Extending the Franchise to 16 (research case study) - UK Politics Edexcel A Level

Part of the Edexcel Politics A Level UK Politics module

A lesson (or series of lessons which can include homework) that asks students to research the pros and cons (for and against arguments) for lowering the voting age to 16 in the UK. Does include that 16 and 17 year olds can vote in Wales and Scotland.

Begins with outlining what you can legally do at 16 in the UK - how many of these can they guess? Good starting point to argue ‘if you can do all this, why can’t you vote?’

Provides a basic timeline of the movement, and an extensive list of websites and sources to find information for and against the argument to extend the franchise to 16 and 17 year olds. Students can use these and their own research to produce an argument for both sides of the argument.

There is a final task to bring the research together, including seeing what the general view of the class is. This could very easily be turned into a debate too!

Note that Tutor2U has a GREAT resource on this, which specifically provides a source question and activities that are a good follow up to this lesson. I always used it, but obviously for copyright reasons can’t include it here.