This week, Democratic Life supporter, the British Youth Council announced a new inquiry by the Youth Select Committee into the role of the education system and the National Curriculum in equipping young people with the skills for later life.

The inquiry, chaired by 18 year old Natasha Browne, Member of the Youth Parliament for Solihull, will look at provision in schools to develop ‘life skills’ including political education, cultural awareness and financial skills.

The Youth Select Committee (YSC) is a British Youth Council initiative, supported by the House of Commons. The Committee call for evidence runs until 4 June 2013. Oral evidence sessions will be held in the House of Commons in June and July 2013.

The inquiry will explore:

• The responsibility of the education system to equip young people with ‘life skills’ such as political education, personal finance and cultural awareness.
• The current state of ‘life skills’ provision in schools.
• The support currently available for teachers to deliver lessons and programmes on life skills.
• Whether the school education system gets the balance right between academia and ‘life skills’.
• Whether the teaching of ‘life skills’ should lie within core subjects or as a separate part of the curriculum?
• How much involvement young people have in shaping the personal, social, health and economic (PSHE) and citizenship curriculum.
• How PSHE and citizenship teaching is implemented differently in schools.
• What the UK government can learn from others about the teaching of ‘life skills’ to young people.

Natasha Browne, Chair of the Youth Select Committee (18, MYP for Solihull), said:

“It’s important that young people get the right support to equip us with the skills to be successful in later life. Schools are the focus of young people’s lives and, as a Committee, we look forward to hearing what people have to say about the role of the education system in equipping young people with skills for life.”

The Committee has mandate to focus on ‘A curriculum for Life’, the issue having been voted as the priority campaign of the UK Youth Parliament at their annual House of Commons debate in November 2012.

How to respond
The call for evidence is open now until 4 June 2013. Responses to the inquiry should be submitted by email to: bycyouthselect@parliament.uk

Submissions should be less than 2000 words in length. Further guidance about making submissions to the inquiry is available on the Parliament website.

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• This entry was posted on Friday, April 26th, 2013 at 9:04 am