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Citizenship at key stage 3 (Year 7-9)
Unit 03: Human rights
Section 1: What are my rights and responsibilities?
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Objectives |
| Children should learn: |
- about their rights and responsibilities within the school, and how these are upheld by school rules and policies
- that having rights also means accepting responsibilities
- that democracies have ways to safeguard people's rights
- to adopt a range of roles in groups to discuss, consider and evaluate conflicting evidence and to reach a consensus (NSE)
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Activities |
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Outcomes |
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Children: |
- Ask pupils briefly to review the ground rules they established for working together in introductory unit 1. Stress the importance of these rules in discussions about rights and responsibilities.
- In small groups, pupils produce a list of their rights within the school. Then, for each right, they work out the corresponding responsibility, eg We have the right to opportunities to learn and to achieve, and the responsibility not to obstruct the learning and achievements of others. Pupils compare the school rules with the rights they have listed, dividing the former into rules that protect pupils' and teachers' rights, eg listen when others are speaking; for pupils not to be bullied; for teachers not to be abused, and rules that relate to the organisation of the school, eg uniform must be worn by all pupils. Are there any other rights that pupils would like to have while at school and what responsibilities would there be?
- In groups, ask pupils to identify situations, either in school or elsewhere, where they felt their rights were being infringed or where different people's rights were in conflict, eg a group of pupils were playing football in the playground at lunchtime - that was their right, but it meant that we couldn't use the playground to play basketball. They could also think about what they should do if someone's rights are being infringed, eg if my classmate is being bullied, what should I do about it?
- Ask pupils to create a charter of rights for the school/class. They could start by referring to any policy documents the school produces, including its statement of values and aims. Pupils consider what basic rights all members of the school have, and what values underpin those rights, eg fairness, tolerance, respect for others, desire for justice. They could compare the finished charter with the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. Is there anything pupils would like to add to their charter, or change? Why?
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- identify key aspects of individuals' rights and responsibilities and make links between rights and responsibilities
- understand how rights can be at risk or denied
- relate their knowledge and understanding of the topic to examples from real life/their own experiences
- produce a charter of rights for the school or class
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Points to note |
- Ground rules should be established by pupils at the beginning of each year and revisited at regular intervals. This creates a safe environment for the discussion of sensitive issues. Guidance is provided in the Teacher's guide and see also introductory unit 1 'Citizenship - what's it all about?'.
- Pupils will find this section much easier if they have been involved in establishing or reviewing school rules/policies.
- This section provides clear opportunities to explore pupils' experiences, drawing out real and conflicting views. It might feed into other school activities, eg school council meetings, special event days.
- For the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child see www.unicef.org/crc
- Link with NSE: year
7 S&L11, year
8 S&L12, year
9 S&L9.
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This unit is divided into sections. Each section contains a sequence of
activities with related objectives and outcomes. You can view this unit by
moving through the sections or print/download the whole unit.
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