1. Campaigning: Making Change Happen
How do you make your voice heard?
Lesson One: Who’s in charge of change?
Start a discussion with pupils: If there was something they had a problem with or wanted to change how would they go about this? How would they make their voice heard above all the other people in the UK? If they want to change something in their local area, or make society better as a whole, how would they do this? Who would they need to go to?
Explain to pupils that they would need to speak to people who have the power to change things.

2. Key words Government Demonstration Campaign Parliament
House of Commons
Councillor
Council
Petition
Representation
Lesson One: Who’s in charge of change?
Look at these key words with the class. See how many they know first and then explain what some/all of them mean.
Campaign – A campaign is a set of activities which people carry out in order to achieve something like social or political change.
Constituency – A constituency is the specific geographical area that is represented by each MP in the House of Commons. People who live in an MP’s constituency are known as the constituents.
Council – A Council is a group of people who have been elected to govern a particular area, town or city, and they organise and run services for it.
Councillor – An elected member of a local government or Council.
Democracy – The belief in freedom and equality between people, or a system of government based on this belief, in which power is held by elected representatives or directly between the people themselves.  
Demonstration/protest – A march or gathering which people take part in to show their opposition or support for something.
Government – The Government runs the country and is formed by the Prime Minister, who is usually the leader of the party that gains the most seats in the House of Commons at a general election.
House of Commons – The UK public elects 650 Members of Parliament (MPs) to represent their interests and concerns in the House of Commons. MPs consider and propose new laws, and can scrutinise government policies by asking ministers questions about current issues either in the Commons Chamber or in Committees.
House of Lords – Members of the House of Lords are appointed for their specialist knowledge. They make laws, check and challenge the actions of the government, and provide independent expertise
Parliament – The United Kingdom Parliament is made up of three parts - the Monarch, the House of Lords and the House of Commons. Parliament is where new laws are debated and agreed.
Participate – When you take part in an activity.
Peer (member of the House of Lords) – another name for a member of the House of Lords. Most members of the House of Lords are life peers, which means they have been appointed for their lifetime.
Petition - A petition is a formal written request sent in to Parliament by members of the public calling for some form of action by the Government.
MP – The person elected by by a group of people within a particular constituency (area) to represent them in the House of Commons.
Representation – If a person has representation in Parliament that means someone in Parliament supports them and acts and makes decisions on their behalf.
Constituency
Participate
Peer
House of Lords
Democracy MP

3. Is there anything you would like to change in your local area?
Lesson One: Who’s in charge of change?
Ask pupils to think of examples of something in their local area that they would like to change. Ask them how they would go about doing this, who they would go to and how they would contact them.
How could you help to change it?

4. What are the different levels of government?
Lesson One: Who’s in charge of change?
Explain to pupils that governments have the power to change things.
Ask pupils what they know about different levels of government in the UK – local, national and devolved. Who works on a local level? What is their local council called? Who is their local councillor? Where is their local council?
And who on a national level? Who is their MP? Which constituency do they live in? What is devolved government and what sorts of issues do they deal with?
This discussion will introduce pupils to the idea that different levels of government deal with different issues or problems we might have.

5. What is a campaign? Lesson Two: How can we make change happen?
Explain to pupils that an important way of making your voice heard and participating in democracy is by campaigning. Ask pupils what they already know about campaigns.

6. Can you think of any examples of campaigns?
Why do people campaign?
How do people campaign?
Can you think of any examples of campaigns?
Lesson Two: How can we make change happen?
Continue the discussion by asking pupils why they think people campaign and how they do it.
Can they think of any examples of a campaign? For example, pupils may be familiar with Jamie Oliver’s campaign to ban junk food in schools and get nutritious food back on the school dinner menus.