Citizenship and Diversity Task 2 Merit work

Here are some additional pointers for those of you wanting to do the merit work for Task 2 of the Citizenship and Diversity Unit. See earlier post for details on the pass criteria.
The assessment criteria for the Merit grade states:

 "Analyse the effectiveness of legal and humanitarian measures to protect citizens in the UK" (Merit).

 

The two key words in the criteria are "analyse" and "effectiveness".  So, analyse means to go into detail and identify how things, concepts, ideas and events are linked.  In other words, why do things happen they way they do?   "Effectiveness" referrs to how well something works or doesn't work as the case may be. In this case the criteria is asking you to look at how well the various measures aimed at protecting citizens work in reality.  The various measures are those aimed at protecting citizens from problems associated with issues of equality, diversity, freedom, civil rights etc.  

Here are some ideas for area to research further.  You don't have to use these but they might point you in the direction of some good stuff:

1. In the UK we have a right to free speech, but recently the founder of Wiki-leaks has had to fight against extradition to Sweden.  The Swedish government want to extradite him because he has been charged with sexual assault.  However, he has also exposed certain American state secrets and the Americans also want to extradite him and it would be easier for America to extradite him from Sweden than from the UK. What are the facts surrounding this case?  Who is in danger of being extradited and what are the real reasons?  What does this say about the effectiveness of those measures aimed at protecting UK citizens?
2. A few years ago a UK citizen hacked into the Pentagon computer system.  The Americans want to prosecute him for acts of terrorism.  The hacker claims he was doing the Americans a favour by exposing the weaknesses in their computer security.  Has he been extradited to the USA or is he still fighting?  What are the facts? What does this say about those measures again?
3. Recently the NHS has suggested that they be allowed to sell patient information to drugs companies.  The NHS claims this will help people get the right medication more quickly.  Other people claim that this is just a way for the NHS to make money.  Other people are worried about sensitive medical information being lost or being used to target vulnerable people with aggressive advertising material.  What are the facts?  What measure are being used or misused here?  Which measures should protect people's privacy?  What do you think?
4. More general issues relate to the amount of CCTV we have in the UK.  Is this an abuse of your right to privacy? Or does it protect you from crime? What are the facts? What are the issues?  The police can use number plate and face recognition software in their CCTV.  Do they have the right to know where I am at any one time?  Should you be put under surveillance if you haven't done anything wrong?  
5. You may have seen on the new the stories about the anti-capitalism camps in London outside St Paul's cathedral and in other cities in the Uk and around the world.  The people involved are allegedly protesting against the banking crisis and agains the capitalist system in general.  Whilst their protests have largely been peaceful, the Metrapolitan police have listed them as a 'Terrorist Group'.  Is this justified?  Does this infringe on their right to peacful protest and free speech?  Are the police right to be cautious?  What does this say about society in general in the UK?  How can you make your voice heard if you are not allowed to protest?  What do you think?  
6. Some years ago, any female member of the armed forces who became pregnat was immediately given six months notice of being made redundant.  The armed forces claimed that they could not justify keeping women on active service once they had chosen to have a family.  A number of women challenged this.  What was the outcome?  Why did the women challenge this situation? Which laws and human rights were used to argues the various points of view? What do you think?
7. Women have just been allowed to join the Royal Navy's submarine service.  Is this a good thing or a bad thing?  Why were women not allowed in submarines?  Why has the Navy changed it's policy? What laws and human rights were used? How effective were the laws and human rights at protecting the rights of female members of the Royal Navy? 

That should be enough for you to be getting on with.  Research two or three current issues and look at how they are addressed by the press, the authorities and by society.  What, if any, civil liberties are threatened and why?  Whay do you think they are being threatened?  How effective are the laws and social norms and values at protecting citizens?  

Deadline for Task 2 is the end of the first week back: Friday 6th January. 2012.

Extended Diploma and Subsidiary Diploma.

Hi Level 3 students.
The following should help you to do a better job of Task 1 of the citizenship and diversity unit.
There is some very useful information for all of you, if you read on. 

Task 1. 
P1, P2 and P3
A few of you have asked me about the P2 criteria for Task 1. This requires you to Discuss the key concepts associated with Diversity.  This mean you need to define the concepts (ideas) and talk about what you think it means to society and to you personally.  You need to choose at least 4 or 5 terms that are specifically relevent to diversity and go into a more detailed discussion about them.   For P1 you should explain the meanings associated with at least 18 of the following:

1. Harassment
2. Victimisation
3. Disability
4. Direct and indirect discrimination
5. Racism
6. Multiculturalism
7. Sexism
8. Homophobia
9. Integration
10. Tolerance
11. Rights and responsibilities
12. Apartheid
13. Segregation
14. Positive action (in relation to recruitment)
15. Religion
16. Social Class
17. Corporate social responsibility
18. Equality
19. Prejudice
20. Equal opportunities
21. Ethnocentricity
22. Institutional Racism

This can form a seperate leaflet if you want and you should use illustrations to support your ideas. If you have already handed in your task 1 but you don't think you have addressed all these concepts then you should produce an additional illustrated leaflet covering this criteria.  For P1 you need to explain what is meant by the above terms.  For P2 you should discuss them including what you think about them.  What do they mean to you as a citizen?


For P3, all you need to do is assess the benefits of good citizens to the public services and society in respecting equality.  In this bit you need to talk about our responsibilities as citizens. e.g. volunteering (what opportunities are there for volunteering localy), serving the community (e.g. PCSOs, Life Boat, DofE), protecting the environment etc.  Think about how you can become involved these sort of things locally.