Citizenship at key stage 4    (Year 10-11)

• Ask pupils to list all their sources of income, eg pocket money/allowances, part-time jobs, gifts. Ask them to record why they receive money. Do they do anything in return, eg part-time work, help out at home? Ask them to list what they do with their income.
• In groups, pupils discuss how they make decisions about what to do with their money and why, eg spending, saving, donating to charity. In a class discussion, review the groups' conclusions, emphasising that people have to make choices as they have a limited amount of money to spend (cost/benefit analysis).
• Using the example of an item of common expenditure on which VAT is paid, such as a CD, ask pupils to work in groups to consider what might happen to the money that they pay for it, eg a proportion to the record company, the band, the retailer, VAT (indirect taxation to the Treasury).
• Ask pupils to list where income at home comes from and how it is allocated. Sources of income should include benefits received, eg child benefit. What is money spent on each month, eg food, clothing, bills, mortgage/rent, savings, pension contributions, insurance, income tax (a form of direct taxation), council tax, donations to charity? What happens when there is more expenditure than income? What are the choices in this situation, eg using credit cards or other loans to make up the difference, cutting back on expenditure? Pupils find out who can provide help and advice on managing debt, eg their local Citizens Advice Bureau.
• Make a class list of sources of income, types of expenditure and sources of help and advice and discuss all the different aspects. If the discussion provokes negative comments about taxation, make the link between income and expenditure, ie benefits and services received for taxes paid, such as NHS healthcare, education. Discuss where individuals can go for information, help and advice about personal finance and taxation.
• Extension activity: pupils could investigate different types of investment. They develop and track an investment portfolio, keeping within a set budget. Different groups of pupils could select different types of companies and investments so that performance over a particular period of time can be compared, eg one group has shares from UK companies only; another has shares from international companies only; another has shares from a mixture of UK and international companies; and another invests the money in a different way, such as putting it in a building society savings account. When choosing their investments, pupils need to think about the reasons for their choices, eg type of business activity, level of risk, past performance, and be able to explain their decisions. Proshare is one organisation that provides information and support for this type of activity (see www.proshare.org).

• Pupils use local and central government websites to investigate how public money is spent. Give them a list of ways in which the government might spend a limited amount of money, eg helping to cut unemployment, helping businesses to be more efficient, improving education, health, transport. Ask pupils to work in pairs or small groups to rank these in importance and to explain their ranking.
• Ask pupils in groups to work out what the government offers in terms of public services and benefits to different members of society, eg one group represents a child, others a single adult, a parent, a retired person, a person who has a disability. Pupils work out how the government helps each group and present their findings to the class. Class discussion should include the varied levels of dependency on government support over a lifetime and the interdependency of the population and the government as a result.
• Using a newspaper article, video, or other stimulus material, the class discusses the effects of people avoiding paying their taxes. What are the possible consequences for the individual? Is this a criminal or civil offence? What might happen if the person is prosecuted, eg penalty fines, a prison sentence? What are the consequences for the community and society?
• Some of the public services provided by government can also be provided in other ways, eg schools, healthcare. Pupils work in groups, taking on the roles previously suggested, to think about how the services they need could be provided.
• Review activity: what is the economy and how does it function? Construct a diagram to show the links and connections (interdependence) in the economy by drawing three circles representing the individual, business and government. In groups, pupils discuss these and decide where to add labelled arrows to represent the flows of money, products, work, etc between the three circles.

• Pupils investigate how changes in the economy can affect local business, eg a shortage of customers, or a shortage of skilled employees leading to rising costs. Invite a member of the local business community to come to the school to talk to pupils, or suggest issues for pupils to consider. What solutions to these changes can they suggest, eg an advertising campaign to boost product sales, incentives for people to learn new skills? Ask pupils to think of other changes to supply and demand in the economy, eg how inflation causes rising prices (too much money chasing too few goods results in prices going up), rising unemployment, more people claiming income support.
• Ask pupils to discuss what businesses and individuals want from the economy, eg keeping the economy stable as this helps stabilise prices and salaries, enabling individuals to plan their future and feel more secure. What can the government do to keep the economy stable, eg help people develop skills for the jobs available, take steps to control inflation, help businesses to be efficient? Again, this kind of discussion may be enhanced if representatives from a local business/financial institution are invited to come in and talk with pupils.

• Select newspaper stories or headlines about events at home or abroad that will lead to changes in the economic relationships between the UK and other countries, eg people buying more or fewer UK cars, tourists being unwilling to come to the UK, the value of the pound being low so people want to buy UK products, or high so they want to buy imported products. Ask pupils to suggest what the effect of these changes might be.
• Using the circles diagram from the earlier activity, for each of the suggested changes above add arrows showing where money is flowing into or out of the economy, eg if there are fewer tourists, there will be fewer jobs in hotels so unemployed hotel workers might have less money to spend on goods and services.