An independent charity that leverages the journalistic expertise of The Economist newspaper. We enable inspiring discussions about the news in, and between, schools. Discussions that invite young people to be curious about the worldâs biggest ideas and challenges, and consider what should be done about them.
An independent charity that leverages the journalistic expertise of The Economist newspaper. We enable inspiring discussions about the news in, and between, schools. Discussions that invite young people to be curious about the worldâs biggest ideas and challenges, and consider what should be done about them.
Published in response to recent events, these resources helps learners to explore questions like:
What is prejudice?
What does discrimination look like?
Whose responsibility is it to end racism?
Is racism always obvious?
Is treating people equally always fair?
Is racism getting worse?
This resource includes
Advice on managing sensitive conversations with young people.
Links to further anti-racism resources for both children and adults.
A special piece for older students with thinking questions.
This unit of work covers understanding and analysis of this important and topical issue. Students are asked to evaluate the facts and give their opinion through a range of activities.
This resource is an issue that students cover in the Burnet News Club (www.burnetnewsclub.com)
-----------
INTRODUCTION TO THE ISSUE
Everyone needs to live in a home. Your parents may rent their home, which means they pay some money each month to their landlord, or perhaps they bought their home.
In Britain, both renting and buying homes has become very expensive in recent years. In fact, Britain is one of the worldâs most expensive places to live.To buy a home people have to take out a very big loan from a bank. The average adult in Britain earns about ÂŁ25,000 a year but the average home costs about ÂŁ300,000.
Why is it a problem that it is expensive to buy a home in the UK? One reason is that if people are struggling to find a suitable home, this can have lots of negative effects on the communities we live in. For example, it can lead to homelessness, inequality and conflict.
Extreme weather is one of the biggest threats facing our world. To minimise the impact, communities, economies and health care systems need to respond and adapt. But how?
This six-lesson scheme of work explores the answer to this question and many more. These activities encourage learners to:
Investigate how extreme weather affects different communities
Consider links to climate change
Evaluate different responses that the world can make
Reflect on the responsibilities countries have to each other
There are opportunities to make connections with the COVID-19 pandemic and draw parallels between different crises.
This scheme of work is student-led, which means it is perfect for use at home independently, with a sibling or with parental input.
This unit of work covers understanding and analysis of this important and topical issue. Students are asked to evaluate the facts and give their opinion through a range of activities.
This resource is an issue that students cover in the Burnet News Club (www.burnetnewsclub.com)
-----------
INTRODUCTION TO THE ISSUE
In August the 2016 Olympics will be held in Rio de Janeiro, a large city in Brazil. The Olympic Games are the biggest, broadest sporting event in the world. Every four years, hundreds of countries send a team of athletes to compete in sports ranging from running and jumping to swimming and basketball.
This issue looks at how a big sporting event like the Rio Olympics can affect society, and helps students find out whether they think sport is good or bad for society.
CHECK OUT OUR MORE RECENT ELECTIONS AND DEMOCRACY RESOURCES HERE
This unit of work covers understanding and analysis of this important and topical issue. Students are asked to evaluate the facts and give their opinion through a range of activities. This issue asks students to create poems to reflect their opinions.
-----------
INTRODUCTION TO THE ISSUE
The European Union (the EU for short) is a club with 28 member countries from Europe. Its purpose is mainly to make it easier for member countries to trade (buy and sell things) with each other. There are laws and rules that member countries have to follow.
On June 23rd Britain will hold a referendum in which voters will choose whether to stay in or to leave the EU. The outcome will have a big effect on our economy, on politics and on Europe.
CHECK OUT OUR MORE RECENT RESOURCES HERE
Everyone is talking about 'fake newsâ at the moment, after it became such a big thing during the American election. People accuse it of changing the election results and of deceiving the public.
This 6-session scheme of work explores fake news, and teaches students how to spot fake news and challenge what they hear in the media. These fully-planned, interactive and multi-media resources help to develop your studentsâ critical thinking and literacy skills and to embed cognitively challenging conversations in your classrooms.
This resource helps students think more deeply about the Tokyo 2020 Olympic games.
What challenges do the organisers face? What considerations need to be taken into account? And should the games go ahead?
Straight-forward activities get students discussing the big questions and practising the Skills Builder skills: creativity, problem-solving, speaking and listening.
The Economistâs cartoonist, Kal, guides you through his creative process explaining how he takes on the role of journalist, satirist, commentator and artist before challenging young people at home to get drawing.
These activities encourage learners to:
Explore the aims of cartoons
Understand the different audiences of political cartoons
Discover the importance of âfour hatsâ to the design process
Plan and draw their own political cartoons
Cartoons are also a great discussion starter, generating questions about purpose, meaning and interpretation - perfect to use alongside a written text.
A classroom version of this resource is also available to download.
This resource looks at the purpose of political cartoons and how an expert produces them. It will take 60 minutes to run and is aimed at 10- to 15-year-olds. We suggest running it with 12 to 30 students. Teachers are encouraged to adapt it as necessary for their studentsâ needs.
â
This lesson helps to develop the following news literacy skills:
SPEAKING UP: Confidently communicating a viewpoint
SCEPTICISM: Questioning information to find the truth
â
This resource was produced by The Economist Educational Foundation, an independent charity that was set up by The Economist magazine. We combine The Economistâs journalistic know-how with teaching expertise, and we specialise in supporting teachers to facilitate high-quality classroom discussions about the news.
These activities challenge learners to think about where they get their news from and to question what they are reading.
Itâs pakced full of questions like:
What are the best and worst ways to get news?
When can we trust what we read in the news?
Why might news matter more to some people than others?
What makes a story hit the headlines?
We suggest supporting your child to complete the activities.
We have developed this resource from a previous classroom version, available here:economistfoundation.org/resources
During the first UK lockdown, many families reverted back to the traditional set-up of mothers doing more childcare. Experts say we are at a âcoronavirus crossroadsâ: without more support for working mothers, the gender pay gap could widen. So what should be done?
These activities help your learners:
Analyse statistics about pay discrimination
Consider the impact of a culture of secrecy around salaries
Suggest solutions to help close the gender pay gap
Learn about the law on equal pay
Understand the impact of the coronavirus on the gender pay gap
See this issue from different perspectives
Joe Biden won the US election, but Donald Trump refuses to concede. Whatâs going on? Help learners to explore the results and the questions they raise.
**In part one: **
How do American presidential elections work?
What made this election different from all others?
How have the candidates reacted?
**In part two: **
What might be the consequences of Trumpâs actions?
Why was the election record-breaking?
Whatâs been the reaction to the result?
This resource introduces students to the climate emergency and gets them discussing a range of big questions. Itâs suitable for students aged 10 and over.
This lesson helps to develop the following news literacy skills:
SPEAKING UP: Confidently communicating a viewpoint
OPEN-MINDEDNESS: Listening to other viewpoints
This resource was produced by The Economist Educational Foundation, an independent charity that was set up by The Economist magazine. We combine The Economistâs journalistic know-how with teaching expertise, and we specialise in supporting teachers to facilitate high-quality classroom discussions about the news.
How should budgets be spent? And how similar are considerations for personal and government budgets?
Use this one-hour Headline lesson to help your students:
Explore the challenges of state budgeting
Discuss considerations for personal budgeting
Decide how to spend a government budget
Looking for more news-based resources? Check out our resource library!
Itâs been 100 years since some women got the vote in the UK. This year, hundreds of famous entertainers have launched a campaign against the harassment of women. The campaign, called âTimeâs Upâ, is a reminder that women are still sometimes mistreated simply because they are female.
This 6-session scheme of work explores barriers that women face both in and out of the workplace and asks questions which encourage all genders to consider how they and society are affected by this issue. There is also an additional optional session covering sexual harassment.
Use these fully-planned, interactive and multi-media resources to develop your studentâs critical thinking and literacy skills and to embed cognitively challenging conversations in your classrooms.
If youâd like to find out more, visit burnetnewsclub[dot]com
This unprecedented COVID-19 crisis has brought debates around freedom of speech into the spotlight. This resource provokes thinking about what people should be allowed to say, and who should make the rules.
These activities challenge learners to think about questions like:
Should people be allowed to say whatever they want?
Is censorship necessary during a pandemic?
Whatâs more important - freedom to say what you want, or safety from harmful words?
Learners can complete the activities on their own but itâs even better if an adult can push them to develop their reasons and see other perspectives.
The reflection questions can provoke extended discussions. For example, when (if ever) is it acceptable for a leader to withhold information?
This resource is in support of an issue that students cover in the Burnet News Club (www.burnetnewsclub.com)
-----------
Students are introduced to some of the complexities of the housing crisis through a fun activity. A balloon-debate style group activity that ask students to decide who should live in an apartment block. It encourages evaluation, communication and negotiation.
A lot of the power to protect the planet lies within peopleâs lifestyle choices. Do we need tougher climate laws?
Ahead of Earth Day on April 22nd, help students understand the urgency of the âclimate crisisâ and debate whether laws should be adjusted.
This lesson gives you everything you need to facilitate a discussion with 9-16 year olds. Student develop essential skills, media literacy, knowledge about the news and every lesson relates to SDGs.
Get weekly free lessons on the news from The Economist Foundation via their Topical Talk website:
https://bit.ly/TT_Library
This unit of work covers understanding and analysis of this important and topical issue. Students are asked to evaluate the facts and give their opinion through a range of activities.
This resource is an issue that students cover in the Burnet News Club (www.burnetnewsclub.com)
-----------
INTRODUCTION TO THE ISSUE
The UK is considering a new draft Investigatory Powers Bill.
This is a really important law, because it would affect your rights. Your rights are the things that you are entitled to do or to have. This issue asks students to discuss and evaluate the implications of the Bill on our rights. It offers a great opportunity to explore British values as required in UK schools.
This scheme of work includes everything you need to run six one-hour sessions for key stage 2 or 3 students on the financial system ten years on since the crisis.
It was produced by The Economist Educational Foundation, an independent charity set up by The Economist magazine. We combine The Economistâs journalistic know-how with teaching expertise, and we specialise in supporting teachers to facilitate high-quality classroom discussions about the news.
As a teacher, do I need to know anything about this topic?
Not at all. All the necessary information is provided!
What are the objectives?
To build studentsâ knowledge, skills and confidence.
STUDENTS WILLâŠ
Learn about the financial system, how it affects them, and how peopleâs decisions determine whether it works well or goes wrong.
Build essential critical thinking and communication skills: reasoning, scepticism, curiosity, open-mindedness and storytelling. All the Foundationâs resources are designed to build these skills, as we believe they are essential for the modern world.
Develop the confidence to have their say. The six sessions will enable students to make well-informed, sound arguments for their opinions on this important and complex issue.
WHATâS INCLUDED?
Multimedia news content
Detailed session guides for leading fun, interactive activities â no planning required
This scheme of work is supported by the Bank of England. The Economist Educational Foundation maintained full editorial control. The Bank contributed a video resource which explains what banks do, what the Bank of England does, what happened in the financial crisis and what is being done to make banks safer. We would like to thank the Bank for adding this resource and for helping to support our work.