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| Referendum
as Citizenship Action by Brendan O'Regan |
Class Activities: *Students create presentations to convey information about the Referenda to the full class. *Divide class into 4 groups – a yes group and a No group for each of the 2 votes – groups can argue the point, debate style or just present the relevant Yes/No arguments. *Worksheets to go with the various materials and/or arguments. *Student groups track the referendum campaign in the media for the last week of campaigning. *Mock Referendum: in the class or year group. Teams - to prepare the ballot paper, optional campaigns, vote counting, declaration of result. *Attend count if in local area. * The count: students examine the count results, referendum by referendum, constituency by constituency. Results to be presented to the class.
Slide Show on holding a Mock Referendum (from Oireachtas Education) Guidelines on Mock Referendum - pdf (from Oireachtas Education)
Radio Debates Explainer and debate - This Week (25 Feb) https://www.rte.ie/radio/radio1/clips/22360242/
Saturday with Colm Ó Mongáin; Family Referendum (24 Feb) https://www.rte.ie/radio/radio1/clips/22360185/
Sat with Colm Ó Mongáin : Care Referendum (24 Feb) https://www.rte.ie/radio/radio1/clips/22360186/ Upfront (19 Feb) Upfront With Katie Hannon - RTÉ Player (rte.ie)
There is a variety of possible approaches for following a referendum in CSPE class. A starting point could be an investigation of the nature of a referendum. The primary resource here of course is The Constitution itself (every school should have a set! - it's a wonder the government doesn't supply a set free to each school). Articles 46 and 47 detail the constitutional provisions for a referendum, and while the language is legalistic it shouldn't be beyond the capabilities of our students, especially with a bit of simplification where necessary from the teacher. These articles could be a spark for class discussion, or the teacher (or students) could type them out, adding questions to make a worksheet. Alternatively a class group could research these articles and present their findings to the class in whatever format suits (practising those skills vital to the Citizenship Action and any resultant report and CBA). The provisions of The Constitution relating to the issues at hand could also be examined. For those having difficulty finding a constitution the text is available here. Other sources of information on the referendum process are the leaflets sent to schools at various stages from the information section of The Houses of the Oireachtas and The Department of the Environment. These may still be hiding somewhere in the staffroom even if they were originally nabbed by the CSPE Department (every school should have one). At this stage it might be an idea to divide the class into small groups. For example if two referenda are being covered the class could be divided into four small groups - one for and one against each referendum proposal. It would then be the task of each group to follow in the media the arguments relevant to its position, and to write up and present their findings/arguments to the class on a once off or weekly basis (perhaps in debate format).
They may need some assistance in finding the material but the teacher can provide the raw resources (e.g.. newspaper articles, letters to the paper, printouts from the web etc.) or point the students in the right direction. A search on the RTE news site or the newspaper sites should prove fruitful. In recent referenda the Referendum Commission produces useful materials. This commission has recently been subsumed into the Electoral Commission. Particularly useful are the booklets sent to each home, which are usually available on the Referendum section of the website (https://www.electoralcommission.ie/Referendums/). The Commission may also produce short TV broadcasts on the issues which should make for even more variety if shown in class. At the end of this process there could easily be a class poll on the issues, providing plenty of reportable activities for actions, reports and CBAs (speeches, posters, polling, counting). Some ambitious classes have raised the stakes and organised whole school polls on referendum issues. A study of the national count is a vital part of any referendum project. Those schools situated near a count centre could organise a students' visit to the count. There is usually plenty of room during referendum counts though it might be advisable to check in advance with the local returning officer. These counts have the added advantage of being so much simpler than election counts, with its PR system.
Other useful links:
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RTE has produced a short explainer video about referenda: