Learning activities

Starter activities

Starter activity Sa (Links to any main activity)

Use the job cards. Children to sort these into:

• jobs which they know the meanings of (children could also look up the meanings of unfamiliar jobs);
• jobs which are done in the town and jobs which are done in the countryside;
• jobs done by the different genders;
• jobs done by adults and what we now term teenagers (explain that this term did not exist in Victorian times).

Teacher needs to add that all the jobs mentioned were done by children in 1851 - see Source 5: Census information.

Starter activity Sb (Links to any main activity)

Ask children if they have ever earned money and what for (cleaning car, washing up, and so on). Younger children, could be asked what their older brothers and sisters have done as their first job (babysitting, washing up in a cafe, and so on). What would it be like to have a job? What are the benefits/disadvantages? At what age do most people now get their first job? Explain that for Victorians it was much younger - illustrate with Source 5: 1851 census information displayed on the whiteboard. Can they suggest what some of these jobs may have been?

Starter activity Sc (Links to any main activity)

Inform the children that they are going to find a Victorian job. Teacher could enter room as a parent in role telling children that they have come of age and need to get out and work. What would the children want to know about a job before they started? For example; What skills do they need? What jobs are available? What benefits will there be? These to be listed on the board as a prompt.

Main activities

Main activity Ma (Links to any starter and plenary)

Children to use the sources, books and/or internet to research Victorian children, jobs and work conditions. (BBC website is very good, and see others on Links page.) Children could present their work in the form of a job advert.

Main activity Mb (Links to any starter and plenary)

Children to use the sources to research a particular job in country or town, finding out as much as possible about it. Take on the role of the child employed (teacher could either allocate these to the children or use a pull out of the hat idea). What can they not find out from the sources? Can they suggest wages for example. Where else could they look?

Plenary activities

Plenary activity Pa (Links to any starter and main)

Children to act out one of the Victorian jobs they have researched. Teacher could freeze frame the children and ask them how they are feeling about their jobs. Rest of the class to guess the job being acted out. Discuss what the job entailed and why it was a job for children.

Plenary activity Pb (Links to any starter and main)

Are children still doing these jobs? Why? Why not? Some of the children may have found out about child labour laws and how things have changed. Remind the children about children working in other countries also. Would children all over Britain have had the same types of job? For example, the north was more industrialised than West Sussex where farming dominated, and rich children would not have worked.

Additional activities that could be used as homework or a short classroom task:

• Research changes in laws and draw a timeline showing the changes which led to children not working.
• Research child labour in other countries.