After completing
a Bachelor’s degree in 2004
in History and Politics, this idea that the individual
has a role to play in contributing to a peaceful, positive, and democratic
society became a firmly held belief that I have passionately subscribed to ever
since. In light of the recent events this summer, the Crick Report has shown a
remarkable foresight in the dangers of a fragmented and irresponsible group
within society. As stated by Huddlestone
and Kerr in Making Sense of Citizenship:
"…for society,
(Citizenship) helps to create an active and responsible citizenry, willing to
participate in the life of the nation and the wider world and play its part in
the democratic process"[2].
Upon my
application to a PGCE course in History, I concluded that an interest in the
education of the young would have to include some element of developing
students’ sense of responsibility, identity, and empowerment. A commitment to
mentoring and guiding students through their academic development was, of
course, still vital. To this end, I was able to make use of the Politics
component of my undergraduate degree by applying for a PGCE in History and
Citizenship. I believe that while all students should be equipped with the
academic knowledge to acquire qualifications and progress in their chosen
careers, they should also understand their sense of identity and belonging, and
develop the values and attitudes that would make them good citizens, impacting
not just on their own life, but on that of others. Citizenship in the Secondary
curriculum is vital, both as a tool of building students’ sense of agency,
identity and belonging, and as a means of bringing together the whole school
curriculum with the common aim of developing successful learners, confident
individuals and responsible citizens, as advocated by the PLTS framework. On a
personal leveI I strongly agreed with the Every
Child Matters agenda, which set out the Five Outcomes that would underpin
all agencies’ work with young people – I felt that Active Citizenship would be
vital in providing students with the tools to ‘make a positive contribution’[3].
Therefore, in my
opinion, it is clear that the main thrust behind Citizenship provision in
schools hinges on two fundamental principles: increasing the knowledge of
students so that they are able to understand how to function as citizens; and
developing their skills, e.g. confidence, team work and independence, so that
they are able to use this knowledge and perform as citizens. Active Citizenship
is key.
In 2009 I
applied for the role of teacher in charge of Citizenship at my current school,
after 4 years of teaching a blend of PSHE/Citizenship in two schools. This
blurring of the two subjects into one timetabled session left me feeling that
somehow Citizenship was not being understood by a number of the teaching staff
body, who often saw both PSHE and Citizenship as one and the same subject. My
aim, upon successfully taking charge of Citizenship at school was to
immediately emphasise the difference between the two similar, but fundamentally
different, subjects. I emphasised the difference in focus and content[4] between
the two subjects, resulting in the Senior Management Team agreeing to have two
different staff members in charge of each individual subject, to clearly
distinguish the two. With discrete lessons, the next step was to create a
Citizenship Programme of Study that incorporated the three main cornerstones of
good Citizenship provision; an academic
subject which challenges and arms students with a ‘core of learning…unique
to Citizenship that is not properly addressed in other subjects, e.g. the
justice system, central and local Government, etc.; an ethos and culture embedded in school; and an opportunity for
students to engage and interact with the wider community to fulfil the ideal
goal of Active Citizenship. In the
first instance, I moved away from the idea of using other ‘carrier subjects’ as
a vehicle with which to deliver Citizenship. While this seemed like a good idea
in theory, as it would contribute to a whole school ethos of good Citizenship,
I felt that it was imperative that Citizenship was, at its foundation, able to operate
as a stand-alone subject – so as to raise the profile of it as a discrete
lesson. Since I completed the Programme of Study at School, and now feel
confident that the subject has ‘a clear identity’[5], I feel
that linking with other subjects is at last viable, and this will be my next
step forward in further raising the profile and effectiveness of Citizenship in
creating well rounded, responsible and capable citizens.
With regards to
my own teaching, my firm belief was that Citizenship had to first be an
academic subject which incorporated all aspects of the Citizenship Curriculum,
and was comparable with the other subjects in being headed by a specialist
teacher, a rigorous content, and a robust assessment procedure. However, it was
also not simply enough to have written assessments as in many other subjects.
