Citizenship Lesson Plans / KS4 - Politics - 4 lessons / Politics Lesson Plan 3 - European Politics

Connect the Learning

This lesson is the third of four lessons on different sorts of government – local, central and the European Parliament. If you are running all four lessons, remind the students of how local government works through councils and committees, whilst central government is organised through departments. The lessons can be linked to each other, or used individually with a little adaptation.

The Big Picture

Government is a complicated and dry subject for students to absorb. Particularly when it involves the European Union. This lesson uses a role playing game in groups to help students understand how the European Parliament is structured and what sort of issues it addresses.

Learning Outcomes

Students will learn about the work of government and how the European Parliament operates, what kinds of issues are raised in the parliament through the committee system, the importance of playing an active role in democratic processes and the UK’s relations within the European Union.

Introduction

Students are firstly asked to identify those countries in Europe that are members of the EU.
Start by introducing the concept of the European Parliament to the students