The DfE's School Research News reports today on two school citizenship reports. The first is Citizenship Education in England 2001-2010: young people’s practices and prospects for the future: the eighth and final report from the Citizenship Education Longitudinal Study. The other is Young People’s Civic Attitudes and Practices: England’s outcomes from the IEA International Civic and Citizenship Education Study. Both emanate from the NFER.
What strikes me (on a first skim) about both reports is how limited what is to allowed to count as citizenship seems to be. Take these quotes:
Signing petitions and electing student/ school council members were the most common forms of political participation.Fund-raising for charities and good causes were the most commonly-reported activity, although, as they got older, there was also a notable increase in the proportions that helped in their local community.Intentions to vote became stronger as the cohort became older.[Citizenship Education ... ]
And these:
Pupils in England had comparatively greater knowledge of topics such as civic participation, civic identity and civic society than of civic principles such as freedom, equity and social cohesionAlongside pupils in other countries, pupils in England had a low level of interest in social and political issues.Like other pupils across the globe, pupils in England were much more likely to participate within their schools than they were to take part in community activities.
[... Civic Attitudes ...]
Umm. Lots of scope for development ...
Respond