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As well as the nature and aims of the subject, practical issues concerning the delivery of the
citizenship in schools have also generated discussion. Following the proposals contained in
the report of the Citizenship Advisory Group (QCA 1998) the Department for Education
and Employment (DfEE) and the Qualification and Curriculum Authority (QCA) produced
a programme of study that secondary schools were required to cover from September 2002
(DfEE & QCA, 1999). The corresponding guidance for primary schools is non-statutory.
This was followed by some exemplary material in the form of schemes of work (QCA &
DfES, 2001, 2002).
The programmes of study are intended to develop students’ knowledge in a range of topics.
These include human rights, the legal system, the diversity of British society and the role of
the media. As well as knowledge, the programme of study aims to develop two sets of
skills: participation; and enquiry and communication. The introduction of a new
curriculum subject presented schools in England with several challenges, such as:
developing a suitable delivery model; adapting an already busy timetable; addressing the
training needs of staff; and assessing students’ progress in a suitable way. The ongoing
evaluations of the subject from Ofsted (2005a,b, 2006) and from NFER (Kerr et al. 2004,
Cleaver et al., 2005, Ireland et al., 2006) have shown that schools have adapted to these
challenges in a number of different ways and with varying degrees of success.
The citizenship programme of study was deliberately constructed to be less prescriptive
than other curriculum subjects. A ‘light touch’ approach was taken allowing schools
flexibility in implementation (Crick 2000: 9). However Ofsted soon started to note that
some schools (and some inspectors) had misinterpreted the light touch curriculum to the
extent that learning experiences were being classed as citizenship when clearly they were
not (Ofsted, 2003). It seemed that the light touch nature of the curriculum had led to
additional problems of definition concerning the subject.
One of the practical challenges facing schools is how to respond to the ‘active’ element of
the citizenship programme of study. The citizenship education in England is largely
premised, on Crick and Lister’s conception of political literacy (1978). They viewed the
politically literate as not only having the cognitive skills to understand the issue of the day,
but also the skills to act and the desire to make a difference. The QCA translated this
concept into the national curriculum by requiring schools to provide opportunities for
pupils to: ‘negotiate, decide and take part responsibly in both school and community based
activities’ (QCA 1999: 14).
Providing such opportunities raises questions of how it is best done. Schools are free to
decide on the extent to which this can be addressed within a fifty minute lesson. Schools
increasingly recognise the need for complementary approaches. These include extra
curricular activities; establishing community links; promoting elements of democracy
through school councils and giving attention to the way the whole school makes decisions.
This ‘active’ element of the subject, designed to link classroom learning with processes of
change in the world outside, has prompted Ofsted, amongst others, to pose the question:
‘Citizenship: a subject or ‘more than a subject’?’ (Ofsted, 2006:10). That the school
inspection service poses such a question publicly is itself revealing of on-going
uncertainties about the scope and definition of the subject in schools.
Reflecting Education
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