Democratic Life is delighted to make a submission today to the latest Youth Select Committee inquiry chaired by 18 year old MYP for Solihull, Natasha Browne. The Committee is the initiative of the British Youth Council and supported by the House of Commons and politicians including the Speaker, Rt Hon John Bercow.

In our submission we draw attention to the following:

• The unique role and contribution of the subject of Citizenship to the curriculum in England being the only subject that teaches about democracy, politics, the law, human rights, the economy and the skills of active citizenship.
• The development of ‘life skills’ is a core and unifying aim of the curriculum to which all subjects contribute. This is underpinned by the Education Act that states all publicly funded schools must provide a curriculum that is ‘broad and balanced’ and which ‘prepares pupils at the school for the opportunities, responsibilities and experiences of later life’.
• The National Curriculum Citizenship programmes of study that set out what schools must teach in terms of knowledge, understanding and skills are being revised as part of the government’s curriculum review and will include financial education for the first time from 2014.
• Following a period of uncertainty about the future of Citizenship, some schools have reduced their support and resourcing for the subject. Now that Michael Gove has confirmed Citizenship is to remain a National Curriculum subject in secondary schools, steps are urgently needed to ensure more Head Teachers make Citizenship a priority, more schools provide high quality Citizenship education and more teachers are properly trained to teach the subject.
• Further consideration should also be given to how Citizenship education continues post 16, particularly with the extension of school leaving age to 18. There are currently insufficient connections between the curriculum and for example the government programmes for National Citizens Service.

You can read our submission in full here.

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• This entry was posted on Tuesday, June 4th, 2013 at 5:26 pm