Session 4.1

Session Title: Understanding Inequality

HWB Organiser(s)

Social Studies 

Experiences and Outcomes

 SOC 4-16b

Through discussion, I have identified aspects of a social issue to investigate and by gathering information I can assess its impact and the attitudes of the people affected

SOC 4-04a

By studying groups in past society who experienced inequality, i can explain reasons for the inequality and evaluate how groups or individuals addressed it. 

Learning Intentions

  • I can show an understanding of what inequality is

Resources

  • Prepared role cards
  • Handout 1
  • Access to internet for poverty rap or copy on DVD: http://vimeo.com/58245292
  • Cost of inequalities handout

Activities

Prior to the session you will need to prepare some cards each with a different role written on it. You can choose from the suggestions listed below or come up with your own.

Suggested roles:

  • 18 years old girl pregnant with her second child
  • A young male caring for his disabled mother
  • A young woman living with a parent with an addiction
  • A young man about to start University in a new town with no family nearby
  • A student struggling to find part-time work
  • An 18 year old male who is a plumbers apprentice
  • A young woman who lives with her elderly grandparents
  • A young gay man
  • A young man living with a violent father
  • A school leaver struggling to find work
  • A young Polish man working on a local building site

Give each participant a role card. Ask them to stand in a straight line and not disclose what is on their card. Read out each question on Handout 1. If they can answer ‘yes’ they take one step forward. If ‘no’ then they should take one step back. If they are unsure or the question doesn’t apply to them they should stay where they are. Stress that they should answer generally on behalf of their role.

Once all questions are asked invite participants one by one to disclose the role they assumed.

Discussion points

  • How does it feel to be where you are?
  • Who has the most choices and opportunities available to them? Who has the least?
  • What are the barriers that exist? What can be done about them?
  • How inequalities can be divisive and can cause resentment amongst different groups.  Can people think of examples of groups blaming others for their own difficulties?  (Unemployed people may blame black people for taking jobs; blaming incomers for the problems of a changing rural community; seeing elderly people as a drain on resources, and so on.)
  • Does this distract us from looking more carefully at the causes of the problems?
  • Different groups have different experiences.  To what extent can they tackle problems on their own and how much do they need to work together in order to challenge discrimination?  How can this be achieved?

Play Poverty Rap DVD: http://vimeo.com/58245292

Health inequalities are preventable and unjust differences in health status experienced by certain population groups. People in lower socio-economic groups are more likely to experience chronic ill-health and die earlier than those who are more advantaged. Health inequalities are not only apparent between people of different socio-economic groups – they exist between different genders and different ethnic groups

Agree/Disagree

Read out the following statements and ask young people if they think statements are true or false.

  • Statistically, men are more likely to suffer from mental illness than women. 
  • Among children, there is no class difference in rates of health issues   
  • Children from social class I and II eat more fruit and fewer sweets than children from social class IV and V  
  • Ethnic minority groups from Caribbean backgrounds have particularly high levels of strokes  
  • Ethnic minority groups from the Indian subcontinent have the lowest level of heart disease    
  • The working classes have worse health than the middle classes because of their lifestyles  
  • Men in professional careers are more likely to suffer coronary heart disease than unskilled manual male workers
  • Males in the lowest social classes are around three times more likely to suffer from schizophrenia than in the highest social classes  

There are many reasons for inequalities in health in the UK.   Differences between the poorest and richest parts of Glasgow are greater than average differences between Scotland and South-East England.

There are significant differences in life expectancy of at least 10 years between different groups in society. Those living in poverty generally have poorer life chances and poorer health because of lower living standards, including poor housing and poor diet.

What does equalities cost.png

Those in lower paid, unskilled jobs have a greater risk of accidents at work and can suffer from stress linked to unemployment. Professionals enjoy healthier lifestyles, not just because they have a better standard of living but also because they are more likely to be aware of health issues than unskilled workers. Similarly, women are more aware of health issues and more likely to consult doctors than men. As a result, women appear to have higher sickness rates than men, but this may reflect the fact that more male ill health is unreported.

Evidence of these health inequalities were published the Black Report (1980), the Acheson Report (1997), and most recently in a report by the UN’s World Health Organisation (WHO). It found that a boy living in the deprived Glasgow suburb of Calton will live on average 28 years less than a boy born in nearby affluent Lenzie.  Similarly, the average life expectancy in London's wealthy Hampstead was 11 years longer than in nearby St Pancras.

The research also shows that a girl in the African country of Lesotho is, on average, likely to live 42 years less than a girl in Japan.

 In Sweden, the risk of a woman dying during pregnancy and childbirth is one in 17,400, but in     Afghanistan the odds are one in eight

Give out handout what does inequalities cost.

