The Chancellor gave his Autumn Statement in December 2012 as a preview of Budget 2013 due on Wednesday 20th March.
The Autumn Statement is a perfect prelude to teaching your students about Budget 2013 and taking part in Chance to be Chancellor. Here’s our suggestion for using it in the classroom:
- Introduce the students to the three main themes of the Autumn Statement: ‘protecting the economy’, ‘growth’ and ‘fairness’ using the HM Treasury’s eye catching infographics.
- Explore the analysis of the Autumn Statement by putting the class into small groups and giving each a copy of two different editorials on the announcements – one from The Guardian and The Independent. Ask the groups to highlight the similarities and differences in the arguments and identify words they don’t understand. Alternatively, show the class a video of the Newsnight debate [7:23] on the announcements.
- Arrange a class debate on a motion based on one of the three main themes of the Autumn Statement, e.g. welfare reform or corporation tax. Here’s a blog on the Guardian Teacher’s Network on how to do a whole class debate.