CSPE Short Course

This short course examines rights and responsibilities, global issues, and democratic processes through interactive lessons on active citizenship, human dignity, sustainable development, civic participation, and media influences. It culminates in a classroom-based assessment involving action planning, implementation, and reflective multimedia records to foster informed global engagement.

Explore the Course

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Human Dignity, the Basis for Human Rights
What We Owe Each Other	Quiz
When Dignity Is Denied	Quiz
What People Need, and What They Are Owed	Quiz
What the Numbers Say About Who Has What	Quiz
The Same Picture Over Time	Quiz
Human Rights Instruments
People Who Changed Something	Quiz
Building the Timeline, Part 1	Quiz
Building the Timeline, Part 2	Quiz
Inside the Convention on the Rights of the Child	Quiz
Three Documents, Three Jobs	Quiz
Eight Kinds of Rights	Quiz
When Two Rights Pull Against Each Other	Quiz
Rights Come with Responsibilities	Quiz
Our Class Charter	Quiz
Our First Citizenship Action
Choosing Our First Action	Quiz
Running Our First Action	Quiz
What the First Action Taught Us	Quiz

Sustainability
Everything You Touched Before Nine O'clock	Quiz
What Does Development Even Mean?	Quiz
Writing Our Own Definition	Quiz
Our Footprint, as Data	Quiz
Who Can Actually Do Something About It?	Quiz
Which of Those Would Actually Work?	Quiz
Local and Global Development
One Person's Own Account	Quiz
Why Is Anyone Poor?	Quiz
What Development Did to Our Own Place	Quiz
Effecting Global Change
One Person, One Institution	Quiz
Taking One Issue Apart	Quiz
What Could We Actually Do?	Quiz
Did That Campaign Work?	Quiz
Our Second Citizenship Action
Planning Our Global Citizenship Action	Quiz
Running Our Second Action	Quiz
What the Second Action Taught Us	Quiz

The Meaning of Democracy
Where Do You Actually Have a Say?	Quiz
How Decisions Really Get Made Here	Quiz
Local and National Government	Quiz
The Words for It	Quiz
Counting the Votes	Quiz
The Same Ballots, Counted Another Way	Quiz
Two Systems of Government, Side by Side	Quiz
Is Democracy Any Good?	Quiz
The Law and the Citizen
Laws You Already Live Under	Quiz
How a Law Is Made	Quiz
How a Law Changes	Quiz
Which Court, and Why	Quiz
The Nine Grounds	Quiz
The Nine Grounds, Applied	Quiz
Using the Law to Change Things	Quiz
The Role of the Media in a Democracy
Where News Comes From	Quiz
How It Persuades You	Quiz
A Case Worth Examining	Quiz
The Verdict on It	Quiz
Our Third Citizenship Action
Planning Our Democracy Action	Quiz
Running Our Third Action	Quiz
What the Third Action Taught Us	Quiz

What a Strong Action Record Looks Like	Quiz
Choosing Which Action to Record	Quiz
Gathering What You Kept	Quiz
Drafting the Record	Quiz
Judging a Draft	Quiz
Making It Better	Quiz
Handing It in, and What the Course Gave You	Quiz

Human Dignity, the Basis for Human Rights
What We Owe Each Other	Quiz
When Dignity Is Denied	Quiz
What People Need, and What They Are Owed	Quiz
What the Numbers Say About Who Has What	Quiz
The Same Picture Over Time	Quiz
Human Rights Instruments
People Who Changed Something	Quiz
Building the Timeline, Part 1	Quiz
Building the Timeline, Part 2	Quiz
Inside the Convention on the Rights of the Child	Quiz
Three Documents, Three Jobs	Quiz
Eight Kinds of Rights	Quiz
When Two Rights Pull Against Each Other	Quiz
Rights Come with Responsibilities	Quiz
Our Class Charter	Quiz
Our First Citizenship Action
Choosing Our First Action	Quiz
Running Our First Action	Quiz
What the First Action Taught Us	Quiz