Session 4.2

Session Title: Gender Inequalities

HWB Organiser(s)

Social Studies

Experiences and Outcomes

 SOC 4-16b

Through discussion, I have identified aspects of a social issue to investigate and by gathering information I can assess its impact and the attitudes of the people affected

SOC 4-04a

By studying groups in past society who experienced inequality, i can explain reasons for the inequality and evaluate how groups or individuals addressed it. 

Learning outcomes

  • I can show an understanding of the inequalities that exist between men and women

Resources

  • Handout 1

Activities

Often, men and women do not work in the same occupations.   For instance, fire fighting is male dominated and nursery nursing is female dominated.   When men and women do work in the same occupations,   women are more likely to be in lower-level or middle-level jobs while men tend to hold the higher grade and senior management posts.   Women on average still earn less than men. One reason for this is that women are more likely than men to work in low-paid jobs.   Women are also more likely than me to be employed part-time rather than full time.   Another explanation suggests that women are held back when applying for promotions or developing their career because they have the main responsibility for housework and childcare.   A third explanation argues that inadequate or expensive childcare provision presents some women from participating in full-time paid work or staying in employment long enough to progress in their career.

There are slightly more women than men in Britain at all ages of the population.  More boys are born than girls.   Boys and men tend to die earlier and at a younger age. They are more likely to be born with genetic disease, experience accidents and to have an unhealthy life style. Until recently, more men than women smoked and drank alcohol.  If men and women have equality of outcome, they will appear in the statistics in the same numbers that they do in the population.

Split the group into small groups ask the young people to complete the handout 1:

Once groups have completed read out the answers.

Discussion:

  • What do you think about the answers?
  • Did any of the answers surprise you?  If so what ones?
  • Do we have inequality of opportunity for the genders in Britain?
  • Do we have inequality of outcome for the genders in Britain?
  • How are the genders experiencing inequality in Britain?

Session 4.3

Session Title: Income Inequalities

HWB Organiser(s)

Social Studies

Experiences and Outcomes

 SOC 4-16b

Through discussion, I have identified aspects of a social issue to investigate and by gathering information I can assess its impact and the attitudes of the people affected

SOC 4-20a

I can critically examine how some economic factors can influence individuals, businesses or communities

Learning Intentions

  • I can show an understanding that inequalities in incomes exist in society

Resources

  • Income inequalities handouts
  • Youtube clips

Activities

Play the following clips:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?x-yt-ts=1422411861&v=aOJ93tAbPP0&x-yt-cl=84924572

uk wealth inequality – inequality briefing

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?x-yt-cl=84924572&v=Oj2LA8rEqQ4&x-yt-ts=1422411861#t=14

Income inequality – high pay centre

If not possible to show videos read out following;

"The media is always highlighting stories of inequalities, whether it is about the differences in school results for poor and rich children or the difference in pay between Chief Executives and their employees.

Income inequality is the unequal distribution of household or individual income across the various participants in an economy. Income inequality is often presented as the percentage of income to a percentage of population.

In the 21st Century the UK is a deeply divided nation. A handful of people at the top have never had it so good, whilst millions of families are struggling to make ends meet.

Growing numbers of people are relying on foodbanks and support from charities, whilst the highest earners in the UK have had the biggest tax cuts of any country in the world.   Low-paid workers are seeing wages freezes, the super rich are seeing their pay and bonuses spiral up.

Oxfam’s new figures show just how stark the divide between Britain’s richest and the rest is.

The most affluent family in the UK (Gerald Cavendish Grosvenor and family), have more wealth than the poorest 10 percent of the population, 6.3 million people (£7.9 and £7 billion respectively).

The richest 5 families in Britain are wealthier than the bottom 20 percent of the population in the UK (with a wealth of £28.2 billion and £28.1 billion respectively).

Once you factor in increases in the cost of living over the last ten years, then the real squeeze for the majority of Britons becomes apparent as does the divide between those at the top and the rest. Since 2003 the majority of the British public (95 percent) have seen a 12 percent real terms drop in their disposable income (after housing costs), whilst the richest 5 percent of the population have seen their disposable income increase.

It is often associated with the idea of income "fairness". It is generally considered "unfair" if the rich have a disproportionally larger portion of a country's income compared to their population."

Give out handout who gets paid what and ask participants to work in small groups to try to complete the tables.  

