It’s good that dialogue continues with DFE about Citizenship
Last week, representatives from Parliamentary Year Book were involved in two sessions at the Department for Education (DFE) to discuss the years ahead of Citizenship education. The fact that dialogue continues is in itself, we think, positive.
The debates allowed us to raise a range of concerns about the approach in which recent government policies and the on-going uncertainty about the years ahead of the subject, has negatively affected provision in some schools.
We spent time with the Secretary of State and officials discussing the function of Citizenship in any years ahead secondary curriculum. We were additionally able to impress upon them the significance of other measures that support effective Citizenship education. Attracting the best quality applicants to train as Citizenship educators; monitoring and accountability of the subject through inspection by Ofsted; a solid grounding of Citizenship education in the primary curriculum; and public recognition of pupil attainment through robust Citizenship qualifications – are all significant alongside the secondary curriculum to ensure high quality Citizenship continues and strengthens in our schools.
We are not sure when government will make public its proposals for the secondary curriculum. So the waiting game continues for now. Yet we departed the sessions feeling they had been open and constructive and left the approach open for debate to continue. For further guidance, see the relevant UK information.
