1. Customised training: Getting started with post-16 citizenship
Post-16 Citizenship Support Programme Training Plan:
PowerPoint presentation notes pages
Customised training: Getting started with post-16 citizenship
The following 23 slides in this presentation can be used throughout the training session. They are referred to on the programme. However, you may well need to select slides to fit into the programme which you negotiate with your contact at the college or other organisation
You can personalise this opening slide by adding the date, name of the organisation and the name(s) of the trainers.

2. Aims of the session
To clarify the aims and purposes of citizenship education
To raise awareness of the benefits of citizenship activities for students and college
To illustrate some active techniques for citizenship education
To examine the relevance of citizenship for other college priorities and government initiatives, such as the Big Society
Ask participants whether these aims fit with their expectations of the day, and refer back to the aims during the evaluation session.

3. What is citizenship?
Citizenship involves:
the investigation of topical, controversial, social and political issues, leading to
young people’s responsible action to influence the issue, for the benefit of the community.
It brings new knowledge and skills about our political system, and
it encourages young people to form considered opinions.
Citizenship enables young people to use their voice, within both their community and their learning organisation.
This slide summarises the main components of citizenship, i.e. that it deals with real, topical and often controversial issues, that it involves responsible action based on knowledge and understanding, and that it enables young people to develop a view and to be heard. Citizenship does involve teaching about democracy, although students are encouraged to consider whether democratic principles are always adhered to.
The three Crick principles, which participants may have heard of, are:
Social and moral responsibility
Community involvement
Political literacy
The last of these is the one that causes most confusion. Political literacy is the ability to apply knowledge and skills together in action to change things. A useful analogy is with literacy itself. When a child is taught to read, he/she has a set of skills and can choose what to read and when. Political literacy enables people to make their own choices about what issues they choose to take action on.

4. Citizenship is not the same as…..
Lifeskills/PSHE Citizenship focuses on public issues rather than the personal ones, which it builds on Volunteering or charity fund-raising Citizenship develops critical understanding as well as action Nationality Citizenship encourages all members of society - existing, new and would-be citizens - to get involved and take an interest in topical and controversial issues
To emphasise the distinctiveness of citizenship, it may be necessary to clarify further.
The three areas (Lifeskills/PSHE, volunteering and fund-raising, and nationality) are all commonly confused with citizenship education.
One of the later activities will unpick the confusion between PSHE and Citizenship, and a clear distinction is printed in the activity notes.
Many schools and colleges have volunteering programmes and fund-raising events. These are laudable and can support citizenship education, but are not sufficient on their own, since they do not always enable critical questioning of the actions of the charities or the voluntary bodies.
Because applicants for British citizenship are taught for the citizenship test, there is often confusion with citizenship education, which is aimed at all residents whether British or not. The whole issue of the test, is an interesting citizenship issue for debate.

5. The support programme aims
To support national stakeholders in building high quality provision of citizenship learning
To foster links between citizenship and related policy initiatives across Government, especially the Big Society and National/International Citizen Service
To extend understanding of the benefits of citizenship education and increase participation in all the post-16 settings
To promote learning of knowledge and skills for democratic participation which meets the needs of all groups of young people in the whole range of settings
To disseminate key messages and resources from the development programme
To learn ongoing lessons from providers and enable these to influence good practice in citizenship education nationally
To promote better understanding and practice in relation to progression in citizenship learning from key stage 4 to the phase, and to communicate good practice from post-16 providers to citizenship teachers at ks4 and to those involved in citizenship education for adults
The Post-16 Citizenship Development Programme was set up in 2001 at the request of the then Secretary of State for Education and Employment and in response to the second Crick report. The Learning and Skills Development Agency (LSDA, now LSN) was given the responsibility for managing the programme on behalf of the DfES (now Department for Education),
Following the success of the development programme, LSIS commissioned LSN to run the Post-16 Citizenship Support Programme for post-16 citizenship, accessible to all providers in England. The support programme is working with school sixth forms, sixth form colleges, further education and tertiary colleges, training providers, employers, youth services, voluntary groups and offender educators. Its aim is to encourage providers of education and training, whatever their setting, to enable young learners to develop their citizenship knowledge, skills and understanding, and give them the opportunities to put this learning into practice.

