Young Citizens partners with international firm to launch Big Legal Lesson 2022 for schools and colleges

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Young Citizens, proud supporter of Public Legal Education, announced the launch of the Big Legal Lesson 2022 – a national campaign that includes free classroom resources to help more young people learn about the law.

The charity has partnered with international law firm Mishcon de Reya LLP to offer a suite of free classroom resources to educate students at schools and colleges across England and Wales about the legal system and how it is engrained into every part of their day-to-day lives.  

Schools and colleges will take part in the Big Lesson 2022 by pledging to deliver it in the week starting 14 March 2022. In 2021, more than 55,000 students took part, making it the largest public legal education campaign of its kind.

The campaign aims to equip teachers to introduce the law into their classrooms and offer an “engaging, accessible starting point on the law and justice,” said CEO of Young Citizens, Ashley Hodges. Primary and secondary age groups will have access to age-appropriate resources; primary-school-aged students will learn about the role that law and justice play, with secondary-school and college-aged students looking at the laws relating to social media.

More than 80% of students who took part in 2021 said that the Big Legal Lesson helped to improve their understanding of the rule of law and why it’s important. One teacher said that it helped her students “to understand that they are part of a community and have a responsibility towards it.”

Samantha Kakati, partner at Mishcon de Reya and lead for the education strand of the firm’s Access to Law Impact Aim said: "The Big Legal Lesson is a critical campaign to help ensure that all of our young people have access to the knowledge and tools to understand and engage meaningfully with our legal, political and social systems. Through its free resources to support teachers, The Big Legal Lesson has a direct and powerful impact on legal literacy. It equips students to realise their personal potential and their potential wider contributions to their society. Now, more than ever, it is important that all of our young people are included and empowered by our inextricably linked systems and platforms. We are delighted to be supporting this important work.”

To register interest, schools and colleges should visit the Young Citizens website. The resources will be available at the end of February in time for the Big Lesson 2022 to be delivered in the week beginning 14 March.

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