This is a very useful book. The content, structure, range - even the size and price - make it a highly welcome addition to the growing bank of support materials available to teachers of citizenship. Ian Davies has consciously avoided the error of many who present lesson plans and worksheets ready for the practitioner to reproduce and pass on to students, with minimal though or active involvement by either party. Much more helpfully, he offers a range of prompts and strategies which require those practitioners to engage with the curriculum and with the needs and aspirations of their students. According to the author, the aim of the book is to offer activities which can be valued and enjoyed by learners, to encourage the skills associated with citizenship and, for me, of greatest importance, to consider everything critically and to develop more ideas and strategies. Looking through the ideas offered one can see that some will be more suited to some contexts, classes, teachers and individuals than others, but there can be no doubt that each 'idea' - few more than a page long and most significantly shorter than that -clarifies what is required and offers a useful response to requirements, and invites the reader to develop other responses. Those teachers expected to deliver this National Curriculum foundation subject in a cross-curricular fashion, and those who have classroom experience but little or no subject specialist training, will find it particularly helpful. The book is compact, reasonably priced, easily read, well-considered, comprehensive, accessible and already added to my students' "recommended reading list"; very useful indeed. Ralph Leighton
Senior Lecturer in Education
Course Leader, PGCE(s) Citizenship Canterbury Christ Church University