6. The three essential opportunities
Post-16 citizenship should provide three essential opportunities for learning through action:
To identify, investigate and think critically about citizenship issues, problems or events of concern to them, AND
Decide on and take part in follow-up action where appropriate, AND
Reflect on, recognise and review their citizenship learning.
These three essential opportunities are part of a framework for citizenship learning included in the QCDA Guidance (Play your part. Post-16 citizenship, QCA 2004)
The framework also provides possible learning objectives and examples of citizenship actions that would be appropriate for this age group.
The guidance pack provides advice on getting started, planning provision, setting up a programme and assessment. There are also case studies of citizenship activity taken from a variety of post-16 settings.
The guidance can be downloaded from

7. Citizenship links with national initiatives
Community development
FE providers have a duty to cooperate with other organisations and groups in the local area (The Apprenticeships, Skills, Children and Learning Act 2009)
They also have a duty to aim to reduce inequalities of outcome that result from social disadvantage (The Equality Act 2010) The Government’s emphasis on the Big Society (including National Citizen Service) refers to rights and responsibilities of individuals to take a greater role within their communities
(See ‘Effective Community development: A strategic framework, LSIS 2010)
Personalised learning and learner voice
OFSTED assesses how learners are consulted and how providers meet their needs (The OFSTED Common Inspection Framework for FE and Skills 2009)
Every Child Matters agenda
Strong links with citizenship, especially ‘making a positive contribution’
(See Citizenship and developments: Quick Guides - (4) Citizenship and Every Child Matters)
The Apprenticeships, Skills, Children and Learning Act 2009 places on further education colleges a ‘duty to cooperate with other education institutions, employers and other organisations in the local area’. The institution must have regard to the objective of promoting the economic and social well-being of the local area.
The Equality Act 2010 introduces a new public duty regarding socio-economic inequalities. It requires that a public institution looks at ways of exercising its functions so that it is likely to reduce inequalities of outcome that result from socio-economic disadvantage in relation to race, disability, gender, gender identity, religion/belief, age and sexual orientation.
The Big Society
In recent years, the political agenda has placed increasing importance on the devolved power of the citizen. The new Government’s plans for the Big Society, which includes National Citizen Service, set out to change the main force for progress from state control to social responsibility.
The OFSTED Common Inspection Framework for FE and Skills 2009 makes reference to providers promoting and improving the economic and social well-being of learners and the local area. It also assesses how learners are consulted, make a positive contribution to their communities and how partnerships help meet learners’ needs.

8. Discussion question on video clip
These students are talking about the benefits of citizenship for them. What benefits might there be for the college?
Show the video clip of students talking about the benefits of citizenship for them, and allow the participants about 10 minutes’ discussion of this question before taking some feedback.
Use slide 7 as a summary of the discussion

9. Benefits of citizenship
For young people:
Increased confidence and self-esteem
Greater interest in the world around them
A knowledge about the ‘system’ and an ability to get things changed
Experience of challenging and worthwhile activities
For the organisation:
Constructive involvement of learners and staff in decision-making
Motivated learners with positive attitudes
Increased retention and achievement
Better relations with the local community
Use this slide after you have shown the DVD, to follow the short discussion question on the benefits for colleges.
The young people on the video make the case very powerfully for the benefits to them.

10. Is it real citizenship? Feedback
Case study A: Yes, a good example where students find out about a citizenship issue and take some action Case study B: No, not as it stands. It involves no understanding of policy issues and no action to improve the situation in the future. It does show real commitment that could be built on Case study C: No, it is not citizenship, but a very worthwhile fund-raising activity. If the young people found out about the social and political aspects of the disaster, it would be. Case study D: Yes, young people engage with their peers on a matter of local policy and make a report for the council Case study E: No, unless as part of the rest of the course, the students examined public policy on the care of older people, and applied this learning to the project
This slide is a summary of Handout 5, which you could give out to participants.
This activity usually produces considerable disagreement, with particularly string views being expressed about Case study B. Many staff think that students-led activity based on real emotion is essential for citizenship action. While this may be the case, the actual action described does nothing to prevent similar accidents from happening. However, if young people also campaigned for greater safety on the road, then the activity would constitute real citizenship.

11. Mind gym Arguer Counter-arguer Observer Scores
One mark for a relevant point in the argument
Two marks for a reason to support that point
This slide may be used to remind the small groups of the three roles and the scoring system. Since the activity is simply used to re-invigorate participants after lunch, there is not need to take feedback or scores.

12. Four principles of post-16 citizenship
Active learning
Community involvement
Youth-led action
Real, topical and controversial issues
This slide could be used on its own if time is short. The eight following slides are provided in case additional information is required on each principle.

13. What is active learning?
Opposite of passive learning
Learner’s own involvement in the process of gaining, and in the construction of, knowledge
Involves new experiences (doing and observing)
Involves dialogue (with self and others)
Requires interaction with others
NOT necessarily ‘physical movement’, but active brain engagement with the issues
It involves good briefing and de-briefing to clarify learning
This slide and the next (the active learning cycle) summarise active learning.
Passive learning is often characterised as the ‘empty vessel’ view of the learner, when the learner is an empty jar to be filled with knowledge by the teacher. In active learning, the teacher recognises that all learners come with existing knowledge and skills, some misunderstandings, and a variety of experiences. Structured activities are used to help learners clarify and build on their existing knowledge and skills.

