Lesson video

Hello, my name is Mrs. Blatchford, and I am a citizenship teacher.

And today I'm really excited 'cause I'm going to be your citizenship teacher.

So let's get started.

So our lesson today is on how we can influence those in power using the democratic process.

You'll need for your lesson today, a pen or pencil or something to write with, some paper, and you also need to be in a nice quiet place where you can think clearly.

So if you need to pause the video now to go and get yourself sorted, please do so and just press play again when you are settled and ready to go.

So we've got four key questions in our lesson today that we will be looking at.

First one is what is the democracy? And we'll be looking at what is power and influence? And key definitions there.

We're going to look at how we can participate in the democratic process.

And then finally, we're going to need to bring all of that together and think about how we can influence those in power by using the democratic process ourselves.

So let's recap on, what is a democracy? So democracy means rule by the people and it comes from the Greek words, demos, meaning people and kratos, meaning strength or power.

So in a democracy you have more rights and you can influence decision-makers and those in power.

Sort of translates to people power.

Now within a democracy, there are a number of key characteristics we would expect to see.

So we're just going to recap on those, 'cause you may have looked at these previously.

So first of all, we would have regular elections.

Whether that's to elect local representatives or national representatives, but there would be regular elections.

You'd have freedom to stand in elections.

So citizens would be able to stand for election.

You would have free and secret ballots.

So you would be able to go and vote and cast your vote in secret.

You don't have to tell anybody what you voted or who you voted for.

They're free, they're secret.

We'd have political parties.

In a democracy, generally have a range of political parties that you can choose between.

And freedom of assembly.

This freedom of assembly is the freedom to gather together, to meet with others, to talk about issues of the day and perhaps also to protest on those issues if you want to bring about change.

You have rights for minorities.

So everybody has equal rights.

Everybody is treated the same, regardless of who they are.

Equal rights for women within society in a democracy too.

And we have a free media, not free to buy your ways, but free in that it's able to present information to scrutinise the government, to hold them to account, to publish stories, to give the citizens in that democracy information, to help them make decisions perhaps at times of election, for example, on who to vote for.

So we're going to have a look at some of that again, and just have a think about what that word democracy means.

Just a quick little test there, quick little multiple choice.

You've got four options.

Option one is rule by the people.

It comes from the Greek words, demos and kratos.

Option two, freedoms that you are entitled to.

Option three, someone who works towards making a positive change in society or option four, a set of articles that protect your rights.

Hopefully, you chose option one.

That was the rule by the people.

It comes from the Greek words, demos and kratos.

Okay.

Do you want to think about what democracy is? Our next key word for this lesson is power.

So thinking about what is power here and who actually has power? So we're going to do that by completing a task.

So let's explore what power is by thinking about who actually has power.

So look at the list below and I'd like you to copy it down and then I'd like you to rank it.

I'd like you to put it into the order of who you think has the most power on this list and who you think has the least power.

I'd like you to think about also, why have you put them in that order and what actually gives them the power, perhaps? So have a think about that.

So your five people that you're going to be ranking are the Pope, Greta Thunberg, Bill Gates, the Queen and Marcus Rashford.

So remember you're saying who has the most power down to who has the least power.

And then once you've got them in that rank order, what is it that gives them that power as well? So just have a think about that.

If you want to pause the video here, you can.

Just while you have a think and then as soon as you're ready, just press play again.

So this is some feedback for you.

I want you to compare your list with mine.

There is no right or wrong answer for this task.

The purpose of it is to help you think about what gives somebody power.

So as we go through my feedback that I'm going to give you in the list that I came up with, we'll have a think about some key words as we go and think about perhaps how those key words help to give people power.

So I've put the Pope at the top of my list as being the most powerful.

And the reason I've put him here is because he's the head of the Catholic church.

So in that case, he has a position of authority.

People look towards him for advice or perhaps to follow what he is saying.

So it gives him widespread influence, widespread influence even, over millions of Catholics across the world.

So for me, that gives him quite a lot of power to influence others.

Number two, I've put Bill Gates as my second one.

And I think as a founder and owner of Microsoft, which is a global business, he's already got power there.

However, I also know that Bill Gates uses, Bill Gates, sorry, uses his money from the business to create change on issues that he cares about.

So one of the things he has been trying to help create change on is to end diseases such as malaria, which affect poorer parts of the world.

So I think he has a lot of power and some of that comes from the money that he has.

The next person on my list is the Queen.

So as the monarch in the UK, the Queen meets other heads of states and therefore she has the potential to influence many other people.

It's the position that she has as monarch, which is a constitutional role 'cause it allows her to open and close parliament and give assent to new laws.

And I believe that's what gives her the power.

