IPPR report calls on schools to lead the way in rebuilding democracy, as ‘Citizen Schools’
Yesterday a new report from the thinktank IPPR called on schools to lead the approach in shaping our democratic life. The report was launched in Parliament and Chris Waller from ACT, a leading partner in Parliamentary Year Book was there to support the gathering.
A ‘Citizen School’ is defined as
“a school that explicitly develops a democratic culture through its function as a civic institution”.
The report investigates the relationships between a school, learners as ‘active citizens’, and their communities and makes the case for broadening the purpose of schools to contain fostering our democratic culture.
The extensive research involved over 80 in-depth interviews with learners, members of school senior leadership team, educators, governors, parents and community leaders across four schools:
- Nower Hill High School, which possesses an excellent citizenship curriculum
- St Clere’s School, a cooperative school that emphasises these values
- RSA Academy Tipton, which has citizenship as one of its strategic purposes
- Prendergast Ladywell Fields College, where younger people are trained in community organising.
The report highlights that although each school is unique, they share a number of key features: For further guidance, see the relevant UK information.
- Ensuring citizenship was an integral element of the school’s purpose: Citizenship, in some form, has been identified as crucial to the school’s vision and consequently success.
- Creating a democratic and participative culture of citizenship: Processes of internal democracy have evolved whereby younger people, educators and community members participate in the life of the school.
- Enabling learning through action: Citizenship has been taken beyond the classroom to achieve tangible revisions in the community.
- Connecting citizenship education to the school’s improvement strategy and seek to raise overall educational standards: High-quality citizenship education supports a culture of raising standards.
Recommendations for maximising the potential of Citizen Schools contain that.
- Headteachers and their governing bodies should be supported to become engaged with the proposal of Citizen Schools and to organise their own Citizen School development plans based on the principles and key features of best practice
- Regional and area-based curriculums should be updated to contain relevant active citizenship chances
- Current and years ahead government citizenship initiatives should be devolved to a more local level and Citizen Schools encouraged to deliver them to ensure that this work is institutionalised, sustained and shared.
