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Citizenship at key stage 4 (Year 10-11)
Unit 11: Europe - who decides?
Section 1: How am I part of Europe?
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Objectives |
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- about the European Union and its member countries
- about the advantages and disadvantages of being a member of the European Union
- about some of the different issues that affect the UK in its role as a member of the European Union
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Activities |
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Outcomes |
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Children: |
- Give pupils an outline map of Europe and ask them to mark on it the countries that belong to the European Union.
- Start a discussion by presenting pupils with a range of statements on key issues and asking them to discuss them in pairs. For example, on the issue of law, statements could include: 'laws should be the same for all countries in the European Union'; 'individual countries should make their own laws'; and 'countries should make their own laws, but these should be compatible with laws in other EU countries'. On the issue of the single currency, possible statements include: 'the UK should keep the pound'; 'the UK should adopt the euro'; and 'the UK should keep the pound but have economic policies that are compatible with those of other European Union countries'. Other issues on which statements could be discussed include defence, crime, immigration, cultural identity, trade and social policy.
- The pairs join up into small groups and share their views on each issue. They also discuss who should have the power to make major decisions on the issue, eg the UK Government, the European Parliament, the European Commission or the people of a country in a referendum. Pupils then share their different views as a class. They discuss the advantages and disadvantages of membership of the European Union for individuals, eg as consumers, tourists, employees, students, citizens, and organisations, eg different types of business, football clubs, organisations providing healthcare. What are the advantages and disadvantages of EU membership for the UK?
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- identify the member countries of the European Union
- recognise that a range of issues can be affected by decisions taken at both national and European levels of government
- know some of the arguments for and against membership of the European Union, for both individuals and organisations
- contribute to class discussions
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Points to note |
- The European Union currently has 27 Member States (Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovak Republic, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden and the UK) and more than 493 million citizens. European citizens have the right to travel, live, work and study in any European Union member state.
- This section could be linked with unit 5 'How the economy functions'.
- Link with history: European issues and the European Union in modern European history.
- Link with geography: GCSE criteria: development of locational knowledge (3.1viii); study of places and interdependence (3.1iii).
- Link with MFL: pupils are likely to have learned about the languages spoken in the member countries of the European Union. They may know reasons why linguistic and political boundaries are not always the same.
- Pupils could record their personal views on each issue in their citizenship portfolio. They return to these at the end of the unit to reflect on whether/how their views have changed.
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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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