Fair or Unfair?
- 10 min + discussion
- 5-15 years
- PEACE AND CONFLICT • HUMAN RIGHTS
What do I want to find out?
What pupils understand by the term ‘fair’ and how developed their understanding of justice is. Do they think injustice is inevitable?
What do I need?
An opinion scale:
Very unfair | unfair | neither | fair | Very fair |
Cards with a selection of the following statements, one statement per card:
- Prizes are given to the children who work hardest
- Prizes are given to the children who run fastest
- Prizes are given to the children who are cleverest
- All children get the same grade for their work
- The teachers spends an equal amount of time with each child
- All the money in the world is shared out equally
- Children bring all their toys to school. These are then shared out equally
- Some people are luckier than others
- Some poor people work harder than some rich people
- Rich people can pay for better health care
- Rich people have bigger carbon footprints
- Many children work on cocoa plantations as slaves
- Children working on cocoa plantations have never tasted chocolate
- In Britain we eat on average 11 kg of chocolate each year.
- Many cocoa plantation workers earn less than 6p per hour
- The Chief Executive of Nestle earns £8 million per year
- Life expectancy in Ghana is 64 years and 80 years in the UK
What do I do?
- With pupils in groups, ask them to place the statements you have chosen on the opinion scale.
- Listen carefully to their discussion and justification for their choices.
- Take photos to record where they have placed each statement.
How do I analyse the results?
- Looking at the photos, use the following to give each statement a score:
very unfair (1), quite unfair (2), nether fair nor unfair (3), quite fair (4), very fair (5). - Do pupils’ discussions and justifications correspond to where they agree to place the statements?
- To what extent is there a difference between how pupils respond to more and less familiar situations? Which statements have the highest and lowest scores? Do any patterns emerge?
How do I measure the change?
- Repeat the activity using a different selection of statements. Compare the Do pupils’ responses suggest they think ‘fair’ means the same as ‘equal’?
- Look for evidence that pupils are more comfortable with the concepts and language of “rights” and “justice”.
- Are pupils now more prepared to express ideas about how unfairness can be reduced?
- To what extent do they show a willingness to take action, or do their responses suggest they believe injustice to be inevitable?