Schemes of work: Citizenship at key stage 3

A guide for senior managers and governors

This leaflet is designed to help you implement citizenship as a new national curriculum subject. It describes how the QCA/DfES schemes of work for citizenship can support your school's citizenship provision, by building on what you are already doing.

What is citizenship?

"Citizenship will enable our pupils to be active, informed citizens; able to effect change to improve their lives and their communities..." (Keith Ajegbo, Headteacher, Deptford Green School)

Citizenship is a new national curriculum subject that schools are required to teach at key stages 3 and 4 from August 2002. The citizenship programmes of study are light-touch and flexible, allowing your school to plan and develop a curriculum that:

• enables you to build on what you are already doing in a flexible and innovative way;
• is relevant to pupils, connecting with their interests and experiences;
• encourages pupils to investigate and think critically about issues of current interest, using problem solving, reasoning and evaluation skills;
• relates to pupils' abilities and backgrounds; and
• provides pupils with opportunities to discuss and address real-life issues, and to see that they can participate in activities that make a difference in their schools and the wider community.

Citizenship is complemented by non-statutory guidelines for PSHE at key stages 3 and 4. The programmes of study for citizenship and the non-statutory guidelines for PSHE are published in the National Curriculum Handbook for secondary teachers (order reference QCA99/458), and are also available at www.nc.uk.net

How can citizenship help my school?

• involves pupils positively, encouraging participation in school and community life;
• links schools with their neighbours and community partners;
• supports inclusion and promotes positive behaviour, equal opportunities, respect and responsibility;
• provides a focus for celebrating and publicising school activities;
• contributes to the achievement of the Charter Mark, Investors in People and Healthy School awards.

What do we need to do to implement the new national curriculum subject of citizenship?

• ensure that staff appointed to lead the development of citizenship provision have sufficient seniority to coordinate a whole-school approach;
• involve staff, governors and pupils in decision-making about needs, priorities and provision;
• plan citizenship provision to meet pupils' needs, and ensure that it relates to other whole-school priorities;
• audit current provision in order to build on what you do already, and decide which aspects of citizenship to address through separately timetabled discrete provision and which to address through other subjects;
• ensure that pupils can participate in the life and decision-making of the school and wider community as an explicit part of citizenship provision;
• identify other agencies and partners who contribute to pupils' personal and social development;
• link with local and national priorities, for example through contact with Community Safety Partnerships, Drug Action Teams, teenage pregnancy initiatives, Connexions, Education Action Zones; and
• meet regularly with the citizenship coordinator and key staff to ensure that progress is being made with the support of the senior management team (SMT).

How do the schemes of work for citizenship help?

The schemes are made up of:

• a Teacher's guide, with practical ideas about whole-school planning, approaches to and provision for citizenship, as well as suggested opportunities for teaching citizenship through other subjects. The key stage 3 scheme of work also includes subject leaflets. These provide a starting point for schools to discuss the links between citizenship and other subjects. Schools need to decide which opportunities to develop as explicit citizenship provision and which will remain as implicit support for citizenship. The leaflets identify examples of opportunities for citizenship and help teachers plan delivery through other national curriculum subjects, RE and PSHE;
• exemplar teaching units, with learning objectives based on the programmes of study, suggested teaching activities to meet those objectives and defined outcomes of pupils' learning. The units illustrate how the programmes of study can be translated into medium-term plans. They are designed to be adapted by schools to fit in with their provision and build on what they are already doing; and
• a booklet of ideas about active citizenship, aimed at involving pupils in a range of participative activities in school and the wider community.

What other information do we need?

