KS3/4 Citizenship: Human Rights and Wrongs

Description

At Mill Chase Community School in Hampshire, the benefits of a whole-school approach to citizenship are apparent.

Older students are involved in teaching younger ones, former students organise activities on Human Rights Day and teachers work together to timetable lessons so students can identify citizenship connections across the curriculum.

Citizenship coordinator Chris Waller guides us through a series of lessons given to a Year 9 group by staff from three different departments:

• Chris' own PSHE lesson on landmines offers an opportunity for discussion and a chance to take responsible action
• Year 9 Pupils study the work of Henry Moore in art to learn techniques to express and record emotions beyond their own experiences
• A history lesson on the Holocaust encourages thought and opinion about rights and responsibilities

Students are offered provocative and memorable experiences that they can take beyond the school gates and into the wider community.

"Citizenship education is most effective when it is perceived not as a subject to be taught in isolation but integral to the school curriculum and as a link between the life of the school and the local, national and international community," says Edward Huddleston, citizenship teaching advisor at the Citizenship Foundation.

Part of the series: Primary TAs