During questions Mr Gove said the role of the National Curriculum is ‘evolving’, but as most primary schools are not academies, they will be bound by its requirements. In secondary education, he pointed to the fact that many academies and fee-paying schools use the National Curriculum to inform their provision even though they do not have to.

Mr Gove recognised the interrelationship between the National Curriculum, assessment and qualifications, particularly GCSE. He said exam bodies have a huge influence over what is taught in schools, perhaps more so than the National Curriculum, and seemed concerned about how these bodies can be more accountable.

Following questions about the extension of the number of subjects at key stage 4 as proposed by the Expert Panel, Gove was careful in what he said. He pointed to the fact that the Ebacc has been successful in increasing the number of students studying geography and history which he sees as a good thing, and that there maybe pitfalls in adding further subjects to the key stage 4 curriculum. He said the Ebacc is a way of ensuring students also study things outside of the National Curriculum and teachers have told him there is enough time to do the Ebacc, other subjects including vocational ones and those subjects that they have to do because they are required, namely RE, PE and citizenship.

Mr Gove said he is keen to move away from level descriptions and wants to see regular ‘testing’, with schools avoiding too long a gap between statutory assessments as this may allow pupils to ‘drift’. He sees 
tests as a way of ensuring pupils understand, recall and use knowledge. He also recognises the dangers of assessment being the ‘sole driver’ of what is studied.

Regarding the current curriculum review, Mr Gove said he was pleased that the debate following the Expert Panel report had been ‘cool, calm and collected’ but expected it may ‘hot up’ once the government announces its proposals for which subjects are to be included at each key stage. He thought the way in which the curriculum is communicated is now very much influenced by technology, rather than schools receiving it in printed volumes. At this point he cited an example of citizenship, with schools as far apart as the Scilly Isles and Newcastle using Harvard Professor Michael Sandel’s lectures with students to explore concepts of justice.

Perhaps the most enlightening comment during the session was his view on the National Curriculum as a whole. It is, he said, ‘a benchmark laid down by government’. This is a very different take to the idea of the National Curriculum belonging to us all and being an expression of what we as a nation believe is so important that every child must be taught it.

This timely discussion was organised by the Westminster Education Policy Forum. Shadow Minister for Schools, Kevin Brennan MP chaired the first part of the event. I was there to represent the Association for Citizenship Teaching (ACT) and Democratic Life on a panel of subject specialists.

A wide range of issues were discussed during the session including the need for an aims led curriculum that is broad and balanced; and the importance of skills, as well as knowledge and undertanding to properly prepare children for life and work in the 21st century. The DFE spoke about the curriculum review and highlighted that the majority of teachers did not see ‘dropping’ subjects from the National Curriculum as the way to reduce prescription. The DFE also confirmed government is expected to announce its proposals for non-core subjects by the summer.

The seminar papers and panel debate provided an important opportunity to restate the arguments for why downgrading Citizenship to the Basic Curriculum, as recommended by the government’s Expert Panel, would be a retrograde step for pupils, schools and society. Below is a summary of the key points I made:

1. Citizenship education makes a distinct contribution to the overarching aims of a broad and balanced curriculum. The aims of the curriculum cannot be fully achieved by schools without a statutory programme of study for Citizenship.

2. Citizenship is a unique subject that develops essential knowledge about our politics and political processes, law and justice system and how the economy functions, alongside skills for critical thinking, discussion and debate, and practical social action. Citizenship is the only subject to do this.

3. Statutory National Curriculum Citizenship ensures our obligations to teach all students about human rights are met. The obligations are set out in the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child and in the Council of Europe Charter on Education for Democratic Citizenship and Human Rights Education, which government formally accepted on 11 May 2010.

4. Citizenship provides the glue for a coherent, broad and balanced curriculum, bringing learning to life through the teaching of issues, problems and events facing communities. Such teaching relies on trained, specialist Citizenship teachers.

5. ‘Citizenship rich’ schools teach the subject in their curriculum and promote wider active citizenship education through school culture, ethos and links with the wider communities. But citizenship in the culture and community of schools is not enough and evidence from Ofsted and the NFER longitudinal study of citizenship shows the best outcomes for learners are achieved where there is regular and sustained periods of Citizenship education.

6. Citizenship education supports social cohesion and civic society and provides invaluable preparation for programmes such as the National Citizens Service. This requires a continuum of effective and high quality Citizenship education from primary to post 16.