Discussion;

  • Were you surprised at any of the wages?
  • Is there any patterns emerging? Ie.  Lots of professional jobs relate to money! Poorer paid jobs about services. 
  • Do you think these wages are fair for the ‘usefulness’ of the job they do for society? 
  • Is it fair that some footballers and pop stars earn more money in a week than nurses or child-minders do in 3 years?  Wayne Rooney earned 50p per second at World Cup is this right?
  • Should the law be changed so that everyone earns the same pay?
  • What are the best ways of getting gaining high paid work in Britain?
  • Why does the nature of certain occupations lead to health inequalities?
  • Workplace affects health?  In which ways do you think workplace affects health?
  • Who do you think has the best and worst conditions in the workplace for their health?

Download Handout 2.   

ANSWERS:

Top ten highest paid jobs in Britain: Average yearly salary of the top professionals in £

  1. Brokers - 133,677
  2. Chief executives and senior officials - 107,703
  3. Aircraft Pilots and Flight Engineers - 90,146
  4. Marketing and Sales Director - 82,962
  5. Information technology and telecommunication directors - 80,215
  6. Financial institution managers - 78,782
  7. Advertising and public relations directors - 77,619
  8. Financial Managers and Directors - 76,320
  9. Air Traffic Controllers - 75,416
  10. Legal Professionals - 73,425

Ten lowest paid jobs in Britain:  Average yearly salary in £

  1. School Crossing Patrols - 3,394
  2. Play workers - 6,922
  3. Care escorts - 7,244
  4. Bar Staff - 7,404
  5. Waiters and Waitresses - 7,554
  6. Cleaners and Domestics - 7,919
  7. Market research interviews - 8,424
  8. Kitchen and catering assistants - 8,975
  9. Retail cashiers and check out staff - 9,160
  10. Hairdressers and Barbers - 10,019

Extension/take-home:.

Make a poster to show examples of some of the ten best paid and worst paid jobs in Britain. Use magazines and colours to make your work interesting.

Draw graphs to show the difference in pay between the top five best and the top five worst paid jobs.

Session 4.4

Session Title: Why healthier

HWB Organiser(s)

Social Studies 

Experiences and Outcomes

SOC 4-16b

Through discussion, I have identified aspects of a social issue to investigate and by gathering information I can assess its impact and the attitudes of the people affected

SOC 4-04a

By studying groups in past society who experienced inequality, i can explain reasons for the inequality and evaluate how groups or individuals addressed it. 

Learning Intentions

  • I can show anunderstanding of how inequalities can affect individuals and how this impacts on their health

Activities

 Your income, your education and where you live contribute to how healthy you are.   The World Health Organization defines the social determinants of health as 'the circumstances in which people are born, grow up, live, work and age, and the systems put in place to prevent and treat illness.   These circumstances are in turn shaped by a wider set of forces: economics, social policies, and politics'.   

In general, the more affluent a person is, the better their health; conversely, the poorest are more likely to have the worst health of all.   

Read out the following scenarios;

Stuart is a 19 year old building site labourer. He works long hours on minimum wage. He has completed little formal education and has no qualifications. Stuart is too tired to cook and eats a lot of takeaways. He never exercises. He lives in a 22 up in a high rise council flat, and feels isolated he has no real friends. The neighbours are very noisy and he is often kept awake at night by loud music etc.  Stuart hurt his arm at work and his doctor has advised him he must rest it but he cannot afford to take time off work, so continues to work. 

Stacey is also 19 and is at university studying for her degree.  She enjoys university and has a wide circle of friends.  She studies hard but she gets enough sleep.  She lives in a large detached house in a nice area with her parents and young sister.  Her parents give her a weekly allowance that she can use to have socialise and have fun with friends.  She eats a balanced diet and exercises at a local gym.  Stacey attends her local Youth Health Service and gets regular check ups.

In pairs, explain why Stacey is healthier than Stuart using examples from the scenario

Session 4.5

Session Title: Community Health Profiles

HWB Organiser(s)

  • Social Studies 
  • Information and Handling

Experiences and Outcomes

 SOC 4-16b

Through discussion, I have identified aspects of a social issue to investigate and by gathering information I can assess its impact and the attitudes of the people affected

MNU 4-20a

I can evaluate and interpret raw and graphical data using a variety of methods, comments on relationshipsI observe within the data and communicate my findings to others

Learning Intentions

  • I can discuss the impact of how inequalities affect mine and other communities

Resources

  • Access to web site or print outs of profiles

Activities

Profile exercise

Explain that for this exercise you will be working in small groups to search for, read and distil information, and feed back to the rest of the group.

Split the group into 3s or 4s and give out Handout Health Profiles. Check with each group that they understand what is required and allow them 35 minutes to complete it.

Ask each small group to feed back their main findings. Are there similarities (or differences), what are the common themes?

Useful websites:

Other sources of information could be used to research facts and figures in relation to young people. Possible sources include: