Last Thursday (18 November), the House of Lords held a debate entitled ‘To call attention to the role of active citizenship in society’. Citizenship education’s contribution towards building the knowledge and skills young people need to become active citizens was promoted by no less than seven Peers during the debate.
In particular, Lord Norton of Louth made citizenship education the focus of his speech, saying:
‘The most consistent and productive means of instilling awareness of the value of engagement in public life is through citizenship education. One cannot force people to engage in public affairs but one can make them aware of the value of getting engaged. Awareness of how society is organised and how one can make a contribution and influence what goes on is a form of empowerment and is to the good of society. There is therefore a compelling case for citizenship education.’
Lord Norton writes more about citizenship education and why he spoke about it in the debate in a blog post on the Hansard Society’s Lord of the Blogs.
Democratic Life got a mention from Lord Beecham, who said: ‘Democratic Life, an organisation committed to promoting this agenda, has rightly said that: “Citizenship education is an essential tool for preparing young people for our shared democratic life”. I hope that the Minister will be able to give some assurances in that respect.’
Lord Taylor of Holbeach, who was responding on behalf of the Government in the debate, said that he would discuss citizenship education with Lord Hill of Oareford, the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Schools.
The full debate can be read on Parliament’s website.
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Life and citizenship education praised in House of Lords
Democratic Life was created about three years ago and has been successful in achieving positive support from a range of Peers and MPs and the continuation of cross party support for citizenship. Since its introduction in 1997 there has been support for citizenship education from politicians, educationalists, parents, employers and young people. However, when the Coalition government took office, it was not entirely clear whether cross-party support was still in place. Michael Gove’s statement in parliament on 7 February 2013 confirms that this government supports and values the subject and will work to ensure it is even better taught in schools across the country.
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