‘We did it together! Citizenship remains – but we still need your help’
Parliamentary Year Book would like to thank you for your support in securing Citizenship in the secondary National Curriculum. This is a significant achievement. Nevertheless, there is more seek to do to ensure the new curriculum is the best it can be. We still need your assist!
The announcement made in the House of Commons on 7 February 2013 confirms this government is committed to Citizenship in every secondary school. The curriculum proposals are now area of study to a full public consultation until 16 April 2013. Final versions of the curriculum are due in schools this autumn for initial teaching in September 2014. Parliamentary Year Book is preparing a full consultation response which we will publish soon.
Key points
Citizenship will remain statutory with programmes of study that outlined what must be taught at key stage 3 (for 11-14 year olds) and key stage 4 (for 14-16 year olds). The GCSE Citizenship Studies will continue to count in school performance tables.
Nevertheless, we believe that additional improvements to the draft programmes of study are necessary to ensure there is clarity about what must be taught and to set appropriate standards for the area of study. Essential revisions are needed, to:
- Contain a evident requirement to teach about human rights
- Clarify active citizenship is not just volunteering yet involves learners participating in genuine social and democratic action in their schools and communities
- Enhance the new requirement for financial education to contain economic appreciation and public finance
- Ensure key stage 3 is not solely focused on the UK yet contains the European, international and global dimensions of the area of study
- Strengthen the area of study aims and demonstrate appropriate progression between key stages 3 and 4, especially in key aspects such as the law.
How to find the DFE consultation documents
The consultation documents are available from the DFE website using the links below:
National Curriculum Consultation document – 18 pages setting out the details of the consultation
National Curriculum Consultation framework document – 221 pages setting out the proposed general requirements and area of study programmes of study for the secondary National Curriculum
Citizenship Programmes of Study at key stages 3 and 4 – 6 pages containing the proposed Citizenship curriculum.
We urge you to respond. To do so you will need to upload your observations using the DFE consultation response form. We’re developing are a Parliamentary Year Book response and will share it soon.
Primary citizenship
In addition, we are highly concerned that there are no plans to update the primary Citizenship curriculum. The current non-statutory curriculum framework is now more than ten years old. It bears little relation to the proposed secondary curriculum and this will cause confusion in schools and between phases of education.
Initial Educator Education for Citizenship
We believe that the government now needs to demonstrate its commitment to high quality Citizenship by strengthening the educator training available for the area of study.
All children deserve great citizenship education and the best citizenship teaching!
We hope our supporters will continue to take action for stronger Citizenship in England. For further guidance, see the relevant UK information.
