Q1: Some Pointers on Notes + Research

This post outlines what you should be working to include in your answer to the 1st section of the Controlled Assessment (CA), which you have 35 minutes to write up. A reminder of the questions:

1. Enquiry into the citizenship issue (10 marks)

Annotated/highlighted web page print-offs are useful evidence

1a) Choose an issue and say why the issue is importantly locally and nationally. Attach issues-based evidence.

1b) Describe how the issue links to at least one of the following citizenship themes from Unit 1:

• Rights and responsibilities

• Power, Politics and the media

• The global community

USING NOTES IN THE CA
You are allowed to consult notes when writing up your answer. The key stipulation/rule is that these must not be written up as paragraphs; your notes must be in bullet point form only, otherwise you'd simply be copying up pre-prepared answers. So, keep your notes brief. Here are 2 examples of notes; the 1st breaks the rules, the 2nd is fine:

EG1: Taking 30p as the price of a banana, FairTrade produced figures which demonstrated how unfair global trade can be. They found that while the labourers picking bananas, usually working very long hours that would be illegal in the UK and being exposed to dangerous chemicals, earned just 1p of the 30p, UK retailers earned almost half of this, 13p. Even when combined with the plantations owners' share, UK retailers still earned more than 4 times as much as those from the country the banana originates in.

As you could simply copy this in your CA write-up, notes like this would be unacceptable. You should instead use brief bullet points like this:

EG2: - FairTrade 30p banana: 1p picker, 13p UK retailer!
- even combining picker + plantation owner share, UK retailer share still x4!
- poor conditions for picker

 
FAIRTRADE KNOWLEDGE AND LEARNING
One key part of this is providing evidence of what you've learned about FairTrade as an organisation seeking to respond to the issue of unfairness in global trade.

Have you included this in your notes?

You have had lesson time (and homework) to develop notes and knowledge on this. If your notes are not enough to get you to a good mark, you can use your handouts as well as the resources on this blog - particularly this post which has links to useful webpages as well as videos you can watch (including those we watched in class).

Use your booklet for help on deciding which topics to address in 1a and which in 1b.

Amongst the examples you can use are:

• statistics and facts on FairTrade (lots of links here)
• Ilkley Fairtrade and what it does (eg their petition handed in No. 10 Downing Street!)
• their campaigns operate at both local and national level (some examples here), often seeking media publicity to win support for their argument
• Traidcraft's work which complements Fairtrade by selling a range of manufactured goods, not just getting a better price for raw materials
• the Dominican Republic example (banana trade) + the impact an extra $1 per box can make in a nation where schools, hospitals and roads can't always be provided by the government [the videos we watched are here]
• the 30p banana split of revenue
• the Ghana example and how Fairtrade policies impact there
• the UK's (an MEDC) reliance on food and materials from abroad (especially from LEDCs)
• putting the local element into perspective with our rough calculation of this school's student spending on chocolate
• noting how visible (or not) Fairtrade is locally: what do you notice from supermarkets/shops for example? (look at the list here)
• the role of international organisations such as the IMF, World Bank and United Nations - the first two at least are often seen as reinforcing Western dominance and enforcing unfair trade conditions

Provide evidence of your research, for example a highlighted/annotated print-off of a web page you've used, eg this Wiki

Remember, if you're using web pages to research, you can print these off and add notes/highlight to show you've read through them. See page 2 of your booklet for a reminder of the individual details you must add to every piece of evidence.