ACT Council response to the National Curriculum review 2013
This response was created by ACT Council members. ACT Council represents
the members of ACT and is a democratic body of 25 ACT members. This
response aligns closely with that of Democratic Life, the Citizenship education
coalition of which ACT is a member. Specific commentary from ACT Council can
be found in the answers to questions 3 and 14. The consultation period ended
on Tuesday April 16th 2013.
ACT Council’s Response to the proposed new National Curriculum
ACT Council welcomes the decision by the Secretary of State to ensure that citizenship
retains its status as a National curriculum subject. This ensures that England continues to
align its approach to civic, democratic and human rights education with other Western-style
democracies across the globe. The proposed draft programme of study needs to reflect the
origins of the subject in the Crick Report 1998 which was extremely clear in emphasising the
absolute necessity of the subject as an entitlement for all pupils. We welcome the draft
Programme of Study but believe that further improvements to the draft are necessary to
ensure there is clarity about what must be taught in citizenship in key stages 3 and 4 and to
set out appropriate standards for the subject. Citizenship is a subject like all others that must
be well taught, have a rigorous curriculum and be accessible to all students. Above all it must
reflect the breadth and depth of this complex subject.
Regarding the use of the term ‘precious liberties’ and absence of ‘human rights’
We believe the current phrase ‘precious liberties’ is not as widely understood as ‘rights and
responsibilities’ and that this opens the possibility of confusion in the way this is interpreted.
We also believe that the citizenship curriculum provides an ideal mechanism for the
government to meet its obligations under the Convention on the Rights of the Child to ensure
that children are made aware of their rights. There is obviously a clear requirement to teach
about human rights through shared values.
In respect of this the words human rights are clearly missing from the language of the draft
curriculum. These words are clearly core to any teaching about the law, rights,
responsibilities, justice, politics and democracy. They are also reflected in teaching about
sustainability, economic understating and local as well as national and global issues. The UK
is a major partner with other world states in defending and promoting human rights for all as
fundamental to development and the proliferation of democracy. There are many
fundamental reasons why these words should be included and these will be set out very
clearly by other submissions to this consultation by bodies including Amnesty International.
ACT Council supports the call for the inclusion of these words to clearly show that human
rights and the teaching about them is retained at the heart of citizenship education.
www.teachingcitizenship.org.uk
ACT is a registered charity in England and Wales (charity No. 1100180)
Registered Office Address: 63 Gee Street, London, EC1V 3RS
Regarding volunteering and active participation
Since the implementation of citizenship in the national curriculum teachers have developed a
range of projects and teaching models to support pupils’ development as active citizens.
Active citizenship is not just volunteering but involves pupils taking part in genuine social and
democratic action in their schools and communities. Whilst volunteering has always been an
important part of this, it is equally important to continue to value the wider range of activities
through which pupils develop their understanding of democracy such as donating money,
campaigning on issues they care about, lobbying their democratic representatives, joining
community groups etc. In strong democracy citizens understand how decisions are made
and how things get done (political literacy) and feel able to participate in these processes
(political agency). Both elements are essential for rigorous citizenship education and an
excessively narrow focus on volunteering risks losing some of the good practice that has
developed and also impoverishing pupils’ understanding of active citizenship, which is best
understood as one form of action available to the responsible citizen.
The emphasis on active citizenship being understood mainly in terms of voluntary work is in
danger of further alienating young people from participating in genuine, critical democratic
life. It is only when young people choose the issues they want to understand and influence
that political life stops being something they read about in the papers and becomes
something that they realise is part of their life and more poignantly, something where their
informed views are valued and have a place.
Our experience of running active citizenship projects with more academically or behaviourally
challenged young people consistently shows that the ‘active citizenship’ aspect of the original
curriculum unlocks those young people from feeling ignored or marginalised by their
communities or society at large. The journey from political literacy to political agency allows
young people, especially those on the edges of society a genuine avenue by which they can
feel included, heard and able to have meaningful and positive impact. In a climate where
young people are statistically less and less engaged in politics and democratic life, by being
active citizens and actually ‘doing’ politics, they are far more likely to be deeply engaged in
the politics of their country, especially where this involves genuine active citizenship.
