Young people studying in secondary schools in England are coming of age amidst acute global anxieties about the robustness of democratic systems. UK politics and government across the lifetime of a current English teenager has been characterised by extraordinary constitutional instability, with norms challenged by the unprecedented behaviour of prominent political actors including Prime Ministers. Meanwhile, rapidly-evolving digital technology continues to destabilise and polarise political debate, enabling sophisticated and algorithm-fuelled disinformation, which at times has placed far right and authoritarian rhetoric uncomfortably close to the political mainstream.
With the UK government pledged to give 16- and 17-year-olds in England the vote ahead of the next general election, it’s crucial that all young people are equipped with the knowledge and skills for active democratic participation, including understanding how government works across the UK. Yet scholars, curriculum experts and parliamentarians agree that such education in England has declined to a “parlous state”. Some pupils benefit from rich opportunities to acquire and practise knowledge about how to participate in the UK’s representative democracy, from well-trained specialist teachers. But others get few chances to learn about how UK government or our systems of justice work, or to practise using democratic processes to make their voices heard.
This report assesses how the core compulsory curriculum supports young people’s acquisition of the foundational political and legal knowledge that makes up the UK’s uncodified constitution.
This publication presents the personal views of the author and not those of The Constitution Society, which publishes it as a contribution to debate on this important subject.