I was at the QCDA’s Citizenship Key Players meeting last week.
A great day with a range of thoughtful discussions and presentations. Good to see a lot of familiar faces, and hear about citizenship in the new primary curriculum.
Particularly interesting was some of the things that came up from Judith Matharu and Tony Gallagher from Ofsted when talking about their most recent report ‘Citizenship Established?’ They discussed how provision for Citizenship and outcomes for students are improving overall, and that student voice is prominent in many schools. Good news.
An issue came up though, that learning for young people was suffering because of a ‘simulated politics’ approach rather than ‘real politics’ approach.
This is very much what we’re trying to challenge and help schools with at involver. .
Politics, democracy and participation in schools should never be about simulation.
Learning to be an active citizen isn’t like learning to pilot a plane. Young people are here, they are already involved, so let’s help them do something real.
That’s not to say that teachers shouldn’t support young people to help and suggest things, but that they shouldn’t try and create a false environment to learn what ‘taking part’ means.
Just wanted to get that off my chest!
Greg