Hayward, Jeremy; (2002) Work Matters: A Key Stage 4 Teacher Resource Exploring the Employment Strand of Citizenship. Institute for Citizenship: London, UK.

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Abstract

The knowledge and understanding element of the citizenship curriculum at key stage 4 contains the following strand: 1. Pupils should be taught about…. h. the rights and responsibilities of consumers, employers and employees This resource is aimed at helping non-specialist teachers deliver some of the key concepts in the area of employment rights and responsibilities to key stage 4 students. Work is a highly political issue, raising important questions of equality, justice, conflict resolution, rights and responsibilities. Work plays a large part in all our lives, and its inclusion in the citizenship programme of study reflects this. Schools, of course, are no strangers to teaching about employment issues, with many having a strong programme of careers education. The flexiblilty of citizenship means that in many contexts, elements of citizenship and careers education can be combined to the benefit of all. Both areas, at root, have a similar goal – the preparation of students for adult life – so overlapping the two areas can add value to both. Citizenship, for example, can act as interesting focus for some of the learning around work experience. Students could explore some of the political elements of work in the run up to placement, looking at issues such as discrimination, the huge difference in pay, or employment rights. During placement students could also carry out a citizenship focused enquiry. Suggested examples: looking at democracy in the work place – how much representation do the workers have? How strong is the union representation? Are workers consulted? Or, exploring the work/life balance – how many hours do employees work? Do they socialise with their colleagues? Would workers like to work less? Do people feel stressed ? More broadly, a careers programme can be used as a focus for citizenship learning. Work touches on important topics such as conflict and resolution, equality, rights and responsibilities. A carefully constructed scheme of work for careers can cover several of the knowledge and understanding elements of the citizenship curriculum . This resource could be used to enhance either of these approaches, or could stand alone as a unit in itself. In keeping with the ethos of citizenship, this resource has a stronger focus on some of the more political elements of work than is perhaps found in some of support materials for careers education.

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