KS4: Democracy- The Responsibilities of Government

• New lesson editor
• British Values
• Citizenship
• +2
• Upper Secondary (Key Stage 4)
• GCSE

Introduction

Part of the British Values Series. In this session, we look at democracy, the UK parliament and consider the roles and responsibilities of government.

Instructions

We have designed our British Values lessons so that teachers can pick up and teach a topic to their class with confidence.

We have chosen to use a balance of interactive tools and 'unplugged' creative activities.

Lessons can be taught directly from the LessonUp slides but work best when children have access to the pupil app

Lessonup.app

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KS4: The Responsibilities

of Government

British Values Democracy

In this lesson we will:

Consider the responsibilities held by our country's government.

Key vocabulary to be discussed:

economic

fiscal/financial

moral

social

manifesto

political spectrum

left wing/right wing

Areas of public life which are directly impacted by government

Leisure

Healthcare

Education 

Immigration

Police

The Legal System

Local communities and local services

Children and young people

Defence

Trade

Equality

financial

social

other

Areas of public life which are directly impacted by government

moral

Use this mindmap to model how government policy has to consider a wide range of needs within the country before it is made law.

Ask students to justify their ideas and consider the value of their area through the lens of the particular are; for example is does the social responsibility to provide for the elderly outweigh the financial implications it brings?

Create your own government then

present your manifesto to the group

You may wish to extend this to consider how election pledges and manifestos will change depending upon where on the political spectrum a party may lie.

What percentage of the population

voted in the UK election in 2024?

A

52.1

B

59.7

C

67.3

D

80.4%

What might encourage more people to use their vote?

What might encourage more

people to use their vote?

This question might be posed as an extended learning task to complete independently so that students can give it consideration.

I understand that decision making

has far reaching implications.

This poll can give you a quick snapshot of the class and an insight into who may need to explore the issue in more detail. The results will be displayed anonymously but you can look into how each child has answered the poll in the assessment view.

There is a how to guide here.