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Review of: "We all came here from somewhere: Diversity, identities and citizenship" resource.
Available from: Learning and Skills Network
Reviewed by: Sarah Witts
Review: This resource initially facilitated a series of lessons in Year 11 relating to diversity and issues of Britishness and social cohesion in British society. The posters in particular stimulated ideas for instilling a sense of belonging to British Society. These lessons were then taken forward into the Post-16 tutorial programme which contains some citizenship topics. The activities are much better suited to KS5 or high ability KS4. The topic of diversity is extremely relevant in terms of multiculturalism within the school context and in respect of local communities. The assessment activities are very useful as self and peer assessment are frequent used in citizenship, especially where a qualification is not involved.
Rating: 4/5
Review of: "For the sake of argument: Discussion and debating skills in citizenship" resource.
Available from: Learning and Skills Network
Reviewed by: Sarah Witts
Review: This resource is highly relevant for citizenship education and would be very useful for non-specialist who might not experience managing debates frequently. The relevance of this resource is highly applicable to post-16 as 6th form students relish discussion and debate. This was successfully used with a group of post-16 students in preparation for a formal debate in the council chambers. The activities enabled pupils to develop firm lines of argument, regardless of personal opinion. The activities are excellent as students considered how they could more effectively respond to a comment in a more persuasive manner, using more effective language.
Rating: 4/5
Review of: "Post-16 citizenship: A guide for trainee teachers" resource.
Available from: Learning and Skills Network
Reviewed by: Sarah Witts
Review: This pack was excellent for considering ideas about citizenship concepts for post-16 students, where citizenship is no longer compulsory. It enabled definitive boundaries between actual citizenship events and other activities that would not fall into this category. It was most effective at dealing with assessment for post-16 citizenship as this is the most difficult area to deal with considering there is no current post-16 qualification in citizenship. I delivered the training for other PGCE courses within the University. The training was well received and helped to identify concerns of non-specialists who may be required to deliver citizenship in schools
Rating: 5/5
Review of: The Democracy Cookbook, by The Electoral Commission
Available from: http://www.dopolitics.org.uk/Toolbox/toolbox-9.cfm
Reviewed by: Sarah Witts
Review: This is a fantastic resource that covers a huge amount of the NC PoS for KS3/KS4 citizenship related to politics. It includes information sheets and activity ideas that can form fantastic and varied lesson plans. The resource is extremely easy to use and pupils respond well to the activities. With regard to post-16, I have used the pack to plan tutorials to inform pupils about the voting system and what actions they need to take to make an informed decision and finally to make a vote. There are even example ballot papers! Great at making politics relevant and interesting!
Rating: 5/5
Review of: Discover debate decide: Exploring ethical issues, by CitizenScience at Bristol
Available from: www.at-bristol.org.uk/cz
Reviewed by: Sarah Witts
Review: This resource is aimed at learning about and debating the facts about ‘who should get IVF’. It is created by @Bristol. The lesson plan could be revised and improved upon but the information given about IVF is simplified enough to use with students. The debate is fantastic for promoting effective discussion skills in post-16 tutorials, and the material is aimed at KS4 – post-16 students. When using this with post-16 classes, the family scenarios were effective as pupils could really empathise with the situations and were more able to argue a cause they might not agree with.
Rating: 4/5
Review of: Teleshop DVD - Control the arms trade
Available from: www.protectthehuman.com/teleshop
Reviewed by: Sarah Witts
Review: This is a short but great DVD to introduce the topic of gun crime or the arms trade. It starts off by trivialising the use of guns by mimicking a teleshopping programme, which makes it extremely relevant to post-16 students. I used this resource to begin a topic on gun crime resulting in effective posters informing others about issues relating to gun crime. The DVD initiated engagement quickly and effectively. The other DVD has a hip-hop song that references people’s experiences of being affected by gun crime. They compliment each other well to relate to students interests. Introduces ‘Control Arms’ campaign which promotes active Citizenship
Rating: 4/5