14. Active learning cycle Active Learning Cycle Processes and Skills Do
Apply (futures)
Processes and Skills
Reflect
(facts and feelings)
The stages of the learning cycle represent different kinds of learning.
Following an activity (the ‘do’ stage, which should be clearly explained or planned), the activity is debriefed.
Reflection: The learners are first asked simply to reflect on what happened in the activity in order to elicit facts and feelings.
Questions can include (in this order):
How do you feel at the end of this activity?
Why do you feel that way?
What happened in the activity?
Who did what?
What did you do?
Review: During the next stage, learners come out of role (if the activity was a simulation) and consider what they have found out from the activity.
Questions can include:
How is this situation similar to others?
What parallels can be drawn?
What have we learned about situations like this?
What new skills and knowledge have you learned?
Apply: Finally, learners can be asked to consider how this learning can be applied to a future situation.
What skills and knowledge will you need in a new situation?
How can you acquire these?
What would you do differently next time?
How could the situation be changed?
Review
(findings)

15. Examples
Individual engagement with material Paired discussion work Small group interactions Large group exploratory activities
‘Quick thinks’ Case studies Card sorts In-trays Working to a brief Design-and-make Role play Simulation Games Investigations
‘Quick thinks’: a way of bringing some interaction into a PowerPoint presentation (see next slide)
Case studies: used as a way of illustrating an approach, for discussion
Card sorts: such as diamond-9, priorities, true/false, agree/disagree, clock patience (example in Agree to disagree: Citizenship and controversial issues, page 23)
In-trays: piles of memos to be sorted and prioritised, as if in an in-tray. This exercise can also take the form of an in-box
Working to a brief: participants act as consultants who have been set a task with a time limit and budget
Design-and-make: a small group activity that involves solving a problem through a designed artefact
Role play: can be two, three or four person role play in which participants act out situations from a particular point of view given on a role card (example of a four-person role play in Reality check: Citizenship through simulation, page 11)
Simulation: a constructed replication of a real or imaginary situation, event or issue. It is simplified to bring out the key points and aims to develop greater understanding of real life. There are many different simulation models, but they involve groups taking on roles within them. (See Reality check: Citizenship through simulation)
Games: these activities always involve competition where there are winners and losers. They include board games, card games, war games or computer games.
Investigations: participants carry out their own research on an issue, whether through surveys, interviews, focus group, documents or web research

16. ‘Quick think’ (paraphrase)
Talk to your partner: Summarise active learning in no more than 12 words
An example of one of the ways of making a presentation interactive

17. Community involvement
Examples of community involvement: Environmental projects Campaigns Youth forums Intergenerational activities School and college linking Events such as conferences, consultations, seminars
There are many more examples of community involvement. However, citizenship projects always involve:
finding out about a social or political issue
taking action to bring about some change or to prevent unwanted change
Other types of community work, such as volunteering, mentoring, fund-raising, litter-picking etc. only become citizenship when they fulfil BOTH of these requirements

18. Community involvement*: good practice
Working with community partners is central, but there are important principles to bear in mind:
Clear purpose and timeline
Negotiated responsibilities
Health and safety/CRB checks
Young people need support, while allowing them autonomy. Senior staff at the college will need to know about the work going on
The planning stage is very important, so that students are clear about what they are trying to achieve and how
It is important to review learning and extent of success
*See Effective Community Development: a strategic framework, LSIS 2010
You may find the following points useful:
Good practice in working with community partners
Be clear about the purpose of the partnership: what will young people learn and how will this develop their citizenship knowledge, skills and understanding?
Consider mutual benefits – what will the partners get out of the arrangement? Education may not be their main reason for existence, but there could be spin-off benefits that will help them ‘sell’ the partnership to their managers. For example, their own staff could gain development opportunities.
Negotiate the extent of the involvement and make sure that both sides agree what will happen, when, how long for and with how many learners.
If community partners are to visit your organisation make sure that they have all necessary information about timings, venue, parking, etc, that they are met and provided with refreshment, that they are introduced and supported while in the organisation and that they are thanked afterwards.
Consider all the legal, health and safety implications of the arrangements. This can include Criminal Records Bureau (CRB) checks, where required, either for community partners or for the young people themselves. Parents and senior managers may need to be kept informed of activities taking place off-site.
Discuss with partners the principles of your citizenship work, and ensure that they will support these: equal opportunities, giving young people autonomy and responsibility, treating everyone with respect, listening to young people’s views, encouraging debate, supporting learning
After the activities have taken place, ensure that young people have a chance to review and reflect on their learning. This can involve members of the community group, who may be able to provide testimony or other evidence of the knowledge and skills gained by the learners.