So not necessarily powerful in terms of going back in time, where kings and queens could make laws themselves, but she signs off those laws and she does have a constitutional role and is our head of state, but also meets a lot of other people who she can influence.

Greta Thunberg then perhaps more recent power in terms of the influence that she has.

But in fact she's an environmental campaigner and she has got global media attention.

She's addressed world leaders.

She's been at the United Nations and address them there.

And speeches on climate change to those world leaders has a great potential to bring about change in that respect there too.

So again, quite powerful, but I'm putting her towards the bottom of my list in this instance.

And then at the bottom of my list is Marcus Rashford.

Now he has used his fame, if you like, as a famous footballer at Manchester United.

And he campaigned persuasively very recently for free school meals during the COVID-19 pandemic, during the summer holidays.

'Cause usually children on free school meals don't have those meals provided during the school holidays.

And obviously lots of families really were struggling and continue to struggle.

So therefore Marcus Rashford believes the government should intervene and help those young people and their families by providing school meals during school holidays.

And he's continuing to campaign, but his influence is in the UK.

He's trying to influence politicians who have power in the UK.

Let's say he's used his fame there to help him do that.

So some of the things that gives people power in this list, we've got their position, their authority, the media attention that they have, perhaps their charisma, their personality, their fame, and the actual power of persuasion that they may have, whether because of who they are, how they speak, the evidence that they present makes them able to influence others and gives them power.

I wonder how yours compared to mine.

So again, we've got those two key words we've been talking about during that task with power and influence.

We're talking today about political power and influence those in who have political power.

So the word power then is this the ability to influence decisions, people or a course of actions.

In politics, we often talk about people in positions of power like counsellors, MPs or the prime minister.

Our second key word here is influence.

This is the ability to get your message across to people in positions of power and as such you become powerful yourself.

So two really key words that we're going to be focusing on in our lessons.

And it'd be a really good idea, I think, if you wrote down the definition so that you've got some notes on what those two key words are, 'cause we're going to be looking at those in our next part of our lesson.

If you want to do that, just pause the video now, and then just restart when you are ready.

So as well as the people that we've listed there, individuals, key individuals, citizens, people like you and I also have power.

So in a democracy citizens have the political power to choose who governs them by voting in elections for those who they think will run the country most effectively.

In this way, citizens give those in government permission to make decisions on their behalf.

This permission is called a mandate.

This is called a representative democracy.

The reason it's called a representative democracy is because we have elected people to represent us.

So they will vote on our behalf and make decisions on our behalf.

Now, again, it'd be really good idea, I think, to get some of these key terms written down and make note on what they mean.

They'll come up again and there's also some questions in the exit quiz at the end.

So if you're making notes you might want to pause the video here and then just start it again when you're ready.

And then there's a question at the bottom here.

'Cause obviously as I'm sure you know, that young people don't currently in the UK for example, have the right to vote in elections.

Certainly not in a general election, and in local elections in England either.

So what about young people who are not yet old enough to vote? Well, that doesn't mean that you don't have any power.

It doesn't mean that you don't have any influence.

It doesn't mean that you can't bring about change.

And that's what's a beauty of living in a democracy.

Voting is only one way that we can participate in our democratic process.

Have a look at this diagram, beautiful tree here.

And what it's showing us is the distribution of power in the UK.

Power in our UK democracy happens at many levels in the UK.

So you've got power happening at parish councils in our neighbourhoods, in local areas, through towns, cities and district councils.

You can see those over on the right-hand side.

So we've got those local level, local government, we would call that.

You then have regional.

So we've got some examples at the bottom left here.

So in London, we'd have the Mayor of London's office and the Mayor of London himself.

We've got the London Assembly and the Greater London Authority, and they would be able to make decisions.

They have the power to make those decisions for their particular region.

And then at the top left, you've also got parliaments at the different parts of the UK where decisions can be made.

And you've got our parliament, our national parliament in Westminster.

So this can take decisions for the UK throughout the UK and can influence all the citizens across the whole of the UK.

At each level of power in here, whether it be local, whether it be regional or whether it be national, there's a role for citizens to influence those in power.

And that includes young citizens.

They can be part of that decision-making process.

I think this is an excellent diagram just to remind you of the different types of power and how it's distributed throughout the UK.

And again, there'll be some questions in the exit quiz at the end on this.

So I said that young people can take part in the democratic process at all these different levels.

So it's important we understand how we can take part in the democratic process.

And that's what we're going to have a look at now.

So getting involved with democracy, as I said, you might not be old enough to vote yet, but you can still participate in the democratic process and decision-making, and in that way, you can still have power and influence and try and help to create the world that you want to see.

So you can influence, for example, in your school, bring about influence in your school by being part of a student council or forum.

And most schools will have a form of student council, which you can get involved with in.

