Suffragette At your school support materials KS3/4 Citizenship and History
Contents National Curriculum links and session description 1 Practical guidelines 2 Visit preparation and pre-visit activities 3-6 Follow-up activities 7-8
Curriculum links The performance will link to both the KS3 History and Citizenship National Curriculum. Taking the key questions of Why did women and some men have to struggle for the vote in Britain? and What is the point of voting today? this session leads with an historical perspective on a pertinent modern-day issue. The session helps pupils look at significant individuals, events and developments and their impact on Britain. The performance will encourage students to think about the current electoral system, the ideas underpinning it, and the importance of voting. Pupils will have the chance to question the suffragette and express their own opinions. This session is also relevant for KS4 GCSE History students: GCSE History, AQA history B, paper 3, Edexcel History B, paper 2 & OCR History C, paper 1 Session descriptions At your school drama Pupils will meet Kitty Marion in 1913 London, where she has just received the order to do all the damage possible without being caught. This performance allows students to question the character and become involved in the drama. Kitty was of German origin but was raised in England, joining the Women s Social Union in 1909. She was actively involved in their fight for the vote, to the point of going on hunger strike in prison for her militant actions. Visit preparation and follow-up activities It is recommended that teachers prepare students for this visit by working through at least one of the preparation activities suggested in this pack or any of your own devising. We have also provided follow-up activities and student source sheets that can be used to consolidate the museum experience. 1
Practical guidelines To maximise the enjoyment and value of the visit please consider the following: ensure that you have at least one adult for every 30 students please organise a space for the actor to change in please set up the room for the performance or workshop in advance of actor s visit responsible teachers should not leave the classroom or hall when the session is taking place please note that teachers and adults are responsible for students behaviour at all times during the session please fill in an evaluation form for the session and send it back to the Museum either with the actor who delivered the session or by post/email please organise a visit to the Museum, now that you have benefited from our free outreach service! 2
Visit preparation activities Preparation To maximise the enjoyment and value of the performance please consider the following: introduce to the group some general background about Museum of London undertake at least one of the suggested pre-visit activities ask the group to think of some questions for the actor. Pre-visit activities Create your own government 1. The entire class (teacher included) has been shipwrecked and stranded on a desert island. There is no escape and no chance of rescue; you must all start your lives afresh. Pupils are given the opportunity to design how this new island civilisation will be run. To help them, prompts can be used, for example: Will there be one leader? If so, who will this be and how will it be decided? Will everyone have allocated jobs or will people be able to do exactly what they want? What will happen to anyone who isn t pulling their weight or doesn t agree with you? How will you ensure housing/food/education/sustainability? When pupils have designed their plan for this island community, and examples have been shared with the class, put descriptions or definitions of the following terms on the board and get the pupils to match the one which most closely describes the system they have created: democracy dictatorship 2. Pupils can then decide which system most closely matches that in Britain and (depending on ability) other countries. 3
3. Who really runs the country? Pupils are split into 7 groups. Each group is given a person from the list below (the list can be shortened according to class numbers/ability): Queen/monarch Prime Minister Member of Parliament rich voter poor voter woman voter school pupil The class is informed that all these characters are about to take part in a balloon debate : All are placed in a hot air balloon, but the ones who are least important will be thrown out, leaving only the person who holds the most power in saying how the country is run. Each group must then forward an argument for their character being the most influential and important in deciding how the country is run. Pupils should think about (for example): what powers they have to change things how secure their position is what support they need to achieve what they want who can stop them achieving what they want Each group must also choose one person in the balloon who they believe should be thrown out (i.e. who has the least influence in the running of the country), and put a few sentences together to explain why. When all arguments have been heard, either an independent panel or a pupil vote determines who stays in the balloon (i.e. the person with the most importance) and who is cast aside. 4. How did we get to where we are today? Following on from the balloon debate, and using the same characters, pupils must decide where, roughly, on a timeline their particular character was most influential/important. This could be done as a class activity, using a washing line and pegs to move characters around and encourage pupils to question where and why the characters should be placed. Background information in the form of a small summary sheet for certain time periods could be compiled to help inform the pupil s decisions (the school pupil character could either be omitted, or used as speculation for the future). 4
