1 What would you do?

• Suggested duration: 30 mins
• Technique used: Small group role play
• Materials required: PTT with details of scenario
• Aim of activity: To encourage learners to think about how context and bakground can sometimes influence decisions made and the potential impact of that
• Underpinning components: UC8.1b
• Connection with other competences: Attentiveness

Short description

Prepare scenario from which different outcomes are possible depending on position, values etc.
Small groups. Allocate roles e.g. New head, old deputy head, new geography teacher, old school bursar, head of religious education
Conduct meeting where the scenario and resulting dilemma are discussed
Plenary – share and outcomes
Small groups. Discuss the consequences of the various outcomes presented
Plenary – share and discuss consequences
Small groups. Consider different options and potential consequences and decide whether you now like to change your group’s outcome.

Role play scenario used with Level 5 students in UK:

• The school is in a remote rural location away from the mains sewerage system
• The recently appointed head has been sorting through archived papers and has come across an old report 
• The report was written by a surveyor who had come to check the land for a car park extension four years ago
• It identified that the school’s septic tank was leaking and seeping raw sewage into the land near the school field
• It stated that the tank needed to be dug out, the land around it decontaminated and a replacement water treatment facility installed at a cost of some £200,000
• It is clear that the work has not been done and the car park was extended in a different direction 
• The head went for a walk earlier and there was no sign of the leaking sewage
• Money is extremely tight, staff jobs are on the line
• The head has called a Senior Management Team meeting to discuss what to do (if anything) about the broken septic tank.