7. Citizenship education must not be constructed by governments to indoctrinate us into particular ways of thinking and doing, or removed arbitrarily because it does not suit them. It should provide a broad and balanced education for Citizenship, developing citizens who are politically literate – with knowledge and skills necessary for making informed choices and contributing to public life.

8. Citizenship was a long time a-coming… because we thought we did not need it.’ (Bernard Crick).  Every other high performing nation has recognized the importance of Citizenship or Civic education as part of a world-class curriculum. If we want our pupils to develop as informed, responsible and active citizens who can compete internationally, then we must have a National Curriculum that includes Citizenship education.

Mr Blunkett, former Secretary of State for Education argues the Government’s curriculum review is a contradiction. First because schools with academy or free school status are not required to follow the National Curriculum, and second because the Expert Panel in its advice, argued for breadth but recommended downgrading National Curriculum subjects which provide breadth including citizenship, to the basic curriculum.

‘Leaving it to the individual teachers is a recipe for something akin to the postcode lottery’ with schools left to ‘muddle along’ without clear expectations or outcomes for learners. He goes on ’The idea that the citizenship curriculum does not contain core elements that describe “socially valued” aspects of life, or that “powerful knowledge” is not inherent in preparing young people for adult life, is clearly errant nonsense.’

Mr Blunkett’s article follows several weeks of growing support for the retention of citizenship amongst senior politicans. At the end of January following his attendance at the NFER research launch of  ‘Citizens in Transition’ , Stephen Twigg MP and Shadow Secretary of State for Education said

‘Even with citizenship in the National Curriculum there are huge variations between different schools and different parts of the country,’. He continued ‘So I think we need to press for the outcome of the Curriculum Review to make citizenship more central rather than less central to schools’ curriculums.’

He added the focus on citizenship should extend to primary as well as secondary schools.

Just ten days ago the Government appeared to take a more positive public stance on the future of citizenship when Lord Hill, Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Schools, responding to education questions in parliament said

‘I agree with the noble and right reverend Lord about the importance of citizenship. Although the expert panel that reported to us in December suggests that citizenship should form part of the basic curriculum rather than the national curriculum, the first sentence in its report emphasises the importance of citizenship and I very much share that view. The issue – and this is true of a number of subjects that are subject to the national curriculum review – is the extent to which we need to be prescriptive around programmes of study. We will reflect upon what the expert panel has said and take other representations into account, and then bring forward our proposals in due course in the light of that.’

While this seems to endorse the position of the Expert Panel that citizenship is an important subject and one that every school must teach, the key question is as yet unanswered. Will the subject stay within the National Curriculum with a statutory programme of study, or not? Now is a key time for decision making about the future of the National Curriculum and the future of citizenship.  The Government plans for the next stage of the curriculum review are expected to be announced anytime soon.

Our local MP happened to be visiting the next day, so they personally handed it to him, and he assured them that he would get a response for them from Mr Gove.

If Gove won’t listen to us Citizenship teachers, or Democratic Life, or the Association for Citizenship Teaching, or Stephen Twigg MP, or Simon Hughes MP, perhaps he’ll be convinced about the vital role Citizenship plays in our children’s eduction… by children. The letter speaks for itself.

Dear Mr Gove,

On behalf of the pupils of Blackfen School for Girls, we would like to complain about your plan of action to get rid of Citizenship. We think highly of this subject as it gives us a chance to share our opinions about society. This subject gives us a chance to express out feelings about how things are handled in today’s world.

We understand that you may not agree with us, but our parents have noticed a big difference in our knowledge and attitude, since we have been studying Citizenship.

Citizenship gives us the confidence to make a change in society. It also shows us what we can do to contribute to our community, and teaches us to be open-minded about the variety of cultures within our community.

We ask you kindly to reconsider, as we think highly of this subject and the teachers who teach us. They make us want to do bigger and better things with our lives.

Thank you for giving up your time to read this. We look forward to hearing from you.

Yours sincerely,

The pupils of Blackfen School for Girls

Pete Pattisson is a senior teacher at Blackfen School for Girls, London. His blog “Power up!”contains new ideas and resources for teaching citizenship every week.

Our new paper Curriculum Thinking defines the essential elements of citizenship education and sets out five principles for effective citizenship teaching.