Information on...	Where to find it	Notes
Approaches to teaching and learning	Key stage 3 Teacher's guide page 11 and appendix 6	Teaching approaches should be active. It is not enough for pupils to learn about citizenship issues; they need to participate in them. The involvement of pupils in the life and decision-making of the school is a fundamental part of citizenship.
Key Stage 3 National Strategy and citizenship	Key stage 3 Teacher's guide page 17	The Teacher's guide provides information about the contribution of citizenship to the objectives of the Key Stage 3 National Strategy. It sets out how citizenship helps to raise standards achieved by all pupils through raising expectations, ensuring progression, engaging and motivating pupils, and transforming teaching and learning.
Teaching sensitive and controversial issues	Key stage 3 Teacher's guide pages 44-46	The Teacher's guide suggests strategies for handling sensitive and controversial issues, and dealing with issues of confidentiality, such as personal disclosure. A summary of the section of the 1996 Education Act that addresses political and controversial issues is also provided.
Assessing progress in citizenship	Key stage 3 Teacher's guide pages 13-15	At the end of key stage 3, teachers are required to assess pupils' attainment in citizenship. The first end of key stage teacher assessment will be for pupils who complete year 9 in summer 2004. Schools should report pupils' progress to parents from August 2002.
Recognising achievement	Information about qualifications and awards will be included in the Teacher's guide for the citizenship scheme of work for key stage 4	Consider how to recognise the achievements of all pupils, and whether local and national certificates and awards and the GCSE (short course) in citizenship studies might contribute.
Ofsted inspection	Booklet Inspecting citizenship 11-16 published by Ofsted in 2001	From September 2002, citizenship provision will be inspected wherever citizenship is reported as a subject under section 10 of the inspection framework. See Inspecting citizenship 11-16 with guidance on self-evaluation, published by Ofsted, 2001.
Funding	www.standardsfund.dfes.gov.uk	Funding is available to schools from the standards fund to support the implementation of citizenship.
ITT and CPD	www.dfes.gov.uk/citizenship	From September 2001, ITT courses will be available for specialist citizenship teachers. The DfES citizenship website has information about identifying and meeting the CPD needs of existing staff.
Resources and case studies	www.dfes.gov.uk/citizenship	This website provides a library of resources, links to other websites and case studies of effective and active citizenship. An online toolkit will help teachers assess their training needs, and an online course on how to run a discussion or debate is free to download.
Useful contacts	Key stage 3 Teacher's guide pages 50-51	Organisations involved with citizenship who provide information or resources to support schools.

How do we plan a whole school approach to citizenship?

1. What are the needs and priorities of the pupils in this school?
• What are the particular characteristics of our school community? (including geographical context, diversity, inclusion, equal opportunities)
• How do these affect all our pupils' needs, concerns and interests (including their personal and social development)?
• Who has been consulted about pupils' needs and priorities? - Pupils? Parents? School staff? Governors? The wider community?
• How can the flexibility of the citizenship programmes of study help the school to meet pupils' needs, for example by varying the depth and focus of different aspects according to the school's particular requirements?
2. What are pupils already learning about citizenship?
• What aspects of the PoS are already addressed through:
• discrete citizenship and/or PSHE programmes?
• other subjects?
• off-timetable events and specialist days such as health weeks, industry days, environmental projects and residential experiences?
• pupils' active participation in the life of the school, for example through the school council, links with other schools, involvement in community initiatives?
• individual pupils' involvement with out-of-school activities such as volunteering, organisations such as faith groups, community sports and other community-based and voluntary organisations?
3. What already works well and meets our priorities?
• What do pupils and staff think works well? How do they think it could be improved?
• Does it meet the identified needs and priorities? Are there any gaps?
• Are all pupils' needs reflected in the school's aims and ethos? In policies such as behaviour and equal opportunities?
4. How can we build on what we are already doing?
   • Can we:
   • make some of the implicit opportunities for citizenship in other subjects explicit?
   • develop discrete modules or individual sessions to complement other aspects of the school's provision?
   • develop more opportunities for pupils to participate in school and community life?
   • increase pupils' involvement in off-timetable events and extra-curricular activities by involving them in organising and running the events?
   • extend opportunities in assemblies and tutorial activities?
   • improve methods of recognising and valuing the contribution made to pupils' development by activities they undertake in their own time?
5. What do we need to change or add?
• What timetabling and staffing issues are created?
• How will training needs be identified and met? (see www.dfes.gov.uk/citizenship for a training needs analysis tool/resources)
• How will pupils have opportunities to reflect on what they have learnt and put it into practice?
• How will we develop assessment, recording and reporting of citizenship to meet end of key stage 3 requirements?
• Will monitoring, review and evaluation systems allow coordination across the whole curriculum?
6. Who can help?

Those involved in other local and national initiatives such as the local Healthy School Programme (information from LEA or National Healthy School Standard website*), Connexions service, community safety plan or Agenda 21 (information from local authority), and outside agencies and organisations, eg police, local council, health promotion service, local and national voluntary organisations.
*see page 53 of key stage 3 Teacher's guide