Sustainability
Everything You Touched Before Nine O'clock	Quiz
What Does Development Even Mean?	Quiz
Writing Our Own Definition	Quiz
Our Footprint, as Data	Quiz
Who Can Actually Do Something About It?	Quiz
Which of Those Would Actually Work?	Quiz
Local and Global Development
One Person's Own Account	Quiz
Why Is Anyone Poor?	Quiz
What Development Did to Our Own Place	Quiz
Effecting Global Change
One Person, One Institution	Quiz
Taking One Issue Apart	Quiz
What Could We Actually Do?	Quiz
Did That Campaign Work?	Quiz
Our Second Citizenship Action
Planning Our Global Citizenship Action	Quiz
Running Our Second Action	Quiz
What the Second Action Taught Us	Quiz

The Meaning of Democracy
Where Do You Actually Have a Say?	Quiz
How Decisions Really Get Made Here	Quiz
Local and National Government	Quiz
The Words for It	Quiz
Counting the Votes	Quiz
The Same Ballots, Counted Another Way	Quiz
Two Systems of Government, Side by Side	Quiz
Is Democracy Any Good?	Quiz
The Law and the Citizen
Laws You Already Live Under	Quiz
How a Law Is Made	Quiz
How a Law Changes	Quiz
Which Court, and Why	Quiz
The Nine Grounds	Quiz
The Nine Grounds, Applied	Quiz
Using the Law to Change Things	Quiz
The Role of the Media in a Democracy
Where News Comes From	Quiz
How It Persuades You	Quiz
A Case Worth Examining	Quiz
The Verdict on It	Quiz
Our Third Citizenship Action
Planning Our Democracy Action	Quiz
Running Our Third Action	Quiz
What the Third Action Taught Us	Quiz

What a Strong Action Record Looks Like	Quiz
Choosing Which Action to Record	Quiz
Gathering What You Kept	Quiz
Drafting the Record	Quiz
Judging a Draft	Quiz
Making It Better	Quiz
Handing It in, and What the Course Gave You	Quiz

Teacher Resources

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Curriculum Mapping

See exactly how this course maps to official curriculum specifications

NCCA Junior Cycle CSPE Short Course

Curriculum Area

Outcomes

Rights and responsibilities

1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7 1.8 1.9 1.10 1.11

Global citizenship

2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 2.7 2.8 2.9 2.10 2.11 2.12

Exploring democracy

3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 3.6 3.7 3.8 3.9 3.10 3.11 3.12 3.13 3.14

The curriculum does not include official reference codes for individual learning outcomes, so we have assigned a code scheme to make it easier to identify and track coverage.

What Students Will Learn

Learning Goals

Understand human rights, dignity, and corresponding responsibilities within communities.
Analyse global issues, sustainability, and the role of individuals in addressing challenges.
Explore democratic structures, civic participation, and the influence of law and media.
Develop skills in planning, implementing, and reflecting on citizenship actions.
Integrate knowledge across strands through classroom-based assessments and reflections.

Learning Outcomes

Analyse human rights frameworks, including UDHR, UNCRC, and ECHR, to identify categories and historical developments through timeline creation.
Evaluate global challenges such as sustainability, poverty, and environmental impact by developing and critiquing action plans for personal and community involvement.
Compare democratic systems and processes, including law-making and media influence, to assess strengths, weaknesses, and civic participation strategies.
Plan, implement, and document three integrated actions across course strands, demonstrating measurable impacts on rights, global issues, and democracy.
Reflect critically on personal learning and actions to articulate connections between citizenship responsibilities and broader societal change.

CSPE Short Course

Explore the Course

1 Strand 1: Rights and Responsibilities 17 lessons

2 Strand 2: Global Citizenship 16 lessons

3 Strand 3: Exploring Democracy 22 lessons

4 The Classroom-Based Assessment: The Action Record 7 lessons

Teacher Resources

Curriculum Mapping

What Students Will Learn

Learning Goals

Learning Outcomes

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