Representing your own and different points of view, planning the action by setting goals and success criteria and allocating roles, and applying skills of collaboration, negotiation and influence to deliver a campaign or social action project.

What this dot point is asking

Edexcel wants you to be able to represent your own and different points of view, plan your action by setting goals, success criteria and roles, and apply skills of collaboration, negotiation and influence to deliver a campaign or social action project. This is the middle part of Theme E, the required citizenship action, assessed in Paper 2 Section A from your own work. It is tested through "Explain" and 12-mark "Examine" tasks that ask you to apply your experience, for example why you considered different viewpoints or how effective your planning was. The examiner rewards a clear planning process, the deliberate use of citizenship skills, and honest evaluation of how the planning helped the action.

Representing your own and different points of view

A strong citizenship action is fair and well-judged, not one-sided. The specification asks you to show understanding of the issue including your own opinions and the views and perspectives of different people. This means setting out the range of viewpoints, considering why some evidence or arguments are more convincing than others, and then making the case for what your team believes should happen. Considering opposing views matters for two reasons: it makes your case fairer and better informed, and it helps you anticipate objections so your action is more persuasive and can win wider support. When the exam asks why you considered different viewpoints, link it to a fairer, better-informed and more persuasive action, using your own experience.

Planning the action

Good planning turns a good intention into an effective action. You decide who the action will target (for example a decision-maker, a particular group, or the wider public), and you set clear goals and success criteria so you can later judge whether the action worked. You choose a method and form a clear plan of action, including the key steps, their sequence and your priorities, taking account of the time and resources available. You allocate roles so each team member knows their responsibilities, anticipate difficulties and plan how to handle them, and keep a simple record of decisions and progress. Planning is heavily assessed: the 12-mark question often asks you to examine how effective your planning was, so be ready to describe your plan and judge what worked and what did not.

Delivering the action: collaboration, negotiation and influence

Carrying out the action is where the citizenship skills come together. You demonstrate collaboration by working effectively as a team, negotiation by reaching agreement with others (within the team and with outsiders such as decision-makers), and influence by persuading your target audience. The specification offers two broad forms of action. An advocacy campaign organises a meeting, event or campaign to argue the case, raise awareness and persuade a target audience to support or act on the issue (for example lobbying the council, running an awareness campaign or holding an event). A social action project delivers a practical benefit to others, such as organising help, resources or a service for a community in need. Both are valid; the choice depends on your issue and aims. Edexcel rewards evidence that you used these skills deliberately and can explain how.