Q1: unFairTrade? Resources for your research

Logo from a 2007 web page. Do FairTrade still refer to '3rd World'?

CITIZENSHIP GCSE ISSUE: Global Community

CASE STUDY USED TO EXPLORE THIS ISSUE: The apparent unfairness of global trade, the impact of campaign group FairTrade, and what can be done locally (including personally!) and nationally to influence this issue.

This post contains hyperlinks to useful resources, videos you can play directly from this blog, a summary of the controlled test, ideas for action plans, a few points on considering sources (as you need to for question 3), and, at the very bottom, a guide to the controlled test including tips and the markscheme for each question. As there is so much multimedia content, you need to click on 'read more' below to see the full post, as otherwise this content would slow the blog from loading in your browser.

There is a further post with resources specifically on the case study of Ghana, and how its farmers make more from their cocoa through Divine Chocolate and Fairtrade's higher prices for their crops.

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:

Yr10: Ctrld test in a nutshell...

You have 3 hours in total
This will be split over at least 4 lessons
SECTION 1: Identify the topic/issue (thinking locally + nationally) + research it

Q1-4 The 4 Qs for Controlled Assessment

You will have accessed a guide to your controlled test with these, but for convenience you can always access the questions for each of the 4 sections in this post. Remember, it is a 3 hour controlled test, and you will get 4 time slots in different lessons to complete this. You also have a Citizenship exam.

1. Enquiry into the citizenship issue (10 marks) [35mins]

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

2. Application of skills of advocacy and representation (15 marks) [55mins]

How Laws Are Made

This video from Parliament.uk provides a clear, plain-language guide to the steps involved in making a proposal for new legislation into a binding law within the UK:

Voting systems and debates

There are two general approaches to voting systems: simple majority and proportional representation. The BBC provides an interactive guide to various voting systems (only one is a simple majority system: first past the post); use this to note definitions of FPTP and the other PR systems, and where in the UK they are used.

Click here to visit the site

You can also find superior, more detailed definitions at http://www.parliament.uk/about/how/elections-and-voting/voting-systems/ or at http://www.electoral-reform.org.uk/voting-systems/.

This table can be found here, with more detailed breakdowns of voting systems and more international examples of where they're each used

You'll be asked to find arguments for or against FPTP and STV (as an example of PR): use these links - FPTP, STV.

This is another very useful site for comparing arguments for/against FPTP.

Local government - some resources

First up, five especially useful sources for finding out more about local government:
1: The Ilkley Gazette is an obvious starting point - look for recent stories which tell you anything about the powers or spending of the local council - what do they fund, what do they control? (I've linked some sample articles below)

The BBC's guide on local government funding

2: The gov.uk guide breaks down some of the many roles and responsibilities of local and regional councils.(scroll to bottom for a screenshot)

3: There is always the wiki on Local Government in England...

4: The Guardian newspaper has a useful microsite bringing together all its articles on local government.
Here, for example, is an article on an analysis of spending cuts faced by local councils nationwide, from May 9th, 2013.

5: The BBC provide this useful guide on local government funding.

Further resources on local government:
Here's the BBC or the Financial Times on the story about spending cuts for local government ... or try the Local Government Chronicle!.

Here's an article analysing Local Government Minister Eric Pickles' 1.7% funding cut for 2013-14.

Elsewhere, you can find lost of analysis on the topic of library closures, such as this Guardian article (and here's their microsite bringing together all articles on this topic).
The BBC also report on this story.
Google carries a lot of news links for the search 'local government cuts'.

The cuts have impacted locally; here's a few stories that refer to Ilkley or Keighley:
(BBC) Council services face further cuts;
(Telegraph) Titchmarsh: Sin to cut funding for parks;
(Ilkley Gazette) Shock and outrage at Otley food bank need;
(Ilkley Gazette): Charity battle as funds run out.


The gov.uk guide breaks down some of the many roles and responsibilities of local and regional councils.