Year 11 Economic Wellbeing and Financial
Capability
Just Living
This global citizenship resource is for KS3 and KS4 students and their teachers, and
aims to bring a global perspective and a rights-based approach to the Economic
Well-being and Financial Capability strand of PSHE. It is underpinned by Article 27 of
the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child. ‘The right to a standard of
living that is good enough to meet a child’s physical, social and mental needs’. It
specifically aims to:
• give teachers access to a flexible resource that will provide information, ideas and
activities that will help students think critically about economic issues from a rightsbased, local and global perspective
• provide young people with activities that encourage debate about economic wellbeing and enable them to consider the viewpoints of young people from different
parts of the world
• develop young people’s understanding of what it means to be a global citizen and
empower them to act for a just and sustainable world in which people’s rights and
responsibilities are recognised and respected
• raise awareness of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child.
It explores what a decent standard of living means for young people in the UK and
in different parts of the world, including the views and thoughts of young people
from Brazil. Case studies are included from Ghana, The Gambia, Brazil and Pakistan.
The activities could form the basis of joint curriculum projects on rights and
economic well-being for schools with linking partnerships. It also relates to the eight
key concepts of the global dimension as outlined in the DfES publication Developing
a global dimension in the school curriculum.
The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child underpins this resource as
it does all of UNICEF’s work. The Convention sets out the rights of every person
under the age of 18 and how those rights should be met. It is an international
statement of the civil, political, social and cultural rights of children. The UN General
assembly adopted the Convention on 20 November 1989 and it was ratified by the
United Kingdom in 1991.
The Convention is based on what every child needs and is entitled to for a happy.
safe and fulfilled childhood, such as:
• the right to a childhood (including protection from harm)
• the right to be educated (including all girls and boys completing primary school)
• the right to be healthy (including having clean water, nutritious food and medical
care)
• the right to be treated fairly (which includes changing laws and practices that
discriminate against children)
• the right to be heard (which includes considering children’s views).
Rights-respecting approach
Activities in this resource promote a rights-respecting approach as exemplified in
UNICEF UK’s Rights Respecting School Award (RRSA). The award provides a values
framework for schools based on the Convention. Just Living supports key elements
of the level 1 and 2 standards of the Award.
A rights-respecting school not only teaches about children’s rights and
responsibilities but also models rights and respect in all its relationships, whether
between pupils and teachers, or between pupils. The Award scheme is an effective
way of inspiring and supporting schools who want to provide children, young people
and the wider school community with a rights-respecting ethos. Developing active
global citizens who understand the importance of achieving global justice is a key
theme of the RRSA. Pupil participation is an essential part of the rights-respecting
approach and is reflected in the activities in this resource.
About UNICEF
UNICEF is the world’s leading organisation working for children and their rights.
UNICEF has a presence in more than 190 countries working with communities,
partners and governments to ensure that every child’s right to a childhood, to be
healthy, to be educated, to be treated fairly and to be heard is upheld. The
Convention on the Rights of the Child underpins all of UNICEF’s work.