Education for citizenship and the teaching of democracy in schools

3.20 However, there was an unexpected kick in the tail of its submission that
reflects on the quotation in section 3.18 above and our own comment on it
regarding the distinct, if at some points, overlapping spheres of PSHE and
citizenship:
‘Finally, we believe that it is important to set out areas that the [citizenship]
curriculum should not cover, or at least not be dominated or distracted by. It
would be tempting to allow citizenship education to become simply issues based
on moral education, revolving around key concepts such as drugs, health
education, housing and homelessness, careers development and employability etc.
We believe that the most important issue facing young people as citizens is their
lack of knowledge about society, its democratic process and their actual rights and
responsibilities as citizens. We believe that many pressure groups will be keen to
see the curriculum dominated by these key issues. We believe there will be room to
address these issues in the broader PSHE education, and that citizenship education
must clearly enable children to understand their duties as citizens and more
importantly how the world in which they are a citizen actually works.’
3.21 Plainly the BYC is not saying that the young people it represents did not
welcome discussion of the problems it mentions; but it is saying that they feel
left up in the air without the teaching of political literacy that could
empower them in adult life to have some effect on these problems. To tackle
social issues in school problem by problem can be beneficial, when done in
some generally acceptable and practical moral framework. Even so, it would
not add up to an understanding of politics. For politics is the general process
by which differences of values and interests are compromised or mediated
through institutions in the general interest. The BYC’s reservation is a good
warning against conflating or confusing PSHE (or other forms of values
education) and citizenship education, even if some of the topics it mentions
could be discussed under either heading, as schools may choose.
3.22 A submission to us from the Hansard Society supports the above position,
and states the same general purpose of education for citizenship as the BYC
and ourselves, but in somewhat more traditional language:
‘Programmes should be established to promote political discourse and
understanding, as well as encouraging young people to engage in the political
process. Further, they should encourage tolerance and respect for individuals and
their property, irrespective of a person’s gender, race, culture or religion. They
must also encourage young people to behave honourably and with integrity, as
well as promote respect for the rule of law. Young people must be encouraged to
develop leadership and team skills in order to promote self-discipline and
self-motivation. They should be encouraged to take pride in themselves and the
communities to which they belong, as well as to see themselves as citizens of the
world.’
3.23 Finally, as for aims we would draw attention to one last aspect of the
responses to the White Paper. Some respondents suggested particular models.
Among them the Citizenship Foundation advocated a model for citizenship
teaching in which ‘civic, social and political education based around the three
key concepts of fairness, rights and responsibilities would have its own slot in
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