You can create change through your actions in your community.

So for example, you could join a youth council or a local action group which is trying to bring about change on something in your local community.

Something perhaps that you care about or have a passionate about.

You could have your voice heard, for example, through contact in the media.

You could set up an online petition, or you could join a national group, like a pressure group for example.

Again, perhaps on an issue that you feel passionate about yourself.

You can engage in political action.

So for example, you might persuade others.

Perhaps your family or your older brothers or sisters that they should go out to vote when it's that time of year.

Or perhaps that they should join a political party, or perhaps that you yourself can join a political party.

You don't have to be 18 to join a political party who you feel meets your needs, or perhaps is campaigning on issues that you feel passionate about, and you'd like to join them and help them to do that.

You are able to do that before you're old enough to vote.

So all of these different ways are ways that we can influence those in power and have our voices heard and participate in that democratic process.

So, how can we take part in the democratic process? Active citizens can use lots of different methods to participate in the democratic process and have their voice heard.

So examples might be petitions that we've just talked about.

could be lobbying where you might go and meet your local MP for example.

It could be different kinds of demonstrations.

So let's see if we can match up the key terms because active citizens can use many different methods as I've said to bring about social change.

Some of these terms you've been introduced to in other lessons.

Perhaps some may be today and some may be completely new to you.

For each of the questions you need to identify which description matches the key term at the top.

So let's have a go at the first one.

So the first one is petition.

You've got four options here.

Is it option one? Joining together as a group and taking to the streets to campaign.

Is it option two? Gathering signatures to show support for a cause.

Is it option three? Meeting with a person who represents you either locally or nationally.

Or is it option four? Refusing to buy a product or use a service as a protest.

And hopefully you got that it was option two, which is gathering signatures to show support for a cause.

And that would be a petition.

And again, you can do that in the old fashioned way on paper, or you can do that online.

You can do that through parliament website 'cause you can create a parliament online petition as well.

Second one then is lobbying.

So is lobbying, option one, joining together as a group and taking to the streets to campaign? Is it option two? Gathering signatures to show support for a cause.

Is it option three? Meeting with the person who represents you either locally or nationally.

Or is it option four? Refusing to buy a product or use a service as a protest.

Again, hopefully you had that it was option three, which is meeting with the person who represents you either locally or nationally.

And let's have a go at this one.

So this is demonstration.

So option one, joining together as a group and taking to the streets to campaign.

Option two, gathering signatures to show support for a cause.

Option three, meeting with a person who represents you either locally or nationally.

Option four refusing to buy a product or use a service as a protest.

And hopefully you got option one.

Demonstration is where you join together as a group and take to the streets to campaign.

So well done if you got those rights.

So have a look at this quote for me.

This is taken from the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child and it's Article 12.

"Whenever adults make decisions that will affect you in any way, you have the right to give your opinion and for adults to take this seriously." Now, in the UK, we've signed up to this UN Convention on the Rights of the Child.

So the Article 12 applies to you as a young citizen of the UK.

Let's look at that again.

"Whenever adults make decisions that will affect you in any way, you have the right to give your opinion and for adults to take this seriously." So that's a lot of power that you have as a young person living in UK.

We're going to have a go at a task on this.

So let's have a think.

We've got a charter here for democratic participation, and I want you to think about the different options you and your friends have to influence others and contribute to decision-making on issues that affect you.

SO you could run for your student council.

So you could perhaps represent your tutor group or your fellow students on your student council.

You could join the local youth council in your area.

You can invite your local counsellor or MP to discuss issues with you that could be in school.

And we can make use of technology at the moment, lots of MPs, happy to do Zoom calls into your school.

So do you make use of technology at the moment, if they're not able to come and visit you in person.

Speak up as a concerned resident at a local meeting.

Often communities hold local meetings on a variety of issues that are concerning them.

So it might be that if you see one of these advertised, it's on an issue that you feel really passionate about and would like to go along and speak up at that meeting.

You could work with your school governors to bring about change within your school, perhaps again, something that you would like to see introduced in your school for example.

I know my students at my school wanted more lessons in PSAG on mental health.

So they went to the curriculum leader and did some work, wrote some lessons and then took those to the school governors to show them the work that they'd been doing.

And those lessons are part of the curriculum for all our students now.

Perhaps, you could support a national campaign.

Something that you feel is really important to the UK, that you would like to get involved with.

That could be through joining a pressure group, could be joining a political party.

Perhaps you could sign an online petition for example.

It might be that you choose to start or support a petition yourself.

So maybe there isn't a petition out there on something that you really care about and would like to bring about change on, in which case, perhaps you can start at one of those online petitions and raise awareness about that petition and get people to sign it for you.

You could send evidence to a national select committee at UK Parliament.

