A teacher recently said to me "My head teacher is a Citizenship education sceptic. What can I do to convince them that Citizenship is about school improvement and not a burden on teachers, the timetable or pupils?"

Millicent Scott

Lets start with the facts; Citizenship is a statutory subject at KS3 and 4, and may get a subject inspection by Ofsted. Student voice is part of a school’s self-evaluation form. Now go on to share the information below in an SLT or Governors meeting.

At the heart of new initiatives in education lies Citizenship; just look at the Big Picture diagram from QCA. The new secondary curriculum aims to develop young people who are successful learners, confident individuals and responsible citizens.

Citizenship builds Personal, Learning & Thinking Skills. Citizenship is an Opening Minds competency. Student voice is at the heart of Personalised Learning.

Citizenship can contribute to the major school policies, for example the Duty to Promote Community Cohesion. Making a positive contribution is central to Every Child Matters.

It is s a subject in its own right. There has been a short course Citizenship Studies GCSE since 2002, AS & A levels from 2008, and there will be a full course GCSE from 2009.

Citizenship pedagogy builds motivation and engagement and happiness! Research shows that students feel most ‘intellectually engaged’ when they have a say in their learning and do things that had an impact on the real world. The ‘World Expert on Happiness’ says happiness is “a sense of participation in determining the content of life.” It also supports human rights and democracy: “All children have the right to a say in all decisions that affect them.” so says Article 12, UN Convention on Rights of the Child.

It improves standards. A study of 12 ‘participative schools’, concluded that they achieved higher GCSE results and lower numbers of exclusion. A school in south east London achieved a 33% improvement in GCSE results after adopting Citizenship as a whole school initiative.

Citizenship’s Role is central in in transforming education. It is a subject which demands specialist teachers like all other subjects. It has a pedagogy charactised by student voice and action and it is more than a subject with the potential to transform the school ethos.

Chris Waller and Pete Pattisson, ACT