Regarding the introduction of personal financial education into citizenship.
ACT Council members broadly welcome the inclusion of personal financial education in
citizenship. Aspects of financial literacy, especially in a global economic context have long
been part of the citizenship. This should also include a clear understanding about the broader
(public) context within which (private) decisions are made and should include teaching about
the economy, public finance, and the impact of local, national and international economic
decisions. Citizenship is essentially about how we make decisions in the public realm and
pupils’ present and future participation in the economy has implications for other people and
for the environment as well as for themselves. Citizenship education should help children
understand these interconnections.
However, the emphasis on pupils only understanding financial literacy in terms of their own
finances risks limiting young people’s ability to make critical judgements about finance. That
is, rather than making firm judgements about the wider economic climate which they can
www.teachingcitizenship.org.uk
ACT is a registered charity in England and Wales (charity No. 1100180)
Registered Office Address: 63 Gee Street, London, EC1V 3RS
reflect in their own financial choices and decisions, they will become passive participants in
finance. The ambition of the current draft is for pupils to become critical agents within the UK
and global economy; to make choices wisely based on deep understanding. If we are
seeking to avoid the potential of a socio-environmental crisis we need generations of
economically literate young people who fully understand the link between personal economic
decision-making and genuinely sustainable development.
On the narrow focus on the UK in Key Stage 3
ACT Council accepts that whilst it is right to focus on the UK within Key Stage 3 there is also
a need to ensure Key Stage 3 does not exclude the European, international and Global
dimensions. This will enable pupils to develop an understanding about how UK citizens fit
into this fast-changing world and the part they can play in it. Learning about international
contexts, (including sustainable development) as opposed to the local, is not any more
demanding and therefore is not an appropriate indicator of progress between the key stages.
Pupils should be able to engage with these contexts across both key stages (and indeed in
Key Stages 1 and 2) as long as the specified knowledge demonstrates increasing demand.
In addition, it seems incoherent that whilst the Department for International Development
(DfID) is investing heavily in education about development issues in Key Stages 2 and 3,
these are absent from the content of one of the one key National Curriculum subjects that will
be used by DfID to teach about such matters.
Progression.
There is a lack of direction and rigour in the subject aims in relation to appropriate
progression between key stages 3 and 4. The programmes of study should clearly identify
key aspects of citizenship that are important at any age. For example, pupils should study
legal aspects of citizenship in both key stages but the programmes of study, as drafted do
not set out clearly what knowledge is appropriate for key stage 3 and what additional
knowledge can be built on that foundation during key stage 4.
Regarding the status of citizenship at Key Stages 1 and 2 and Primary citizenship
education.
The primary curriculum has not fundamentally changed for over a decade. In order that the
secondary curriculum is aligned with teaching in Key Stages 1 and 2, the opportunity to
review the primary curriculum should be taken and a timetable for this set out. ACT Council
notes that citizenship has not been addressed clearly in the PSHE Review nor is it
signposted clearly in current literature about the curriculum review. We believe that
citizenship in primary schools must be more visible if the ambition of the secondary
programme of study is to be realised-especially in the transition years of Key Stage 2. Whilst
it may be the case that PSHE maintains its current place and status in the curriculum in all
phases of schooling, the lack of reference to citizenship and PSHE as a joint framework in
Key Stages 1 and 2 is confusing. An example of this confusion can be seen in the retention
of personal finance within PSHE in primary schooling, but the placing of personal financial
education in citizenship from Key Stage 3.There needs to be a clear steer on the place of
citizenship at Key Stages 1 and 2.
www.teachingcitizenship.org.uk
ACT is a registered charity in England and Wales (charity No. 1100180)
Registered Office Address: 63 Gee Street, London, EC1V 3RS