Politics and Society Unit 2: Youth Participation

This Unit is one of four from the GCE subject Guide Lessons for a Wise World: Global Citizenship Education in Politics and Society.

Click the button below to access the PowerPoints which accompany the lessons in Unit 2 and all supporting materials.

The PDF for Unit 2, available here, contains step-by-step instructions for the following 6 lessons:

A. Understanding Youth Participation

In this lesson learners explore what youth participation is, why it is important and consider the benefits. A video with learner tasks is used to consider these questions.

B. Rights to Participation: United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child

This lesson explores participation rights under the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child using a placemat strategy. Laura Lundy’s model of participation is presented and tokenistic participation is examined. There is also a research activity based on the Global Youth Participation Index Report (2025).

C. Student Participation in Decision-making in Schools

In this lesson learners consider their own experiences of participation in decision-making in school. They explore the benefits of and barriers to student participation. The lesson includes a research task based on three reports from the former Department of Children and Youth Affairs (DCYA). It concludes with an activity which requires learners to connect the research evidence to their own lives and to the wider world.

D. Young People’s Rights to Participation in Ireland

The first part of this lesson is a youth consultation on children’s rights. It is based on a series of consultations with children and young people carried out by the former Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth (DCEDIY). After responding to the research questions from the consultation, learners come up with recommendations for DCEDIY to promote children and young people’s rights in Ireland.

In the second part of the lesson learners explore two of the official state reports to the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child (CRC). Learners compare the findings of the state reports and their own lived experiences to the official CRC’s recommendations to Ireland in 2023.

E. Participation in Action

The first part of this lesson is based on a BBC newspaper article called ‘The 3.5% rule: How a small minority can change the world’. Learners read the article, answer questions and respond through a head-heart-hands activity.

The second part of the lesson explores where and how young people can participate and take action. A Jigsaw strategy is used to find out about 4 national youth organisations which promote and support youth participation and active citizenship.

F: Young People’s Rights and Climate Change

In the first part of this lesson, learners explore the ‘historic ruling’ by the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child’s (CRC) 2021 on children’s rights and the harmful effects of climate change. Learners engage with the CRC’s decision letter through a think-pair-share method.
The second part of the lesson is a research task. Background information on climate cases taken by young people on the protection of their rights under the UNCRC or the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) is provided; research questions are also included.
The third part explores General Comment 26, the CRC’s 2023 explicit affirmation of children’s right to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment.
The final part is another research task based on a 2023 UNICEF report ‘Children’s Rights and the Climate Crisis in Ireland’.