HeadsUp forum on the General Election started!

With the general election closing in, now is the time to get your students motivated to think about politics and debate the options in the election. Most of them may not be able to vote but HeadsUp allows 11-18 year olds to discuss their opinions with candidates standing for election and ex-MPs that have lots of experience of parliament and elections. The debate is running now until 14 May.

Register with HeadsUp now if you are between 11-18, or a teacher/youthworker.

This forum is a great way to bring the election to life for young people and get your students discussing what they think is really important for the future of the country. As always we'll be letting the politicians know young people's opinions on the issues they're passionate about and what they think MPs and political parties need to do to better engage young people. So far we have Clare Short, David Blunkett, Linda Gilroy, David Kidney and Philip Davies ready to debate with young people on HeadsUp. Click here for their statements in support of the forum.

 The specific topics for debate in the forum are:

• Who would you vote for? - Which party do you think has the best policies? Which party appeals to you?
• Do political parties speak to young people? - How do you want politicians to communicate? What would political parties have to do to get your attention?
• Why do so few young people vote? - Do you think it's a problem that so few young people vote? Do young people care about politics?
• My big issue - what's the big issue of the election for you? What issue would you like the parties to focus more on?  

If you want to get involved all you need to do is register on www.headsup.org.uk - then you can:

• register a whole class allowing you to use the forums during lesson time
• access lots of background information for your students to use independently
• get ideas to support teaching about the forum with specific lesson plans, activities and resources
  

Visit www.headsup.org.uk to see what you can do to get your students involved in the general election.....