• Target Keystage(s): Key Stage 3, Key Stage 4,
• Curriculum Subject(s): Citizenship, Geography, History, PSHE: personal wellbeing,
• Who Do We Think We Are Theme(s): Britishness, national identity/values & 2012 Games, School & Community,

This Key Stage 3 unit of study about the importance of identity was written by Don Rowe (Director of curriculum and resources, Citizenship Foundation), Tony Thorpe (Citizenship Consultant), Will Ross (Citizenship Consultant) and Billy Crombie (Citizenship Consultant). The unit comprises five lessons exploring the importance of identity and introduces the concept of 'multiple identities'. The notion of a national identity is explored and the possible problems that patriotism can cause. This leads students to critically investigate different forms of racism including their own possible racist behaviours. Students then analyse the different reasons why racism is considered wrong and then look at how effectively the law and government deal with racism in our community. These lessons are suitable for students in year 9 and above.

The key learning objectives for young people are:

• To explore the features of their own identity.
• To identify their own 'multiple identities' and the challenges and opportunities they present.
• To identify British symbols and traditions and to consider the advantages and disadvantages of patriotism.
• To understand the different forms that rascism can take and to analyse their own behaviour for racism.
• To explore the different moral reasons racism is wrong.
• To consider how the law responds to racism and to explore how different countries deal with racism.

Some of the key questions covered during the five lessons include:

• What forms my identity?
• What is meant by a 'multiple identity?'
• How can our identity sometimes cause us problems?
• What defines our national identity?
• What influences our national pride?
• Is national pride ever bad?
• How can discrimination be defined?
• Are some forms of discrimination more serious than others?
• Why is racism sometimes difficult to detect?
• How can i recognise if someone is being racist, including myself?
• How is racism wrong?
• Does the law protect people from racism?

To download the module overview and lesson plans please select the links to the attachments shown below. Please note that links to required worksheets are provided from within the PDF files below.