David Blunkett recently told the House of Commons that, while he is pleased with Michael Gove for keeping citizenship in the national curriculum, its parity with other subjects needs addressing if we are to avoid turning young people off public engagement.

‘I was very pleased that the Secretary of State for Education—I do not often say that—took a step back and did not remove citizenship from the school curriculum,’ the erstwhile education secretary told the House. But, he went on:

‘There is still a discussion behind the scenes about parity with other curriculum subjects and the timing of any review of programmes of study. I hope that that will be sorted out between the Department and Ofqual as quickly as possible because, as the hon Lady [Dame Anne Begg MP] rightly said, we often pick this up too late.

‘If young people are turned off from the whole idea of public engagement—not just standing for a council seat or this place, but being engaged in campaigns and activities that we would all see as crucial dynamics in a living civil society—we will lose them.’

This article also appears on the Citizenship Foundation website

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• This entry was posted on Friday, March 7th, 2014 at 2:44 pm