Pupils pin their character on a real historical person. Research piece to find a real person in history who best fits their group character on the timeline. Suggested questions for Kitty Marion Students should prepare some questions they would like to ask Kitty during her visit. Here is a list of suggested questions that would help Kitty highlight some important aspects/arguments in Suffragette history. Issues that her answers will raise are written beneath in italics. 1. Why are you prepared to suffer so much for the right to vote? (Kitty s work experiences of having to continually contend with sexist behaviours led her to being a member of the Actresses Franchise League when it was first set up in 1909.) 2. Are you married and do you have children? (The death of Kitty s mother and baby brother, which she cites as a cause for her never wanting marriage or motherhood and to highlight the commitment Kitty had to the cause.) 3. Is it mostly middle class people who are involved in the suffrage campaign? (Parallels with voting issues today.) 4. Don t you think you are setting a bad example to young people by using the methods you use, like smashing windows and burning buildings? (The importance of young people thinking for themselves and how militancy was only one part of the struggle.) 5. You are prepared to use violence to get what you want, where do you draw the line? (Violence was not used against the individual and the Suffragettes/gists experienced violence from the police themselves.) 6. Are there other countries where women do have the vote? (To highlight the gradual development of suffrage success and ask why women have been successful elsewhere.) 7. What do the other suffragettes and suffragists think about women going on hunger strike? (The support systems for hunger strikers and the public perception) 5
8. How has being a Suffragette affected your work? (Kitty s career and how women coped more generally if they had to earn a living and work for the Women s Social and Political Union, so class issues again perhaps.) 9. Why weren t women given the vote in 1884? (The issue of patriarchy as it stood at this time and specifically the notion of women remaining in the domestic sphere and being unsuited for public life by their very nature. Also the fear that by allowing women the vote they would lose sight of their true purpose as mothers and wives.) 10. How long do you think it will be before women do get the vote? (Worry of war and the affect it might have on the cause.) 11. How would you feel if you knew that in 100 years time women did have the vote, but didn t use it? (The reasons for voting and to ask the groups their opinions. Maybe it raises the more universal issue of young people feeling disenfranchised?) 6
Follow-up activities for the classroom All change! Return to the washing line of people s importance created before the session and decide, as a class, if any positions need changing on the basis of what you have learnt. Why do some people not use their vote? Members of the class interview their family and other adults to find out if they voted in the last government elections. If they did not, their reasons for not voting should be recorded. As a class, a table of results should be compiled showing the percentage of those interviewed who did and didn t vote and the most common reasons for not voting. Pupils could then each write a letter to the local MP (not necessarily to be sent) advising him/her how they could inspire these non-voters to use their vote in the next election. What does voting affect? Each pupil writes a diary recording all their activities in an average day (a particular day can be chosen if desired). Pupils then highlight everything in that day that is in some way affected by the government (e.g. bus to school [public transport], what s served at the canteen, the fact the country is at peace). Pupils use their findings to design a poster to inform people of aspects of life under government control. What would Kitty Marion say about voting habits today? Write a speech for Kitty Marion s granddaughter trying to persuade people to use their vote in the light of the current general apathy towards voting. You might want to include the historical significance of her grandmother s struggle to secure votes for women. How can school pupils make their voice heard? Class research into the ways school children can influence their own environment despite the fact they cannot vote. Useful youth organisation websites can provide information, and this research could be linked to the formation of a school council. Debate: This house believes that the voting age should be lowered to 16. 7
Pupils will have gathered a wide range of facts from previous tasks to help inform their arguments. Each side should have a first and second speaker who put forward the case, before the debate is opened to questions and comments from the floor. The motion is carried or defeated by a vote. Parallels between this process and the Parliamentary process of passing laws can also be drawn. 8