19. Youth-led projects
Facilitators should support youth-led projects while not taking over
It is important to involve everyone and not just a vocal minority
Everyone should have a role and feel valued
The young people will need training in the skills required
People should work to their strengths, while also pushing themselves to try out more challenging activities (e.g. chairing meetings)
Time will be needed at the end for reflection and review
Celebrations of achievement and recognition from senior staff are important
Additional information about the principles behind youth-led action can be found in Six Approaches to Post-16 Citizenship, Number 5: Citizenship through single events, especially pages 8-9, where the Ladder of Participation is discussed. Roger Hart* has suggested that there are eight steps (or degrees) of participation. These are as follows:
8) Young people-initiated, shared decisions with adults
This happens when projects or programs are initiated by young people and decision-making is shared between young people and adults. These projects empower young people while at the same time enabling them to access and learn from the life experience and expertise of adults.
7) Young people-initiated and directed
This step is when young people initiate and direct a project or program. Adults are involved only in a supportive role.
 6) Adult-initiated, shared decisions with young people
This occurs when projects or programmes are initiated by adults but the decision-making is shared with the young people.
 5) Consulted and informed
In this situation, the young people are informed about how their input will be used and the outcomes of the decisions made by adults. Sometimes young people give advice on projects or programs designed and run by adults.
 4) Assigned but informed
This is where young people are assigned a specific role and informed about how and why they are being involved. 
3) Tokenism
Sometimes young people appear to be given a voice, but in fact have little or no choice about what they do or how they participate.
2) Decoration
This happens when young people are used to help or "bolster" a cause in a relatively indirect way, although adults do not pretend that the cause is inspired by young people.
 1) Manipulation
In this situation, adults use young people to support causes and pretend that the causes are inspired by young people.
*Children’s participation: from tokenism to citizenship, Roger A. Hart, Innocenti Essay 4, UNICEF International Child Development Centre, Florence 1992

20. Real, topical and controversial issues
Young people should select real issues of interest to them to investigate and take action on
Controversy should not be avoided
Students and staff need training in how to deal sensitively with controversial issues
(See ‘Agree to disagree: Citizenship and controversial issues’, available from LSN)
Many staff feel uncomfortable about the prospect of raising or encouraging students to investigate controversial issues.
However, there are strategies available to help staff, and training available from LSIS/LSN. Learning to manage differences of opinion in an acceptable way in a free and democratic society is a main aim of citizenship education.
The main points to remember are:
Within a democracy, people can legitimately disagree
There are acceptable ways of dealing with disagreement
Views should be expressed in ways that are respectful and non-intimidating

21. Discussion of case studies
Which of the case studies best illustrate the four key features of post-16 citizenship: Active learning Community involvement Youth-led action Real, topical and controversial issues?
This discussion question can be displayed to help participants remember the key principles while they examine the six case studies.
They will work initially in pairs, examining three of the six case studies. After 45 minutes, they split up and make a new pair with someone who has examined the other three case studies. They then form a four for the next activity.

22. Action planning
Discuss: Which approaches could we try here? What support would we need? What obstacles might we meet?
If the participants are ready for detailed action planning, they could use the form provided as Handout 14. However, it may be, if they are absolute beginners, that they need the opportunity to discuss these three questions at some length.
The groups should be ‘rainbow groups’ made up of pairs who have looked at different case studies of colleges which used differed approaches to citizenship.

23. Assessment of citizenship learning: 1. Why assess?
helps young people to recognise and value what they have learned
clarifies the purpose and intended outcomes of citizenship learning
Shows that such learning is important and rigorous
Assessing citizenship is important if learners are to recognise what they have learned and move on to new learning.
Achievement has to be recognised before it can be celebrated, and this gives young people increased self-confidence and motivation. However, there is sometimes resistance among staff to the notion of assessment in citizenship.
You could use activity 2 from ‘Assessing and recognising achievement: post-16 citizenship’ , a staff development package (
This activity explores the reasons for staff resistance and helps to clarify what formative assessment can help students progress.

24. Assessment of citizenship learning: 2. Principles
Assessment should:
be planned as part of citizenship activities
be fit for purpose – valid, reliable and appropriate for the type of citizenship programme taking place
support learning
involve young people as partners in the process
be formative (young people set targets, plan how to achieve them, reflect on progress, recognise and value their achievements)
This slide summarises good practice in assessment for learning, or formative assessment: when staff and students use evidence of learning to decide where they are, where they need to go next and how they will get there. On-going high-quality feedback is required and it may come from peers, staff and other adults involved in citizenship activities..
Sometimes summative assessment (assessment of learning) is appropriate: when it is necessary to make a judgement about overall achievement, perhaps at the end of an activity, course or unit. The judgements should be made according to agreed standards or criteria that are understood by learners and staff. Assessment of learning may result in a mark or grade being awarded, and it can lead to an award or qualification.
You could use Activity 3 in ‘Assessing and recognising achievement: post-16 citizenship’ , a staff development package produced by QCDA, 2005 (