Delivering the experience strand | FE Colleges

Key topics

• Democratic rights, values and responsibilities.
• Dialogue, deliberation and robust and respectful debate.
• Youth voice, representation, and leadership.
• Collective and participatory decision-making.

Why the Experience strand matters in post-16 settings

Post-16 learners are actively preparing for being full participants within democratic life. This can look different for all learners: some will be preparing to vote for the first time, some will soon join the workforce, and others will look to continue their education. No matter their path, they should feel confident navigating democratic society. Thus, institutions that work with post-16 learners must provide authentic opportunities for their learners to practice the skills and dispositions needed to successfully participate.

With increased confidence and empowerment, learners are more likely to want to get involved in democracy in other structured and safe settings in the future, such as voting, participating in peaceful protests, signing petitions and volunteering for local initiatives.

Some young people demonstrate apathy or a lack of political trust. This can be because of their lived experience, a lack of knowledge, or having participated in a negative political experience. To address this colleges must provide young people with positive examples of political participation and varied opportunities for engagement. Colleges can offer their learners structured opportunities to practice democratic processes, where learners can take reasonable risks and learn from the experience.

Another challenge, particularly for large colleges, is engaging all learners, and not just the most engaged. Democracy is for everyone, and impacts everyone, whether they choose to participate or not. By establishing opportunities for democratic engagement colleges can actively demonstrate that participation matters. Colleges should seek out chances to involve all types of learners.

Learners should be encouraged to develop an understanding of the democracy they live in. A lack of knowledge is often the key factor to a lack of interest. A better education on democracy will hopefully generate an interest, appreciation and keenness to participate in democratic action, as democratic action can pave the way for change, which the next generation often strives for.

My approach

How I would teach this strand:

• Invite learners to be active participants in decisions made about the college and their classrooms. This could begin by creating rules and norms for an individual class, or could involve a college-wide referendum or vote.
• Provide real opportunities to listen to the ideas of learners. This could happen through surveys, focus groups, or consultations. Once learners have shared their ideas provide follow-up on what actions, if any, can be taken.
• Demonstrate transparency. Be clear about decisions learners can and cannot take part in. Building a democratic culture does not require every decision to be up for debate, much like society at large. However, learners should know what is and what is not possible and why.
• This work lends itself to debate-style activities. Learners can discuss and debate the issues that matter to them. This could include in school, in their local community, or in the larger world.
• Learners are more likely to have some opinion on certain issues, often learners care more about the issues that impact them directly, but it should not be assumed that those are the only issues they care about.
• Where a debate is not suitable or practical, group work activities and discussions on democratic issues can also be effective.

Advice for teachers:

• Political debates can generate an emotive response. It is therefore important to ensure clear expectations are set which emphasise that opinions are valid, but causing deliberate offence to another is not.
• It is also imperative that teachers remain politically neutral, as per the teaching standards. The teacher’s role is as a facilitator in the debate, to generate a respectful and informative discussion to highlight different points of view.

Engaging young people:

• Having formal structures to practice democratic roles as student governors or on a student union or council give highly engaged learners an opportunity to represent the larger college community. When creating and supporting these opportunities consider how you can also involve learners who are less engaged. This can be part of the structure's remit or goals.
• For some learners it may be daunting to be asked to share their ideas and opinions. Thus, it is important to build a culture of open communication and participation. It is crucial to build in repeated opportunities for learners to share and receive feedback so they can continue to grow and take risks.

If you can only do one thing…

Find one opportunity to engage learners in using their voice in an actionable way in either the classroom or college-wide. This could be as practical as creating classroom norms, or as large as holding a college-wide vote or referendum.

Where this fits into youth settings

• This work would be best supported in tutor time where learners are often from mixed abilities and a variety of subject classes, creating a varied group of learners for discussion and group work which is likely to generate mixed opinions, ideal for debate-led activities.
• By utilizing tutor time colleges can ensure that both highly engaged and disengaged learners are able to experience a positive democratic culture.
• Create a college wide system where learners can go to share their ideas for change. Have consistent and widely available opportunities for learners to participate.
• Student voice structures such as the election of student governors, a student council, or student advisory boards are all formal structures that can be used to increase learner voice. Consider how learners who are not a part of those structures can also contribute their ideas and opinions.

Key resources

If you have 30 mins or less… 

• Change your local area, The Electoral Commission and Simple Politics - This resource will support learners to apply what they have learned about democratic structures and the role of elected representatives to think about their local area and how it can be improved.

1 hour… 

• Citizenship unpacked - rights and responsibilities, Oak National Academy - Combine this lesson with the lesson above,  allowing time for discussions of content and activities.

1-3 hours… 

• Exercising your democratic and civic rights, Greater London Authority and Shout Out UK - These easy-read slides cover how citizens can exercise their civic and democratic rights, the different ways of doing so, and why it matters.

4-6 hours… 

• What is democracy?, Citizenship unpacked - rights and responsibilities and How can we improve democracy in the UK?, Oak National Academy - Use all three of these lessons,  allowing time for discussions of content and activities.
• Debating - secondary resource pack, UK Parliament - Following the above, allow learners to discuss/debate key human rights they have learnt about. Use this pack to assist. If learners are struggling to come up with their own examples, the pack provides some debate topics, which learners can argue for/against, linking back to human rights to support their arguments.
• As a plenary, lead a discussion on how learners can get involved in democracy and what opportunities are available to them.

6 hours plus…

• Power and decision making: Run a referendum, The Electoral Commission - This scheme of work supports schools to run a meaningful referendum or issue-based vote, helping learners understand how they can influence decision-making and have their voice heard through voting. Students will decide on issues important to them, advocate and campaign for these issues, and take part in a vote, building their confidence to participate in democratic decision-making.

Considerations for learners with additional needs

• Provide multiple forms of engagement. When collecting learner feedback or encouraging participation offer multiple and consistent opportunities. Voting, participating in consultations or focus groups, and surveys can all be used.
• Have consistent and repetitive routines. Learners should know how they can get involved, who they can talk to, and where to go if they want to get involved.
• Use simple and direct language for any whole college communication. When possible use images to support the text.
• Use multiple forms of communication to reach learners. Consider direct instruction for tutorial staff, e-mails, and social media. Get feedback from learners about the best way to contact them and engage them.