Please share it. And we’d love to hear what you think: is it useful, have we missed anything, are there key people that we should be showing it to?

Curriculum Thinking was developed in partnership with the Association for Citizenship Teaching.

English PEN are delighted to be part of the Supporting Group for Democratic Life and we will do all that we can through our own campaigns, projects and networks to promote this work.  English PEN comes to citizenship through literature and free speech. The freedom to write and read depends on much more than a purely legal framework. It requires a society that is able and willing to educate, to inspire and to support developing writers and readers, and a state that understands citizenship as something that embraces conflict and change as much as respect and stability.

Asher Jacobsberg, of involver, a founding member of Democratic Life, welcomed English PEN’s involvement:

Having the support of the writers and campaigners of English PEN demonstrates the broad need for strong, engaging, statutory Citizenship education in schools. This gives the lie to the false choice cited by politicians of either teaching citizenship or literacy: the two support and enhance one another as PEN’s members attest. We welcome them to the campaign.

The Expert Panel, which is charged with providing detailed advice on the shape of the new curriculum, delivered its report to the Department for education yesterday, the content of which prompted Education Secretary Michael Gove to change the timetable of his Review.

In its report the Panel says:

‘Citizenship is of enormous importance in a contemporary and future-oriented education.

‘However, we are not persuaded that study of the issues and topics included in citizenship education constitutes a distinct ‘subject’ as such. We therefore recommend that it be reclassified as part of the Basic Curriculum.’

At present citizenship is a National Curriculum foundation subject in secondary schools. This means it has programmes of study setting out what must be taught and an attainment target that describes the standard at which pupils should attain knowledge, understanding and skills in the subject.

If reclassified as part of the Basic Curriculum schools will still be expected to provide citizenship education but what they teach, how and to what standard will be up to them.

Whilst Democratic Life is pleased that the Panel has recognised the importance of Citizenship, we are disappointed with the recommendation that it be downgraded to a statutory requirement rather than a foundation subject.

Most schools devote only relatively small amounts of their curriculum to citizenship. This downgrade in its status may result in the subject being squeezed out altogether.

The repercussions for society could be alarming as no other subject teaches pupils about our political system, law and democracy. The incentive to hire specialist teachers and the expertise that has built up over the last decade may disappear, with citizenship left as an extra responsibility for non-expert teachers who are already busy.

When Kenneth Baker as Secretary of state for Education introduced citizenship to the National Curriculum as a cross-curricular theme, most schools did not make it a priority, provide adequate resources or space in the curriculum for effective teaching.

In 2002, citizenship became a statutory national curriculum Foundation Subject in secondary schools.

Evidence from Ofsted inspections and the NFER Longitudinal study show significant improvement in the quality of teaching and outcomes for pupils.

We ask that the government takes time to consider the future for Citizenship education and recognises that a subject with ‘enormous importance’ must have resources and status to match.

The DFE have announced a revised timetable for the curriculum review and will be providing further details on the next stage of consultation early in 2012.

This post is based on an article for the Citizenship Foundation.

Further information

• Statement from the Secretary of State for Education
• Expert Panel report [pdf]
• Summary of evidence [pdf]
• Report on subject breadth in international jurisdictions [pdf]

Mr Blunkett put it to the Prime Minister:

“In the early new year the Government intend to announce a wholesale revision of the national curriculum. May I put it to the Prime Minister that it would be perverse—in fact it would be absurd—to require those coming from abroad to settle in Britain to learn about our democracy and to take citizenship courses while withdrawing the teaching of citizenship and democracy to our own children in our schools?”

The Prime Minister responded:

“I listen very carefully to what the right hon. Gentleman says, because I agree with some of the proposals about citizenship that he put forward when he was Home Secretary. Many Members will have been to the citizenship ceremonies that he was responsible for, which have been a good addition to our country and our democracy. On behalf of the whole House, I pay tribute to him for that. We will look very carefully at what he says about the curriculum, but the key aim has to be to making sure that we teach the basics properly and well, and that we test on those basics, because if someone cannot read and write properly, no lessons in citizenship will mean anything at all”.

Mr Blunkett later added: “I hope the Prime Minister will be as good as his word and take another look at this, as the contradictions in policy are self-evident and the consequences (as we saw in August) of those alienated from and unconnected with their community and nation, can be devastating.”

