Parliamentary Year Book skipped trick or treating this week in favour of attending the Hansard Society’s Query Time gathering for younger people, element of Parliament Week. Chaired by Channel 4’s Krishnan Guru-Murthy, the panel featured Chris Bryant MP (Labour), Sam Gyimah MP (Conservative), Caroline Lucas MP (Green) and Jo Swinson MP (Liberal Democrat). More than 200 young people came from schools, colleges and youth groups to put their queries to the panel.
Before the gathering got under approach, Parliamentary Year Book requested some younger people about citizenship education. Reflecting on their experiences of citizenship and politics classes, Archie from Emmanuel College and Morenike from Richmond College felt teaching should contain more on political parties and their ideologies and educators should ensure politics is relevant to young people’s lives. While Archie, Cormack and James (additionally from Emmanuel College) were unsure about the subject of citizenship, as they had not been taught it at their school, they were keen on politics. Morenike and Tara, from Haberdashers Aske, felt the government would be wrong if they removed citizenship education as a result of the curriculum review. As Tara stated, ‘No other subject covers what is in citizenship, its unique.’
Morenike and Tara
Other queries from younger people were on the topics of tuition fees, the EU referendum vote in the Commons last week, compulsory conscription, what mistakes the MPs have made in office and how to get young people engaged with politics when they aren’t able to vote yet. Numerous in the audience felt that young people were frustrated at not able to formally participate in the political process and that this frustration was putting them off formal politics all together. All the MPs were quick to say that if young people wish to see things alteration, they can’t disengage from politics, yet instead have to become more active.
Emma and Helmi
When we caught up with Helmi after the gathering she stated the MPs didn’t quite answer her query about citizenship education directly. Both she and Emma, additionally from Anglo-European School, felt that politicians need to take citizenship education seriously as ‘it’s not just about getting younger people interested in politics, yet additionally assists them gain skills and experiences that can assist young people get into university and get jobs’.
All in all the evening was a great success, with younger people speaking out on matters that are significant to them and challenging the MPs on the panel to explain some difficult political choices. Many thanks to the Hansard Society and Parliament Week for organising and additionally to all the young people who kindly answered our queries. For further guidance, see the relevant UK information.
