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:

Hardwick Old Hall

An Elizabethan Masterpiece
Venue Type: 
Historic Buildings & Monuments
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The family home of Bess of Hardwick, one of the richest and most remarkable women of Elizabethan England, stands beside Hardwick New Hall which she had built later in the 1590s.

Though the Old Hall is now roofless, visitors can still ascend four floors to view surviving decorative plasterwork, as well as the kitchen and service rooms with our audio tour.

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Lambert's and Coney's Castle

Walk in the footsteps of previous generations along these ancient hill forts
Venue Type: 
Castles
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The hill forts of Lambert's Castle and Coney's Castle are less than a mile apart so you can easily explore them both in a day. Each one has a different character, but both have a rich past.

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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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Old Blockhouse

Venue Type: 
Historic Buildings & Monuments
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Substantial remains of a small 16th century gun tower protecting Old Grimsby harbour, vigorously defended during the Civil War.

The Block House formed part of a series of forts built on the islands during the reigns of Edward VI and Mary I, and followed the attempt to build a large artillery fort, known as Harry’s Walls, on St Mary’s.

In fact, the blockhouse did not see action until the 17th century, during the English Civil War. In 1651 a Royalist garrison was defending the islands against attack by a Parliamentarian fleet commanded by the famous Admiral Blake.

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Creake Abbey

Venue Type: 
Religious Buildings
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The ruined church of an Augustinian abbey, reduced in size after fire and plague.

Creake Abbey probably had its origins in 1206 when Sir Robert and Lady Alice de Nerford established the small chapel of St Mary of the Meadows at Lingerescroft, bordering the tiny River Burn.

In 1217 they founded the Hospital of St Bartholomew there and when the establishment embraced the rule of St Augustine the chapel became a priory, prompting extensions to both the church and priory buildings.

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Spofforth Castle

Venue Type: 
Castles
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The ruined hall and chamber of a fortified manor house of the powerful Percy family, dating mainly from the 14th and 15th centuries. Its undercroft is cut into a rocky outcrop.

Spofforth Castle is situated on a small rocky outcrop overlooking the village. The medieval manor house was arranged around a courtyard but only the west range, which contained the principal apartments, still stands. Only earthworks and some low walls remain of the north, south and east ranges.

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