How you can have a say in local government decisions.

Kids sitting in the Council chambersWhat if you have a great idea for Christchurch that you want to share?

In this programme, students discover key ways they can make a difference, vote in a mock local election, learn about community boards, and build their significant democratic voice as the youth of our city.

Year level 7 to 13
Curriculum level 3 to 8
Availability Year-round
Times By arrangement. A minimum of 2 hours is required
Site At your school
Cost Free
Number of students Maximum of 35 

Key concepts

Local Government, Active citizenship, Laws, Decision making, Collaboration, Elections, Democracy

Lesson outline

How can you have a say in local government decisions? What if you have a great idea for Christchurch that you want to share?

In this programme students discover key ways they can make a difference, vote in a mock local election, learn about community boards, and build their significant democratic voice as youth of our city.

Success criteria

  • To understand how citizens can be engaged to ‘have a say’ in their community
  • To explain how local government elections function to elect a mayor, councillors and community board members in Christchurch
  • To identify the key responsibilities of elected representatives in local government (mayor, councillors and community board members)
  • To explain how citizens can take part in a Christchurch City Council consultation process
  • To identify 2-3 issues of significance to young people in their community
  • To develop an idea to make a difference in their community and identify a pathway to follow on with it.

Key competencies

  • Using language, symbols and texts: students use oral, written and visual texts to understand key terms
  • Thinking – students will use creative, critical and meta-cognitive processes
  • Managing self – encouraging students to manage their group projects and act independently
  • Relating to others - students are expected to work together in teams.
Learning areas Strands Curriculum level Achievement objectives
Social Sciences Social Studies 3
  • Understand how people make decisions about access to and use of resources
  • Understand how groups make and implement rules and laws
Social Sciences Social Studies 4
  • Understand how the ways in which leadership of groups is acquired and exercised have consequences for communities and societies

  • Understand how formal and informal groups make decisions that impact communities
Social Sciences Social Studies 5
  • Understand how systems of government operate and affect people’s lives, and how they compare with another system
  • Understand how the Treaty of Waitangi is responded to differently by people in different times and places
  • Understand how peoples management of resources impact on environmental and social sustainability
Social sciences  Geography 6
  • Understand how natural and cultural environments have particular characteristics and ow environments are shaped by processes that create spacial patterns
Social sciences  Economics 6
  • Understand how as a result of scarcity, consumers, producers and government make choices that affect New Zealand society