Lesson Plan //
Politics - Who Rules
Next Elections
Suggested Timescale
-
15 minutes: Class discussion and individual use of the 'Next Elections' section of the website
- Who can you vote for in an election? What are the names of the main political parties? Who are their leaders? What are the differences between them?
- Students fill in the party sheet with the help of 'The Main Political Parties' section of the website. Discuss the interesting facts.
Resources: 'Next Elections' section of the website
-
30 minutes: Class discussion and groupwork
- Read through the manifestos – individually students decide which party's ideas they like best on each area that's covered.
- If they were writing a manifesto to attract the votes of young people, what would they put under each heading?
- Students write their own manifesto covering the same areas but for young people. This could be done in groups, but the students need to decide and agree on what they want.
Resources: 'Policies and Manifestos' section of 'Next Elections'
-
20 minutes: Individual work and class discussion
- Students read through the section on other political parties then choose two parties from all those they have found out about and visit their websites. Do they have a youth section? What does the youth section do? Do they have any power or say in what happens in the party?
- Students discuss their findings with the rest of the class.
Resources: Party websites
-
5–10 minutes: Class discussion
- Explain that voter turnout has been fairly low in recent years. What do they think could be done to increase turnout? Read through the 'Voting' section. What do the students think of the ideas? Should people be made to vote? Should there be a punishment for people who don't vote? What should it be?
-
15 minutes: Whole-class discussion and activity
- Ask students how the winner is decided in an election. Usually it's the person with the most votes. Explain that some people think that this is unfair.
- Read through the 'Voting Systems' section.
- You could hold a mini election under the two voting systems to see whether there was much change between the results. Choose three TV programmes and ask students to vote for their favourite. Record the result and then vote again using the PR system – students rank the programmes according to preference.
- Which voting system do students prefer? What are the advantages of each one? The disadvantages? They could look at the Commission for Electoral Reform website for further information. Vote in the online poll.
Resources: 'Voting Systems' section of the website
-
15 minutes: Individual work
- Ask students to visit the three main party websites. They should watch the party political broadcasts. Which did they prefer? How much do they feel they found out about each party? Which one do they think was most appealing to young people and why?
Resources: Party websites
-
1 lesson: Groupwork
- Students choose a manifesto from the ones featured on the manifestos page.
- In pairs or small groups, they should work on producing their own party political broadcast. They must start by reading the 'Party Political Broadcasts' section of 'Next Elections' and make sure they understand about the time limits. They do not have to cover every section of the manifesto. They can just work on one area such as health if they want to. If the equipment is available, they could record them – if not they could be scripted, presented as a storyboard or acted out for the rest of the class.
Resources: 'Party Political Broadcasts' section of the website. Video camera if available
-
10 minutes: Individual work on quiz and class discussion
- Complete the quiz.
- Ask students what they think the most important thing they have learnt about politics has been. Ask whether they would vote in the next general election. Has the figure changed from the first lesson? Hold a discussion around what they think about politics – have views and opinions changed?
Resources: Online quiz
Alternative Activities – Extension Activities
Look at voting statistics to find out which groups are most likely to vote and which are least likely. Produce a manifesto or party political broadcast to specifically target those groups.
Assessment:
- Party political broadcasts
- Contributions to discussions
Active Citizenship Opportunities:
Hold a referendum for the whole year group on a current issue in school or any other issue. There should be campaigning on both sides of the issue in the form of assemblies, posters and leaflets.
Teacher Guidance
The timescales are there purely as guidance. Some activities may take longer or shorter depending on your class. The way the activities are organised is also for guidance. All the activities can be done individually, in small groups or as a whole class. It is intended that the role of the teacher is that of facilitator with the website doing the actual 'teaching'. Students should be able to explore the website and find out more about what interests them from the variety of information contained on each section of the site. Where discussion questions have been suggested, these can also be done as written questions or used to guide extended writing on the issues raised within the body of the text on the website.