The full transcript of Prime Minister’s Questions can be found here: http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201011/cmhansrd/cm111214/debtext/111214-0001.htm#11121472000010

…

Thank you for your letter of 10 November, addressed to the Secretary of State, about initial teacher training bursaries and the teaching of citizenship. I am sure you will appreciate that as the Secretary of State for Education receives a great deal of correspondence he is unable to respond to each one personally. On this occasion I have been asked to reply on his behalf.

As you know, the review of the National Curriculum is currently underway. We have confirmed that English, mathematics, science and physical education will continue to be a part of the National Curriculum in all four key stages. We are also considering which of the other subjects that currently form the National Curriculum, including citizenship, should be part of the National Curriculum in future and at which key stages. We plan to announce our proposals next year following which there will be further consultations before final decisions are made.

For the training place targets for 2012/13, social studies includes citizenship and health and social care. The Training and Development Agency for Schools will continue to ensure that there is a specific allocation made to training providers for citizenship for that period.

The bursary arrangements set out in the implementation plan for the initial teacher training strategy “Training our next generation of outstanding teachers”, published on 8 November, have been designed for the specific purpose of incentivising teacher recruitment. They reflect the extent of the recruitment challenges in the various subject areas and to meet the intention of attracting the best people into teaching. Citizenship has a good record in attracting enough high quality trainees to meet the demand from schools for new teachers. Ministers therefore decided to continue not to offer a bursary for citizenship in 2012/13.

No trainee will need to pay the cost of tuition charges up front. They will only pay once they are in full time employment and earning above £21,000. Monthly repayments will be less than under the current student finance arrangements. Trainees will also receive loans and grants of up to £7,675 towards living costs, a rise from previous years.

The Government believes that it is important that young people learn about the history of our parliamentary democracy and how our system of government has developed. The Government is committed to ensuring that all children and young people develop as responsible citizens and play an active role within society.

When I visit schools as part of the House of Lords ‘Peers in Schools’ programme, I begin by explaining why Parliament matters. Parliament matters because politics matter. We exist within a society where we are bound by rules. Politics constitute the means by which those rules are debated and agreed. Rules that are to have legal force – that constitute the law – are agreed by Parliament. Acts of Parliament are enforced by the courts, police and by other public agencies. Parliament is thus a central part of our constitutional arrangements. Government may wish to pursue a particular policy – that is, apply a particular rule – but that policy will not be enforceable until approved by Parliament.

Our lives are shaped by what law permits and what it does not permit. Acts of Parliament stipulate the age at which individuals can drive, buy cigarettes, leave school, vote and get married. Acts of Parliament prohibit people physically assaulting other people, stealing from them, from supplying or possessing particular drugs and from driving while under the influence of alcohol.

Parliament does not exist in a vacuum. Laws are made as a result of a particular party being elected to government on a particular programme of public policies. It may respond to pressures from the public to introduce new laws or to change existing ones. At the moment, there is pressure building up to introduce a law to allow for assisted dying (enabling people to provide some assistance to individuals who are terminally ill and wish to die) and for a review of the existing law on the supply and possession of drugs. Over the years, laws have been changed in response to demands for change.

Knowing not only what constitutes politics but also the process by which law is made are not just attributes of an active citizen but also important for influencing one’s own future. If we do not understand the political process, we cannot expect to be able to influence the outcomes of public policy. Without such an understanding, we are subject to rules that we may not like but which we are powerless to influence. To understand the political process is thus a form of empowerment. It enables citizens to know how to act to influence the outcome of policies. It is no use complaining about a particular policy if you have been silent and taken no steps to express a view on it while it is being considered by Parliament.

Engagement in the political process is the sign of an active citizenship and a healthy democracy. But how to ensure people have a grasp of the political process? Those who are especially keen can study politics at A-level and at university, but that encompasses only a minority of citizens. There are not the resources to provide that level of education to every citizen. The answer is through teaching citizenship in schools. That is the only means of reaching each generation of young people. Broader programmes of public education may reach some adults but there is no means of being comprehensive in the same way as citizenship teaching in school.

Given that, citizenship teaching should not be viewed as some optional extra but rather as an essential component of a healthy democracy. It needs not only to be defended but also promoted and, indeed, given far greater priority. Far from moving away from it, Government needs to be embracing it and with vigour.