Bingham Centre Resources

Full title: The Bingham Centre, Magna Carta and the Rule of Law: Citizenship Education in Schools.

Funding from the Magna Carta Trust allows the Bingham Centre for the Rule of Law to develop an additional module to its set of printed and audio-visual resources on rule of law principles created for schools.

The 2013 government review of the citizenship curriculum resulted in a stronger focus on law and democracy. In response to this, the Bingham Centre project provides teaching materials for Key Stage 3 students (11-14) that examine the justice system and introduce students to the complex debates behind contemporary issues such as immigration, criminal justice, cultural and religious diversity, rights to a fair trial, equality before the law, the abuse of power, and human rights. The project is funded by The Legal Education Foundation and has been rolled out to schools across the UK.

The set of materials provides teachers with the resources they need to teach the legal aspects of the Key Stage 3 Citizenship Curriculum, looking at the justice system through a rule of law lens, and ultimately inviting students to ask the question, ‘What does a good justice system look like?’

Designed to provoke thought and discussion, and to develop students’ cross-curricular key skills of independent-thinking, literacy, communication and advocacy, the materials introduce students to contemporary issues with rule of law dimensions through interactive activities and case studies. Students are given the opportunity to consider current rule of law debates behind issues such as immigration, criminal justice, cultural and religious diversity, rights to a fair trial, equality before the law, the abuse of power, and human rights.

The additional module will provide a historical context for the protections offered by the rule of law and the limits on executive power, drawing links from the past to the present, and illustrating the contemporary relevance of the Magna Carta.

Click Here to view these resources

For more information, visit the Bingham Centre’s website here.

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