Reforms to the national curriculum in England announced last week have sparked a flicker of optimism about the future of constitutional education in schools. Responding to recommendations from the independent Curriculum and Assessment Review, the government stressed the ‘vital role’ of citizenship education. The response emphasised that such education is crucial ‘in making sure young people feel the democratic process is relevant to them, and that they understand how constitutional principles such as the rule of law protect them and benefit their lives.’
My report of earlier this year, and evidence submitted by the Constitution Society to the Curriculum Review, called for a strengthening of citizenship education, and constitutional education within it, to accompany votes at 16. The Review’s Final Report and the government’s response strike an encouraging tone to this end, raising hopes that these aims could be met in 2028. The government has agreed with our recommendations to legislate for compulsory citizenship teaching in schools between the ages of 5 and 16. Core constitutional themes (law and rights, democracy and government) are set to be introduced to primary pupils and continued in secondary schools, alongside oracy, media literacy, financial literacy and climate change. These reforms have been won by the coalition of organisations including the Constitution Society who have long campaigned for school citizenship to be modernised and strengthened.
We shouldn’t get carried away just yet, though. Citizenship has been compulsory for pupils in maintained secondary schools since 2002, but the reality on the ground is of a marginalized and low-status subject. Neglected by Ofsted since 2013, delivery of the democracy element of citizenship is massively inconsistent between schools. A minority of schools deliver discrete, regular, carefully sequenced citizenship lessons taught by subject specialists (we don’t know precisely how many because Ofsted no longer collects subject-level data on citizenship teaching). More common is for pupils to receive a few sessions shoehorned into PSHE (Personal, Social, Health and Economic education) or tutor time, if time permits. And, despite it being a compulsory national curriculum subject, up to one fifth of secondary schools provide no citizenship education at all. Statutory status is evidently not a magic wand. So, why does the democracy education sector seem hopeful that the government means business this time?
‘Without exception’
My report highlighted that socio-economically disadvantaged young people are less likely to be taught core democratic knowledge and skills or to have in-school opportunities to practise them. Setting out its reforms, the government frames the reformed national curriculum as the core of the education system, the ‘common entitlement of every child’. It’s intended to specify the essential knowledge and skills that all state schools must deliver, while giving headteachers space to tailor provision to their own context. At present, academies and free schools (accounting for 82.7% of secondary and 47.3% of primary pupils) don’t have to follow the national curriculum, but the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill will require them to do so when the reforms hit classrooms in 2028. The inclusion of clear teaching requirements for constitutional knowledge and understanding within citizenship, as signalled, could potentially deliver a more consistent entitlement to democracy education for all young people. And, in addition to the core curriculum, all schools will have to provide a minimum enrichment offer, to be taken into consideration by Ofsted – including ‘civic engagement’. Taken together, these measures could work together to deliver constitutional literacy to all young people, equipping them with understanding of how democratic values are delivered in the UK political and legal systems. This will, however, depend on the detailed content of the curriculum, due for publication in 2027, and effective monitoring of its implementation.
Clarity
Evidence submitted to the Review by the Constitution Society called for compulsory citizenship education to be extended to primary schools, and for citizenship programmes of study to be updated and better sequenced between key stages. This is because current teaching requirements for citizenship lack clarity, with no distinction between core concepts and detailed knowledge to be acquired. This looks set to change, though, with core themes of rights and law, democracy and government to be introduced to primary pupils and developed in secondary schools through progressively more complex content. Done well, this could result in effectively sequenced constitutional education running throughout the compulsory phase of schooling. But it will jostle for space alongside other strands of the citizenship curriculum. With financial literacy and media literacy grabbing the headlines last week, foundational constitutional education must be unequivocally set out as an essential entitlement for all young people, with no watering down in the updated programmes of study when published.
Status
The status of citizenship in English schools has been languishing for over a decade. One indication of this is a drop in entries for GCSE Citizenship Studies, sat by just over 21,000 pupils this summer compared to over 90,000 in 2009. The breadth of subjects chosen by pupils at GCSE narrowed following the 2010 introduction of the EBacc, a headline measure for schools based on the number of pupils entered for a specific combination of academic subjects at GCSE. Despite this, GCSE Citizenship Studies is highly valued by pupils, and recent research has shown a clear link between taking the qualification and pupils’ levels of democratic engagement. The government’s decision to get rid of the EBacc measure removes a disincentive for schools to enter pupils for GCSEs outside the core curriculum, including citizenship studies. Significantly, the government specifically referred to improving progression to GCSE as an aim of the overhaul of the citizenship curriculum. Last, both the government and the Review panel acknowledged that the introduction of votes at 16 necessitates making democracy education in schools a priority .
The proof of the pudding
Votes at 16 requires equipping school-leavers with the skills for informed democratic participation, particularly in the context of acute anxieties about the health of global democracy. The government has recognised that foundational constitutional education is an essential entitlement if young people are to learn to engage with the democratic process and to understand UK constitutional principles such as the rule of law. In the short term, the curriculum review has boosted the profile of citizenship education in schools. Making citizenship compulsory between the ages of 5 and 16, updating the programmes of study with an explicit focus on essential constitutional education and supporting the acquisition of skills for civic engagement through oracy and enrichment provision have the potential to raise the status, quality and consistency of democracy education. The government must now deliver, resource and properly monitor the reformed curriculum so that constitutional literacy becomes a reality in schools.
Emily Board.
Emily gained her undergraduate degree in history from the University of Cambridge, before spending several years as a parliamentary assistant. She trained as a history teacher and was Head of History in an 11-18 comprehensive in Surrey and, more recently, Programme Leader for Politics in a state sixth form college in Sussex.
The Constitution Society is committed to the promotion of informed debate and is politically impartial. Any views expressed in this article are the personal views of the author and not those of The Constitution Society.