The Citizenship Foundation, in partnership with Norwich Union and The Times, is running a competition for 14-19 year olds (Key Stage 3/4 and Post-16 students) which will put students in the driving seat of Public Spending – by being the Chancellor!

"This is a great initiative. It gives young people across the country a chance to consider the big choices we have to make for this country and then take the decisions that will influence the lives of every one of us. I hope people enjoy the chance to be Chancellor. It's one of the best jobs in Britain." Alistair Darling, Chancellor of the Exchequer

Register Now to be the first to know when the competition is launched. We’ll also keep you posted with ideas for getting the students ready for the competition, as well as other lesson plans and ideas for economic citizenship related activities.

Students are provided with a list of ways (policies) in which public money can be spent on areas such as Environment, Health and Education. However, just like in the ‘real world’, they can’t pick them all. Students will need to prioritise the policies that they think are most important, making compromises where necessary, and then justify their choices by writing the Chancellor’s speech.

Once they’ve made their choices, students will need to write a speech of between 500-1000 words to explain to the country what they will be spending their money on, and why. Students will need to express their opinions clearly in writing and be persuasive in their arguments. They’ve got a whole country to convince!

Short-listed entries will be judged by Gary Duncan, the Economics Editor of The Times. The winner will receive a Nintendo Wii Console Sports Pack, which includes the fantastic set of Wii Sports games, along with a £250 charity voucher to give to their charity of choice, kindly donated by Charity Vouchers. The winner will also have their entry published in The Times newspaper, and the chance to go and see their words put in to print! Nine runners up will each receive an iPod Shuffle as well as a £100 charity voucher also donated by Charity Vouchers. Everyone who enters will get a certificate for their Record of Achievement.

The ‘Chancellors Choices’ resource pack can be used to stimulate whole class lessons on public spending, or within smaller active learning group work in the classroom.

Students can then write their speech in a Citizenship, PSHEE, or other appropriate lesson, or as homework.

In addition to the resource pack, which contains information on public spending and what the government does, there are also resources available from this site, including articles about current economic issues in the In Focus section.