The final stage of this inquiry has been an opportunity for students to design their own pressure group, using what they have learnt to make sure it will be successful. They had to fill in a design sheet, where they considered all the areas we have been looking at, such as funding and strategy, and then produce some promotional materials that would speak for themselves. They weren’t allowed to present their groups to the class. Everyone left their design sheet and promotional materials on their desk and went around to assess each other’s efforts, marking them out of 10 in 10 categories. At the end, they voted for the two groups they thought most likely to be successful (based on their scores) using £1,000 ‘cheques’. Something I hadn’t thought about in the design was that some of them were a bit baffled by the cheques because they are used so rarely these days!
Engagement was high and there were some phenomenal efforts, with many informative posters and leaflets and a few very professional looking interactive multimedia presentations on laptops. We also saw a wide range of ’causes’ from conserving honeybees through to legalising gun ownership for self-defence in the UK. More importantly, it was clear that a great deal of thought had gone into the group design and that students had a clear idea of what a successful pressure group would need. Our only concern about this stage was that students had put a great deal of effort into designing their groups but would not be able to use them as case studies in the exam (because they aren’t real groups). We have already begun to think about how we might improve the inquiry for next year – our own ‘What Went Well’ and ‘Even Better If’ process has begun…
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