Citizenship Curriculum

Last month I published alongside my annual report of a subject report on the development of citizenship in schools. The report celebrates the success of some schools in implementing the citizenship curriculum. It praises those schools where they have been substantial developments in the subject and which now go a long way towards fulfilling national curriculum requirements. In the report we are critical of schools which have not taken citizenship seriously either through reluctance or lack of capacity to make appropriate provisions in the curriculum. Citizenship is marginalized in the curriculum in one-fifth of schools. It is less well established in the curriculum in other subjects and less well taught and some critics have seized on this as a reason for wanting to step back from supporting it. Yet the progress made to date by the more committed schools suggests that the reasons for introducing citizenship are both worthwhile and can be fulfilled given the time and resources. Indeed, those reasons are given added weight by national and global events of the past few months. While not claiming too much, citizenship can address core skills, attitudes, and values that young people need to consider as they come to terms with a changing world.