Citizenship is not just about knowledge. There is equal emphasis on
participation, interaction and ‘making a change’. Thus, within each unit of my
Programme of Study, I included an assessment which emphasised skill as well as
knowledge. In Year 8 for instance, I wrote a unit on Recycling and the
Environment which armed students with the knowledge they would need to
understand the idea, need, and future plans for recycling, but I decided to not
assess this knowledge through an ‘in-lesson’ written test paper, but rather to
task the students with a team work project which involved creating a video
explaining the need for recycling, Government initiatives and a School Action
Plan for further development[6]. The
videos were then assessed and placed on the School Virtual Learning Environment
to advertise the need for recycling to students from other years. Many of the
students then chose to become involved in the school’s plan to become an
Eco-School. In effect, the students had taken the project and extended it to a
whole school action.
In another Year 8 unit on Community and Identity, I taught the students
the benefits of becoming involved in Community Action, and the six week Scheme
of Work was designed to encourage students to question their role in the
community, as well as the duty of the community to each other[7]. This
time, the assessment would have a written element to it, but the students would
be writing out a speech to advocate a positive change in the community. They
would meet with local councillors during Local Democracy Week to discuss their
ideas and concerns, and would self-assess their role in making a positive
contribution in lesson at the end of the unit[8]. As the
Citizenship Curriculum advocates, the subject should ‘equip young people with
the knowledge, skills and understanding to play an effective role in public
life’[9]. This
particular unit is ongoing, but this is the unit (current year) from which I
have included some of the students’ work to show their realisation that they
could work to create a positive impact in their community[10]. In a
debate between students and councillors in a previous Local Democracy Event,
students campaigned for a Surf Bus to be brought to North Devon and, although
this took a long time (their involvement dates from 2007), their influence was eventually
successful in 2010[11]. This
has done wonders for the morale of the students. They had successfully made a
positive contribution in the wider community, leading to a feeling of
empowerment and belonging – the apex of citizenship. Building upon this, we
rolled out student involvement in the community to create Community Day, where
students had the opportunity to effect change on their community at a grass
roots level, to which every student could excel. Students had a choice of
tasks, from helping out at the local Residents’ Home, to creating a wildlife
Garden in Braunton, which the local supermarket very kindly funded for us[12].
Throughout, the
pedagogy behind my teaching has been to arm students with the knowledge and
skills to achieve the outcomes set out by the Every Child Matters Agenda, and with particular emphasis on
students feeling empowered to have a positive influence. Indeed, my core belief
is that the role of Citizenship education is to achieve positive empowerment, to allow students to develop into adults with
a positive agenda, a commitment to one another, and the knowledge, skills and
motivation to make society as a whole better.
Bibliography
Brown, Kate
and Fairbrass, Stephen. (2009) – The
Citizenship Teacher’s Handbook (London: Continuum)
Gearon,
Liam. (2010) – Learning to teach
Citizenship in the Secondary School (Cornwall: Routledge)
Huddleston, Ted and Kerr, David. (2006) – Making Sense of Citizenship: A Continuing
Professional Development Handbook. (London: The Citizenship Foundation)
Labour Government Publication (2003) – Every Child Matters (Green Paper)
The Crick Report (1998)
www.qca.org.uk/curriculum Citizenship Programme of Study for Key Stage 3 and
Attainment Target (Extract from the National Curriculum 2007)
[1]
Crick Report (1998)
[2] Huddleston, Ted and Kerr, David. (2006) – Making Sense of Citizenship: A Continuing
Professional Development Handbook. (London: The Citizenship Foundation) p.5
[3]
Labour Government Publication (2003) – Every Child Matters (Green Paper) p.7
[4]
Huddleston, Ted and Kerr, David. (2006) – Making Sense of Citizenship: A Continuing
Professional Development Handbook. (London: The Citizenship Foundation) p.46
[5]
Huddleston, Ted and Kerr, David. (2006) – Making Sense of Citizenship: A Continuing
Professional Development Handbook.p.49 (London: The Citizenship Foundation)
[6]Appendix 1: Year 8 Scheme of Work – Recycling and the
Environment
[7]
Appendix 2 : Year 8 Scheme of Work – Local
Community
[8]
Appendix 3 – Student
Self-Assessment Forms
[9]www.qca.org.uk/curriculum Citizenship Programme of Study for Key Stage 3 and
Attainment Target (Extract from the National Curriculum 2007)
[10] Appendix 4 – Student Work and Resources
[11] Appendix 5 – Press Release
on North Devon Surf Bus
[12]
Appendix 6 – Various information on Braunton
School Community Day- 27th May 2010
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