Morgan Stanley - Great Britons

Learning Resources

We have created three lessons, designed to be taught as part of Citizenship, that encourage young people to explore what Britishness means. They are a free resource and each lesson includes a lesson plan, a PowerPoint in-lesson guide and resources for students.

Curriculum Guidance

Please visit this area to discover where the lessons fit in each of the UK’s curricula.

Competition

The competition involves young people creating a Britishness Charter; a visual representation of the classes’ Britishness. This charter is the key activity in lesson two however it can also be entered without participating in the full learning programme.

Message Board

We have created this forum to allow you to share your thoughts and ideas on teaching Britishness and on the learning programme with other teachers.

Debate

We held a debate in October on 'Can Britishness be taught'. MPs and prominent public figures discussion this topic as well as moving into a wider debate about Britishness.

The Great Britons Learning Programme gives young people the opportunity to explore and express their views on what Britishness means to them.

Britishness has rapidly crept up the educational agenda to become a highly important topic for young people to discuss. Our lessons encourage discussion and debate and enable students to approach the topic of Britishness in a positive and healthy manner.

Our learning programme is one part of Morgan Stanley Great Britons; we also hold an annual awards ceremony to celebrate British achievement. The awards go to individuals who have excelled in their field over the past year and we feel that by looking at the people who have represented the best of Britishness a greater understanding of British society can be achieved. We hope that together the learning programme and the awards will encourage people to explore, discuss and celebrate what it means to be British.

The theme of Britishness is receiving high levels of coverage by politicians and the media. Ministers recently called for a National Britain day, cohesion and multi-culturalism are being hotly debated and both Gordon Brown and David Cameron have recently spoken on the topic. We wanted to create a learning programme that was aligned with the things that interest our society as well as being in line with our wider programme.

We worked closely with a highly experienced Citizenship teacher to develop three lessons which meet the requirements for key stage 3 and 4 Citizenship curriculum. They work best if all taught together, however if you don’t have time to teach all three they can be used as stand alone lessons. The resources are free and lesson 2 includes a competition which we encourage your class to enter, independent of whether you chose to teach the scheme of work.

The resources are designed to be taught as part of Citizenship however they also fit well with History and English. Further curriculum guidance can be found here.

We have also created a media and links section, to provide the latest news and resources surrounding Britishness, and a message board so you can share your thoughts on the topic and the learning programme with other teachers.