The Hansard Society, which was so instrumental in advocating the provision of citizenship and political literacy within schools, as recently become a founding member of the Democratic Life coalition. Democratic Life actively 'promotes high quality citizenship education for all young people' and like many Citizenship based organisations is currently behind the drive to raise awareness of the National Voter Registration Day on 5th February.
Recent changes in the law mean that for the first time, new voters will not be registered by the head of their household but will have to register themselves - something which can of course still be done from the age of 16.
For Year 11 lessons, Bite the Ballot have helpfully put together two games designed to demystify the voting process. Both games fit neatly into 45 minutes, and finish with a link to register for the vote at the end if the student so wishes. Of course, if the student wishes to follow the example of Russell Brand and exercise their democratic right not to vote, then all power to them. This is the UK, not Australia.
All together, this would fit nicely into a 60 minute lesson, with a choice of plenary, either to set up as a fully fledged registered future voter, or to write a short piece on why voting is not something that a student wishes to engage in. I personally don't have a problem with people not voting (can I say that?), but I do think people should actively consider why they don't want to exercise this privilege. If the bulk of the voting population can't be bothered to vote, then that is society's problem to deal with (MP's take note), not an individual slur on anyone.
More information can be found in the coming weeks via Twitter @BitetheBallot #NVRD.
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