ACT Parallel Election Project Results

ACT Parallel Election Project Results: Thousands of school pupils vote for a Labour government

Over the course of the 2024 General Election, nearly 30,000 students in schools across the country were also voting. The Association of Citizenship Teaching (ACT) ran a Parallel Election for the first time. The project was designed to engage students in Citizenship education through active learning.

ACT’s Parallel Election teaching resources were released weekly in the 5 weeks running up to the General Election, with post-election resources released the week after the vote. This allowed schools and pupils to mirror the General Election as closely as possible, fostering student engagement and understanding of the democratic process. The materials also included explainer videos by Professor John Curtice, exclusive to ACT, which provided expert insight into the election process in a highly engaging way.

The results of the student vote clearly put Labour in first place (32.1%), with Reform UK sitting second (18.8%). The Green Party scooped third place with 18.1% of the votes. The Liberal Democrats came fourth (13%) while the Conservatives were pushed into fifth on less than 10% of the vote (8.3%). Independent candidates took 5.6% of the share while the remainder were spoiled ballots or no votes (4.2%).

In the General Election, the overall voter turnout was 60%, and evidence shows that young people are less likely to vote than older people. Parallel elections, as part of a well-taught Citizenship curriculum, give students a real taste of democracy in action, and encourage greater political participation as adults.

Election day

Overall 413 schools were involved in the project with 29,838 votes cast. July 4th was Polling Day for the nation, as was our Parallel Election Day, with many participating schools sharing the event on social media.

Here’s what teachers and students said:

Mark Marande, Headteacher, The Petersfield School:

“We are very passionate about engaging our students with the general election and politics more widely. We want them to get ‘into the habit’ of voting, grappling local, national and global issues and exercising their democratic rights. I have been hugely impressed with how much enthusiasm the students have shown for grilling our local candidates and learning about the manifestos of the different parties. We have shared with them the importance of being active participants in their society and I am very encouraged for the future led by them and their generation.”

Sam, Year 10 student:

“It’s important that young people get involved in politics early so that when we are at an age where we can vote, we are well informed and educated about the different policies that can affect our lives. Some young people may feel disillusioned by politics, however it’s been refreshing to see how much our school community has engaged with the 2024 General Election.”

Eve, Year 10 student:

“We have really enjoyed meeting the local candidates and putting them on the spot about their party’s pledges. It’s vital that we understand the different commitments being made by different political parties and the routes that our country could take. We are all eagerly anticipating the result of our school election and the General Election.”

Edward, Year 10 student:

“Even though we can’t vote in the General Election this time, we’ve really valued the opportunity to think about and discuss our views on the issues that matter to us in our society. Exercising our democratic rights is a hugely important privilege that we shouldn’t take for granted, especially when there are still places in our world where people are denied this right.”

Over four hundred schools took part

We’d like to thank all the schools and pupils who were involved in this momentous project and made it such a success. We hope you benefitted from this innovative approach to teaching about democracy, elections and voting through active learning.

ACT’s Chief Executive, Liz Moorse sums up the project: