Swan FM Summary of the project

Swan FM

Multiple file download including three lesson plans and supporting information tip: download the zip file which includes all files.

Summary of the project

The Swan FM project was designed to meet the coursework requirements of EDEXCEL GCSE Short Course Citizenship Studies (3280).

A full description of the coursework requirements for Citizenship Studies can be found in the examination specification at

Key Features of the Citizenship Activity;

It is worth 40% of the total marks for the examination with the time spent on the project reflecting its importance in the assessment scheme

It is designed to enable the students to ‘participate in society’, although the precise method how this aim is achieved is kept deliberately open to allow flexibility for centres working under different circumstances.

It challenges students to record their ‘own contribution’ and the ‘views, experiences and contribution’ of others

It involves four distinct stages of evidence recording: planning, an activity log, communication and evaluation.

Following experience of designing a Citizenship Activity in 2003-2004 I decided to apply other general principles to the planning of the project:

The students were to have choice of the project they wished to work on as it would require a considerable commitment on their part if it were to succeed

The planning of the project would reflect the working practice and professional roles of an associated business organisation

The students would be allowed to make mistakes but would be encouraged to reflect on them and make improvements, as suggested in the guidelines for the activity.

To encourage effective planning and evaluation multiple opportunities for reflection would be offered in the delivery of the project. Students would not be expected to write up and record every stage of the project to achieve a top GCSE mark.

The project would use a low level of technology, be cheap to deliver and would require minimal technical expertise.

I would draw on the support and knowledge of other Faculties and members of staff.

The task the students decided to plan and deliver, as their Citizenship Activity, was to organise and present a Swanlea School Community Radio Station. The context that I required them to work in was the format of a top 40 pop station presenting a mixture of music and news to meet the needs of the school community.

After my experience of the previous year I learnt that it would be difficult to plan the project following a standard Scheme of Work. Rather I would have to be prepared to plan lessons in response to decisions made by the students. I would especially have to review the progress being made by the group and plan input to help them plan, record and evaluate their progress to the standard required by the GCSE specification.

Therefore there is no regular Scheme of Work for the Swan FM project. Instead there is a set of resources that may be used to plan a radio station in a school context similar to Swanlea’s. They are included with this review

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