could you be part of the campaign? This might include writing to a local counsellor, contacting somebody in charge, it could be a business or it could be an MP.

There's lots of things that you might be able to do about an issue you feel strongly for.

You don't have to worry, there's lots of information available, you can probably find out things in your local area, in the local council or for national charity sites that you feel are important to support.

What's really, really vital for things like this is that you understand what the issue is and that you're passionate about it, and you want to do something.

So look out for something you care about and just thing what action you can take to help create positive change in society and your community.

In fact, you might be able to change in your own school.

So, as always, I'd be really excited to see any work that was created from today, and even more excited to find out if you've joined an organisation, or a pressure group, or a social movement.

So, if you'd like to give us any of that information and pass it on to me, please ask the parent or carer to share your work on Instagram, Facebook, or Twitter by tagging @OakNational and the the hashtag #LearnwithOak.

I'd really love to see what you're up to in order to create change within your community.

So there's one final task for you guys to do at the end of lesson 2, I expect you know exactly what it is, but just in case you don't, quick reminder, please complete your exit quiz now and I will see you very soon in the next lesson of how citizens can create change.

Well done for excellent work today, guys.

Hope you've learnt a lot.

As always, love talking to you, and I shall see you very soon.

Bye, bye for now.