Stage 5: Delivering Your Citizenship Action

Welcome to the most exciting part of your Citizenship Studies project! You’ve done your research, you’ve picked your issue, and you’ve made a plan. Now, it is time to deliver the activity. This stage is all about "the doing." In this chapter, we will look at the three superpowers you need to make your project a success: Collaboration, Negotiation, and Influence.

Don't worry if these words sound a bit "business-like" or tricky. You actually use these skills every day when you're with your friends or family! Let's break them down.


1. Collaboration: Working as a Team

Collaboration simply means working together with others to achieve a common goal. In your citizenship action, you aren't a "lone wolf." You are part of a team.

What does good collaboration look like?

  • Role-awareness: This means knowing exactly what your job is and what your teammates' jobs are. If everyone tries to do the same thing, the work won't get done!
  • Communication: Keeping everyone updated on your progress.
  • Support: Helping a teammate if they are struggling with their task.

Analogy: Think of a football team. If the goalkeeper tries to run up and score all the goals, the net is left empty. Everyone has a specific role, and they must collaborate to win the game.

Quick Review: Good teams have "role-awareness." This means everyone knows their specific job and how it helps the whole group.


2. Negotiation: Finding the Middle Ground

When you work in a team, or when you deal with outside organizations (like your school headteacher or a local council), you won't always agree on everything. This is where negotiation comes in.

Negotiation is the process of discussing something to reach an agreement. It’s about "give and take."

Top tips for Negotiating:

  • Listen first: Understand what the other person wants.
  • Be prepared to compromise: You might not get 100% of what you want, but you might get 80%, which is better than 0%!
  • Stay calm: Negotiation works best when everyone is polite and respectful.

Example: You want to hold a protest march during school hours, but the Headteacher says no. You negotiate and agree to hold an awareness-raising assembly at lunchtime instead. You both "win" something!

Memory Aid: Think of the "Win-Win". Negotiation isn't about beating the other person; it's about finding a solution where everyone is happy enough to move forward.


3. Influence: Changing Minds and Actions

The whole point of citizenship action is to make a difference. To do that, you need to influence people. Influence is the power to change how someone thinks or behaves.

How do you influence people?

  • Advocacy: Publicly supporting your cause and speaking up for people who might not have a voice.
  • Persuasion: Using facts, logic, or emotional stories to get people to agree with you.
  • Informing: Sometimes people don't act because they just don't know there is a problem. Giving them clear information is a powerful way to influence them.

Did you know? Social media is a huge tool for influence today. A simple well-made video can reach hundreds of people and change their perspective on an issue like plastic pollution or mental health.

Quick Review: You influence others by advocating for your cause, persuading them with arguments, and informing them with facts.


4. Delivering Your Activity: The Two Paths

According to the Edexcel syllabus, your team will usually choose one of two ways to deliver your activity. Both require collaboration, negotiation, and influence.

Path A: Advocacy and Campaigning

This is about raising awareness. You might:
- Organise a meeting or an event.
- Start a social media campaign.
- Write letters to your MP or local councillors.
The Goal: To argue a case and get the target audience to commit to a change.

Path B: Direct Community Action

This is about providing a benefit directly. You might:
- Start a "social enterprise" (a business that helps people).
- Organise a community clean-up or a food bank collection.
- Provide advice or a service to others.
The Goal: To create a direct social benefit through your own hard work.

Key Takeaway: Whether you are shouting from the rooftops (campaigning) or rolling up your sleeves (community action), you must show that you can work as a team and handle challenges professionally.


Common Mistakes to Avoid

1. The "One-Person Show": Don't let one person do all the work. The examiner wants to see collaboration. If one person does everything, the team has failed to collaborate!

2. Being Unrealistic: Don't worry if your action doesn't "change the world" overnight. The syllabus says you won't be penalised if things don't go exactly as planned, as long as you tried to use your skills.

3. Forgetting to Record Progress: Keep a simple diary or log of who did what. This makes it much easier to talk about your role-awareness in the exam.


Summary Checklist

Before you finish Stage 5, ask yourself:
- Did we work as a team and did everyone have a role? (Collaboration)
- Did we solve disagreements by listening and compromising? (Negotiation)
- Did we manage to change someone’s mind or get them to help? (Influence)
- Did we actually deliver what we planned? (Activity)

Don't forget: Your "Taking Citizenship Action" project is worth 15% of your total marks. Being able to explain how you used these skills in your activity is the key to doing well in Paper 2!