Citizenship

Citizenship

Citizenship Studies is concerned with the kind of society we live in and want to influence and develop. It covers, too, the role of the public and private organisations in the process. School courses help prepare students to become active citizens. The best of them promote students’ personal and social development, and make them more self-confident and responsible, in the classroom and beyond.

All external examination courses emphasise developing awareness of the role of citizens in a variety of contexts.

Just about any educational visit will contribute to the students’ exploration of new experiences and new ideas about being a ‘citizen’, but venues and activities that bring students into contact with other communities, other social contexts and other attitudes will be particularly exciting. Many museums and venues specialise in giving hands-on experiences of what some aspects of life in earlier centuries was actually like. These tend to be attractive to primary school groups.

Secondary groups often visit civic centres and attend local council meetings. Both primary and secondary groups will be welcome at churches, chapels, synagogues, mosques and temple, some of which offer programmes of talks and exhibitions. In cities this is relatively easy to arrange but even in rural communities priests and lay church people are prepared to help schools.

The Citizenship Foundation would be an excellent starting point. It claims to help 80% of secondary schools to nurture citizenship, and sets out to inspire young people to contribute to society. The Association for Citizenship Teaching also provides advice and teaching resources, while the National Centre for Citizenship and the Law delivers law and justice education at national heritage sites.

 

Main organisations:

Citizenship Foundation 

Association for Citizenship Teaching

National Centre for Citizenship and the Law

PSHE Association

Democratic Life

Hansard Society

Inclusion: NASEN

 

Thought of visiting?

The Victoria and Albert Museum of Childhood, Bethnal Green

National Trust Museum of Childhood, Sudbury, Derbyshire

Museum of Childhood, Edinburgh

The London Museum

The National Archives, Kew

Houses of Parliament

Welsh Assembly

Scottish Parliament

Northern Ireland Assembly

 

Although every visit can result in learning outcomes for Citizenship, for a complete list of venues and providers who deliver specialist courses and activities for this subject see below:

Brent Museum

Venue Type: 
Museums
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Formerly the Grange Museum of Community History, Brent Museum has a collection consisting of objects relating to the local Brent area and the communities who live there.

The museum encourages all people from the many diverse communities in Brent to donate a part of their history, either through objects or oral history, to ensure that they make their mark and history known to future generations.

Collection details

Costume and Textiles, Decorative and Applied Art, Land Transport, Social History

Jewish

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Aydon Castle

Venue Type: 
Castles
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Aydon Castle stands in a secluded woodland setting. Almost completely intact, it is one of the finest and most unaltered examples of a 13th century English manor house. 

It was originally built as an undefended residence, but almost immediately fortified on the outbreak of Anglo-Scottish warfare. Nevertheless it was pillaged and burnt by the Scots in 1315, seized by English rebels two years later, and again occupied by Scots in 1346.

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Middle Littleton Tithe Barn

13th-century tithe barn, one of the largest and finest in the country
Venue Type: 
Historic Buildings & Monuments
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One of the largest and finest 13th-century tithe barns in the country, lying in the Worcestershire countryside.

If you're visiting Middle Littleton tithe barn make the most of your day by visiting nearby Croome Park, Lance 'Capability' Brown's first complete landscape garden or Hidcote Manor Garden, a celebrated 20th-century garden in the north Cotswolds.

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Bowes Castle

Venue Type: 
Castles
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The impressive ruins of Henry II's 12th century keep, on the site of a Roman fort guarding the approach to strategic Stainmore Pass over the Pennines.

It was constructed to guard the strategic route known as the Stainmore Pass, and was occupied from the late 1st century AD to the late 4th century. The importance of this route and the crucial defensive position of the fort were recognised by Henry II who built the keep in the north-west sector of the fort.

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Oxburgh Hall

15th-century moated manor house
Venue Type: 
Historic Buildings & Monuments
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No-one ever forgets their first sight of Oxburgh - a romantic, moated manor house.

Built by the Bedingfeld family in the 15th century, they have lived here ever since. Inside, the family's Catholic history is revealed, complete with a secret priest's hole which you can crawl inside.

See the astonishing needlework by Mary, Queen of Scots, and the private chapel, built with reclaimed materials.

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Swaffham Museum

A jewel of a museum in a lovely Georgian town
Venue Type: 
Museums
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Set in a handsome, grade II listed townhouse on Swaffham’s Georgian Market Place, Swaffham Museum has elegant rooms housing rich collections and 21st century displays with lots for all the family to enjoy. 

Find out how Swaffham man Howard Carter discovered the tomb of King Tutankhamen and see remarkable archaeological finds from the local Swaffham area too. 

In school holidays, look out for family activities, with fun for all ages, and don’t miss the Symonds Doll Collection, which recreates characters from Shakespeare, Dickens and Tolkien.

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Bishop's Waltham Palace

Venue Type: 
Historic Buildings & Monuments
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The ruins of a medieval palace (together with later additions) used by the Bishops and senior clergy of Winchester as they travelled through their diocese. Winchester was the richest diocese in England, and its properties were grandiose and extravagantly appointed.

Much of what can be seen today is the work of William Wykeham, who was bishop from 1367. The ground floor of the farmhouse is occupied by the Bishop's Waltham Town Museum. Other palaces of the Bishops of Winchester include Farnham Castle Keep and Wolvesey Castle (Old Bishop's Palace).

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St Catherine's Oratory

Venue Type: 
Religious Buildings
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A tall medieval octagonal tower, allegedly a lighthouse, built here in 1328 as penance for stealing church property from a wrecked ship. Affectionately known as the Pepperpot, it stands on one of the highest parts of the Isle of Wight. It is part of the Tennyson Heritage Coast, a series of linked cliff-top monuments. A later lighthouse can be seen nearby.

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Kinwarton Dovecote

Circular 14th-century dovecote
Venue Type: 
Historic Buildings & Monuments
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A lovely and rare 14th-century circular dovecote with metre-thick walls, hundreds of nesting holes and original rotating ladder, nestled in the heart of the Warwickshire countryside.

When you visit Kinwarton Dovecote make the most of your day by visiting nearby Coughton Court, a Tudor house set in beautiful grounds, which is roughly a ten minute drive from the dovecote.

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Restormel Castle

Venue Type: 
Castles
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The great 13th century circular shell-keep of Restormel still encloses the principal rooms of the castle in remarkably good condition. It stands on an earlier Norman mound surrounded by a deep dry ditch, atop a high spur beside the River Fowey. Twice visited by the Black Prince, it finally saw action during the Civil War in 1644. It commands fantastic views and is a favourite picnic spot.

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