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:
Association for Citizenship Teaching
National Centre for Citizenship and the Law (NCCL)
Inclusion: NASEN
Thought of visiting?
The Victoria and Albert Museum of Childhood, Bethnal Green
National Trust Museum of Childhood, Sudbury, Derbyshire
The Nelson Museum celebrates the life and times of Admiral Lord Nelson. Find out about his remarkable naval career, the sea battles he won, his Norfolk childhood, scandalous love life and untimely death at the Battle of Trafalgar.
Packed with dramatic and moving details the museum also offers ships' games, family fun days and a garden for picnics.
This 'Castle of the Rock' is famous for its spectacular views, which take in no less than eight counties on a clear day.
Huge range of activities from archery, bushcraft and fencing to high ropes, abseiling, leap of faith and adventure tunnelling plus LOADS more! For over 8s, minimum group booking is 6 people.
The Adventure Rope Course
English Touring Opera (ETO) is an opera company founded in 1979 under the name Opera 80. In 1992 the company changed to its present name. The company aims to bring high quality opera to areas of England that would not otherwise have ready access to such productions.
Located within walking distance of one of the best beaches for water sports in the area and close to Tossa de Mar, this Spanish water sports trip in Cala Llevado offers schools and youth groups an action-packed activity programme, with plenty of time on the beach!
Open every day from 10 until 5pm, last departure at 4.30pm. Enjoy over 3 hours' worth of activities, including zip wires, climbing nets, jumps and rickety bridges strung between the trees. Also, don't miss out on canyoning in the river Ceze, a half-day activity.
Allerthorpe Lakeland Park is set in 53 acres of grounds and lakes. We offer a variety of watersports as well as a campsite, and Lakeside cafe. Why not bring your family to come and enjoy the park and all we have to offer.
Bowles is located near Tunbridge Wells on the site of a natural south facing sandstone outcrop which offers a range of outdoor adventure including superb rock climbing, a dry ski slope, orienteering, archery and the giant Leap of Faith!
ROM is one of the few groundbreaking 70s skateparks still holding its own. Many have come from wide and far to skate and ride The ROM. Bob Haro, Matt Hoffman, Tony Hawk, Lance Mountain and the Bones Brigade, Scott Maylon and even Billy Mills have ripped it up at Rom.
Most come for the world famous Pool and the unbeatable never ending lines of the Moguls.
Wilberforce House is the birthplace of William Wilberforce, famous campaigner against the slave trade.
Admission to Wilberforce House is free. The museum tells the story of the trans-Atlantic slave trade and its abolition, as well as dealing with contemporary slavery. Galleries also offer a fascinating glimpse into West African culture.
Ardwhallan host a range of courses throughout the year including climbing, paddlesport and sailing.
Come and find out about the Scottish Parliament. We've got games, stuff to help you with coursework, posters for the walls of classrooms and lots more!
Our education programmes are run for schools, colleges and other educational groups who are interested in finding out more about the work of Parliament.
The Frank Chapman Centre is part of Sandwell Metropolitan Borough Councils Residential Education Service delivering a wide range of high quality outdoor programmes and activities for the community of Sandwell and others.
Set in the internationally renowned Orford Ness nature reserve, the Orford Ness Pagodas are cold war relics on a shingle spit in Suffolk, built to test Britain’s atomic bombs. Here the bombs’ detonators were put in pits and subjected to the shocks they might experience on their way to a target, to ensure they wouldn’t go off prematurely.
Part of the Stephen Beaumont Museum, it includes a padded cell and other exhibits from the West Riding Pauper Lunatic Asylum, built in 1818.
The Mental Health Museum is a unique museum in the heart of the Fieldhead site in Wakefield. It is run by South West Yorkshire Partnership NHS Foundation Trust.
The museum is in room 101 at New Scotland Yard, Victoria – an L-shaped space crammed with glass display cabinets containing items covering over 140 years of crime and criminals.
St Bartholemew's is the largest NHS Trust in the UK serving a population of 2.5 million in east London and beyond and our hospitals have long and important histories.
This picturesque and rustic stone chapel is thought to have been the chantry for Shap Abbey originally. It was built around the sixteenth-century and has been used as a cottage and meeting house during its long history.
The key to open the chapel door is hanging by the front door of the house opposite.
Stratford Racecourse is one of the country’s leading small summer jumps racecourses with a reputation for excellent levels of prize money and each year plays host to 17 thrilling horseracing fixtures.
A burial ground for London's Nonconformists from 1665 onwards, Bunhill Fields is the last resting place of Pilgrim's Progress author John Bunyan (d. 1688) and Quakers founder George Fox (d. 1691). Robinson Crusoe author Daniel Defoe (d. 1731), hymnwriter Isaac Watts (d. 1748) and poet and painter William Blake (d.1827) are also buried here.
The National Conservation Centre, formerly the Midland Railway Goods Warehouse, is located in Liverpool.
Step back in time at the National Roman Legion Museum and explore life in a far-flung outpost of the mighty Roman Empire. Wales was the furthest outpost of the Roman Empire. In AD 75, the Romans built a fortress at Caerleon that would guard the region for over 200 years.
Groups
Pre-booked groups benefit from:
The Bushcraft Company offer residential school trips with a difference, taking students into the wild and giving them real back-to-nature experiences they will never forget.
A 15-year-old boy fell 60ft over the edge of a cliff whilst on a geography school trip, miraculously only suffering minor injuries.