info@teachingcitizenship.org.uk 020 7566 4133

ACT : Association for Citizenship Teaching

Main Menu

Info Pages

Members Only Area

What is Citizenship Education?

Citizenship Education has been statutory in schools in England and Wales since 2002. Its purpose is to equip young people to participate in public life and recognises that young people are citizens of today, not just citizens of the future.

Citizenship educaiton should be present in the curriculum, in the classroom and in the culture of the shcool. Pupils should be encouraged to participate fully - not just token school councils, but pupil involvement in the decision-making processes of the school.

Citizenship has close links to the Every Child Matters agenda and to the Duty to Promote Community Cohesion

In primary Citizenship should be delivered together with PSHE, but as children become more aware of the world around them Citizenship focuses on engaging in society and exercising rights and responsibilities in school and in local, national and global communities.

The new secondary curriculum for 2008 recognises this as it has three aims. These are to enable all young people become: 1. successful learners who enjoy learning, make progress and achieve; 2. confident individuals who are able to live safe, healthy and fulfilling lives; 3. responsible citizens who make a positive contribution to society.

Citizenship education is NOT...

about making young people more courteous and respectful;
simply about raising money for charity;
teaching young people about "Britishness" and how to get along;
just a classroom-based subject

Citizenship education IS ...

about exploring a series of deep and meaningful concepts and processes around justice, democracy, rights and responsibilities;
a statutory subject, a different kind of subject and more than a subject;
about building young people’s knowledge, skills and conviction to have an effective role in public and political life;
about helping young people take action to change their communities for the better

Citizenship in the English Curriculum

Citizenship in the Primary Curriculum will be part of the Area of Learning called "Historical, Geographical and Social Understanding". All the information about how this is taught can be found in the link above.

Citizenship in the Secondary Curriculum should be taught as a discrete subject wherever possible. Citizenship is however more than just a subject and should also be present in the culture of the school and the curriculum as a whole. For full details follow the link above.

How does Citizenship contribute to Every Child Matters?

Citizenship has a vital role to play in helping schools contribute to Every Child Matters (ECM). While good Citizenship learning contributes to all of the ECM goals, its most obvious contribution can be made to 'making a positive contribution'.

What is the relationship between Citizenship and PSHE?

These two subjects are often thrown together, but usually for managerial reasons, rather than academic ones. They have a different pedagogy, a different purpose and different outcomes. They also have very different content. While there are overlaps with Citizenship (and clever planning would see some spiralling i.e. looking at an issue from a personal then a political perspective), there are just as many overlaps with other subjects. Therefore, it is important to work towards discrete curriculum time for Citizenship. The first step may be to separate Citizenship and PSHE by for example, teaching Citizenship in Term 1 and PSHE in Term 2. Or by teaching a Citizenship module followed by a PSHE one. This can be done without any changes to the timetable or staffing. It is very important to be clear with colleagues and students about this separation and to name it correctly, clearly and consistently. Make sure your colleagues and students can name and explain the difference. If you use exercise books, give out different ones in different colours for each subject. Make your display boards distinct too. Report on the subjects separately and discuss them separately at parents’ evening. And then, having strengthened the identity of Citizenship, work towards finding discrete curriculum time for it.

How is Citizenship best taught through other subjects?

The new curriculum encourages greater co-operation between subjects, both in its principles and in the way the programmes of study are set out. It is now easier to look for areas of commonality. Because Citizenship has a distinctive pedagogy, which can enhance learning in all subjects, it is important to look for opportunities to infuse other subjects with Citizenship. However you will not be able to meet your Citizenship requirements through other subjects alone, but only alongside a range of other forms of provision, including discrete Citizenship lessons.

Citizenship through other subjects works best in very focused projects, where Citizenship knowledge is acquired and applied through the skills of participation and action in a coherent learning experience. The range and content, and the key processes, cannot be separated out and taught in isolation. Where schools simply scan the curriculum and underline every apparent overlap between Citizenship and other subjects and claim that Citizenship is therefore being taught, very little Citizenship learning occurs.

The best approach to cross-curricular projects is to find one subject with logical links to Citizenship - Geography, Science and ICT are obvious examples - and to sit down with your fellow subject leader and plan out a compelling learning experience, which involves student voice and student action. For example, in Science if students are learning about the importance of recycling and renewables, Citizenship could enable them to take action on this issue by setting up a recycling project in the school, or lobbying the local Council to collect recycled paper directly from the school. In ICT, if students are investigating safe Internet use, they could create presentations and show them to younger students in the school, or even to local primary schools.

Therefore Citizenship’s contribution to cross-curricular learning lies not just in its concepts, processes or content, but in its pedagogy; by giving students a say in their learning and enabling them to take action for change on issues that concern them.

I want to train to be a teacher

See our information about training to be a teacher of Citizenship

Useful Documents - Right click to download

Education for Citizenship and the Teaching of Democracy in Schools (Crick Report) 1998

Uploaded : 11 April 2008

Filename : crickreport1998.pdf ( 416 K )

Description : This is the final report of the Advisory Group on Citizenship. It is the paper that recommended that Citizenship should be made statutory in the curriculum, leading to the introduction of Citizenship as statutory in 2002.

Diversity and Citizenship - Sir Keith Ajegbo (2007)

Uploaded : 11 April 2008

Filename : diversityandcitizenship.pdf ( 1.15 MB )

Description : This independent review, led by Sir Keith Ajegbo, makes a series of recommendations aimed at promoting diversity across the schools curriculum and the content of the curriculum for Citizenship Education.

The key proposal is that the secondary curriculum for Citizenship Education should include a new element entitled 'Identity and Diversity: Living Together in the UK'. This will mean that all pupils, as part of compulsory secondary Citizenship Education, would be taught about shared values and life in the UK. This will be informed by an understanding of contemporary issues and relevant historical context which gave rise to them.

This approach should be supported by a range of measures to ensure that all curriculum subjects adequately reflect the diversity of modern Britain, and that schools are appropriately supported in delivery of this education for diversity.

RSS News Feed

ACT is a registered charity in England and Wales (charity No. 1100180)

Registered Office Address :
63 Gee Street, London, EC1V 3RS.

Site Last Updated : Thu, 09 Sep 10

Site Designed & Developed
by Ian Livingstone.

Associated Organisations