So you can look on the UK Parliament website and look at what parliament is currently working on.

And you could actually send in evidence to one of those committees.

Again, directly influencing those in power and having your voice heard.

So I mentioned a charter.

If you can see on the right here, this is an example of a charter.

This is a charter of the United Nations.

And a charter basically as a document that sets out rights or entitlements.

The United Nations Convention on Human Rights is often referred to as a charter of rights because it's sets out that people's rights and what they're entitled to.

So I said we were going to have a go to task on this.

So you are going to have a go at writing your own charter of democratic participation.

So you're going to create a simple charter that you think represents three of the best opportunities for young people to get involved in democracy and decision-making that should be available to all young people.

And I'm going to ask you to think about on a school level, local level and national level.

So those are your locations or the best opportunities for young people to get involved in democracy and decision-making at those three different levels that should be available to all young people.

If you're happy to have a go now, then pause the video and get straight on.

If you'd like a little bit of support in how to structure this, then you can keep the video running and I'll go through an idea about how to structure this.

So you might want to use this structure to get you started on your charter of democratic participation.

So I've given you some sentence starters and some ideas here.

So you might, for example, in school, say that "I can share my views and become involved in decision-making by.

." What do you think would be the best way for young people to get involved and take part in democracy? And perhaps have their voice heard within a school environment for you personally.

So it could be a school council, perhaps you've got a student parliament at school, or even in your local area, perhaps you've got houses and you've got a house captain, perhaps a head boy, a head girl or leadership team who you could work with, or perhaps working with teachers or governors at your school might be the best way to get involved in decision-making at school.

And then in your local area, I could share my views and become involved in local decision-making by.

? What is it do you think would be the best way locally for you of getting involved in decision-making? Would it be right into your local counsellor? Taking part perhaps in a local meeting? Joining the local youth council? Contact and local media and raising awareness of your issues in that way.

And the third one I said it was nationally.

So nationally I can share my views and become involved in decision-making by.

What would be the best way for you do you think to do that? Perhaps it would be supporting a national campaign, sending evidence to your MP or a select committee or meeting with your MP, either in person or either say via Zoom or Microsoft Teams, whatever you use in your school to help you do electronic communication.

Also, when you're thinking about these actions, try and think about how they would protect your right that we talked about in Article 12.

That right to have your voice heard and be listened to and taken seriously by adults.

So you can pause the video, have a go at that task, and then I will give you some feedback.

So come back when you're ready.

So here is my feedback for you with some examples that you might have included in your charter.

So for the school location, you might have said something about ensuring your right to express your views is protected.

I would like every child to have a chance to join the student council.

This gives opportunities to talk to decision-makers and represent the views of other students at school.

Locally.

To ensure that my right to Article 12 is protected locally, I would like regular opportunities to speak with my local counsellor.

So they know what young people are interested and concerned about.

And nationally.

The best way to get the views of young people heard nationally, would be to take part in things like select committees and discussions about young people's concerns with MPs.

So well done for having a go at that charter.

It may well be very different to what I've written.

It'd be lovely to see some of those.

So if you could take some photographs, that would be fabulous.

So let's go back to those four key questions that we started with.

I hope you've enjoyed the lesson and from the tasks interesting and insightful.

And if you've had a chance to complete all of those, you now should be able to do the following things.

Think about and define what a democracy is.

Identify what we mean by power and influence.

Explain how we can take part in the democratic process.

And know how we can influence those in power, through that democratic process.

I've got a take away task for you here.

And what I'd like you to do is try and get support for your charter that you have written.

So test out and refine your ideas as you build support.

Now you have your ideas for your charter, share them with other pupils or members of your household and see what they think.

And that would be what we call a consultation.

Do they support your ideas? Did they disagree with anything or can they suggest any refinements? If that's the case, amend your ideas as you need to, based on that feedback, the consultation that you've done, and then consider sharing them with your local counsellor or your MP.

You can find out who you're councillor and MP are by searching on your local authority website.

And you could also look at the Parliament UK website.

So just wanted to thank you very much for taking part in the lesson today.

It's been wonderful working with you.

If you're able to, please take a picture of your work and ask your parent or carer to share it with your teacher so they can see what fantastic things you've learned today.

And if you'd like to, and I really encourage you to do this, could you ask your parent or carer to send a picture of your work to the @OakNational on Twitter so I can see your lovely work too.

And you've got that hashtag there, #LearnwithOak.

It'd be really great to see some of your work from today, particularly those charters.

I'd really like to see how your thinking about influencing those in power locally, nationally, and at your school level too.

So really well done.

Don't forget to complete the exit quiz now.

Really good luck with that.

All that's left for me to say is a big thank you, take care and enjoy the rest of your learning today.