I want our children to be active and engaged citizens of the world, to understand their legal rights and responsibilities, to appreciate key concepts such as the rule of law and impartiality. I want our children to be able to debate and argue and to know how to access justice. I want our children to be confident and articulate, to be legally literate and to be able to fight against injustice when required. I want our children to have a basic understanding of how the justice system works.
I am a major advocate of public legal education in schools. I believe an understanding of law is vital for our democracy and justice. Children are very interested in the law and topics such as fairness and equality. However, too many children leave school without any formal legal knowledge or understanding of their basic legal rights. I believe we need to do more to ensure the legal literacy of our next generation.
Teaching about law and legal principles can be a daunting proposition. Law can be highly technical with its own language.
Based on the requirements in the National Curriculum and my experiences of teaching law in schools (as part of All Rise Workshops), I set out below a list of ten legal themes which should be covered before school leaving age. I have also included suggestions on how these themes could be offered.
I hope this list is helpful and (as ever), it would be great to hear from you on what you are doing in your school to spread the legal message!
Number One
The Magna Carta
King (Lackland) John was not a popular King. “Foul as it is, Hell is made fouler by the presence of John”! His chaotic and disastrous reign reached its nadir in 1215 when he was forced to sign the Magna Carta. The big charter is a key document in our legal landscape as it created (for the first time) a list of rules that applied across England. Some of those rules are things that we take for granted these days, for example, the law should apply equally and fairly to everybody and everybody should have a fair trial.
Tip:
Explore the Magna Carta by getting the children to produce their own school rules using the principles of fairness and equality.
Number Two
Discrimination and the Law
It’s important that children understand what is meant by the term ‘discrimination’ (the unfair treatment of people because of who they are or because they have certain characteristics) and understand about the ‘protected characteristics’ under the Equality Act 2010.
Tip:
Discuss discrimination, ‘protected characteristics’ and include a series of real-life scenarios so the children can explore their understanding.
Number Three
Impact of new technology and the law
Keeping children safe online is a fundamental part of any legal education in schools. Understanding the legal framework of online laws will help to minimise online risk and enable your pupils to make informed decisions.
Tip:
Educate students about the key online laws such as cyberbullying and viewing harmful content. It is important that students’ misconceptions in these areas are gently addressed and challenged so they think twice about some of their online activities.
Number Four
What is Law and who makes the Laws?
Explore the legislative process and the concept of the rule of law (that law is clear and communicated to all, that law applies to everybody and that justice is accessible and impartial).
Tip:
This can be a rather dry subject and I would suggest an immersive and engaging activity. As part of All Rise Workshops, I deliver a Lord of the Flies style scenario where the children are abandoned on a desert island and are asked to produce some possible laws that sustain the community and ensure their survival. You then debate some of these suggestions and arrange a vote.
Number Five
Create a crime scene?
Young people love a crime scene! It creates a frisson of excitement and allows you to explore a huge range of legal elements such as ranking the evidence, discussing relevance and making sure you look at all the evidence before any conclusion.
Tip:
In our All Rise Workshops, we create a mini-crime scene where the children walk into a classroom to find the ‘Do Not Enter police tape’ behind which contains the items found at the crime scene including physical evidence, forensic evidence, digital evidence and witnesses statements. The children are tasked with reviewing the evidence, working out what is relevant or not, ranking the evidence in importance, whilst at the same time justifying their reasoning. Young people love playing the role of crime stopper and by using a range of evidence, there is plenty of cross-curricular learning on how they are using evidence to support their findings.
Number Six
What happens when the law is broken
Distinguish between civil and criminal law, look at the range of punishments in our legal system and the criteria used by courts when identifying a suitable punishment.
Tip:
Look at a range of offences and in true ‘You are the judge’ style, select the appropriate punishment that matches the crime.
Number Seven
Have a go at a mock trial
One of the most exciting and immersive ways of understanding the law is by running a mock trial. This is not for the faint hearted but with careful preparation and a degree of knowledge about the workings of our criminal courts, it is the best way of helping your students to understand courtroom procedures and legal principles.
Tip:
At All Rise Workshops, we deliver a range of workshops which culminate in a mock ‘crown court’ trial. I would be delighted to help and support your endeavours to run a mock trial in your school-they are great fun!
Number Eight
Children’s Rights
Children should know about their specific rights in the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child.
Tip:
You can include themes such as why children need specific protection, you can learn about specific individuals/groups (Save the Children) and think about a social action project which supports the rights of children worldwide
Number Nine
Where do you stand?
Develop your students’ oracy skills by facilitating debate on a range of topics encouraging them to articulate their points persuasively and respectfully.
Tip:
Any of the following debate points should provoke plenty of discussion:
What is better- teachers of the internet; -Everyone should be a vegetarian; keeping animals as pets in cruel and children over the age of 10 should be allowed to vote.
Number Ten
What’s the Law got to do with me
Help students learn about and appreciate the influence of law in their lives by a study of how their everyday routine activities are affected by law.
Tip:
A great way of raising awareness of how the law affects young people in their day to day lives is by getting them to draw a timeline of their day listing things such as; eating breakfast; going to school; in the car; learning in school; playing video games and watching TV. Then discuss which laws might apply to these activities.
I hope you have found these tips useful. Introducing law into your curriculum is a great way of hitting a range of curricular targets in citizenship (thinking critically), PHSE (understanding there are laws and consequences of breaking laws), SMSC/Fundamental British Values (rule of law, respect for public institutions and the legal boundaries between right and wrong)
Please contact me at allriseworkshops@gmail.com if you would like any help with introducing law into your curriculum of if you are interested in hosting one of my All Rise Workshops,