Citizenship at key stage 3 (Year 7-9)
Unit 06: Government, elections and voting
Section 2: What is an election?
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Objectives |
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- about different elections in
the UK
- about different electoral systems
- about the fairness of different electoral systems
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Activities |
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Outcomes |
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Children: |
- Explain to the pupils that voting on specific government decisions, known as a referendum, is rare in the UK. Citizens usually vote for a representative who takes decisions on their behalf. Ask pupils to list the various levels of government that citizens can vote for, eg that elected representatives form government at local, national (including devolved government) and European level.
- Pupils investigate different electoral systems and ways to organise the voting, eg first past the post, and the national list - these may be easiest to contrast. Explain the systems and ask pupils to think about the advantages and disadvantages of each. Is one fairer than the other or are there positive and negative points in any system? What makes an election 'fair'?
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- know that there are elections at different times for various levels (local, national, global) of government
- know that there are several ways of casting and counting votes and allocating representation
- express an opinion about the fairness of different systems
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Points to note |
- A European referendum will provide an important opportunity for citizens to have their say.
- Real examples of alternative voting systems in the UK will be useful,
eg Northern Ireland, Scotland, Wales, the EU elections, London Assembly and Mayoral elections. See www.charter88.org.uk and www.citizen.org.uk
- Parliamentary Education Unit provides an education sheet 'Parliamentary elections'.
- www.bbc.co.uk/politics provides statistics about election results.
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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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