Who runs the United Kingdom? (Complete scheme of work)

Who runs the United Kingdom?

About this unit

This unit is designed to introduce Year 7 students to Parliament, government and devolved power, enabling them to address the key enquiry question: Who runs the United Kingdom?

Having learnt about Parliament and its functions, students explore its relationship with government and the importance of accountability in a democracy. They investigate general and local elections, developing an understanding of the first-past-the-post system. 

They then move on to learn about devolution at both a national and local level. They investigate how and why power is devolved and explore examples of devolution in practice. Finally, they draw together their learning across the unit in an assessment task.

This unit forms part of our model core curriculum which is exclusively available to School and College Members.

National curriculum links
Develop pupils’ understanding of government, democracy and the rights and responsibilities of citizens;  the development of the political system of democratic government in the United Kingdom, including the roles of citizens, Parliament and the monarch; the operation of Parliament, including voting and elections

Citizenship skills
Political literacy, debate, active participation

Citizenship concepts
Democracy, making a difference

Building progression
This unit is part of ACT’s model core curriculum for Citizenship in secondary schools, which has been designed to develop and deepen students’ knowledge, skills and understanding throughout Key Stages 3 and 4. Other units linked to this Year 7 unit include:

Year 8: How can political decisions impact the health of our society?

Year 9: Are elections the best way to decide who runs the country?

Year 10: Should the UK be called a democracy?

Year 11: How can we become future political leaders?

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