a lesson in citizenship
By Marsha Elms
The recent events in New York and Washington impact on the rest of the
world and need to be talked about in schools. Citizenship, the latest curriculum
subject provides the necessary framework to look at what it is politicians do,
what democracy is, what fundamentalism is, concepts of unity in adversity, the
influence of the media, stereotyping and the futility of war. “A
central aim of education in citizenship and personal development is to enable
pupils ‘to become more self-confident and responsible in and beyond the classroom‘*.
Responsibility develops through practice, as members of the school community exercise
real responsibility for school life. At present, responsibilities of children
and parents are often limited to doing what they are told. In most schools, children
spend hours following instructions, waiting or standing in line. Even learning
citizenship can be a chore if children do not feel empowered. As an eight-year-old
said recently, “It‘s so boring when they keep telling you that making
the world a better place means picking up litter and not killing whales‘.”
What is education for citizenship?
Social and moral
responsibility: Pupils learning from the very beginning self-confidence and socially
and morally responsible behaviour, both in and beyond the classroom, towards those
in authority and towards each other. Community involvement:
Pupils learning how to become helpfully involved in the life and concerns of their
neighbourhood and communities, including through community involvement and service. Political
literacy: Pupils learning about the institutions, issues, problems and practices
of our democracy and how citizens can make themselves effective in public life,
locally, regionally and nationally, through skills and values as well as knowledge
– this can be termed political literacy, which encompasses more than political
knowledge alone. Citizenship teaching should aim to:
- Engage pupils in learning the knowledge, skills and understanding to
become informed and thoughtful citizens who can be effective in society at local,
national and global levels;
- Stimulate pupils‘
sense of responsibility, as they become aware of their duties and rights;
Foster and develop pupils‘ respect for different national, ethnic and religious
identities;
- Encourage pupils to play an effective role
in society by ensuring that they can participate in active citizenship, and become
helpfully involved in the life of their schools, neighbourhood, communities and
the wider world.
Teaching and learning approaches
Pupils are unlikely to become active citizens if their learning experiences have
been largely passive. The programmes of study for citizenship make it clear that
“Teaching should ensure that knowledge and understanding about becoming informed
citizens are acquired and applied when developing skills of enquiry and communication
and participation and responsible action.” The way in which learning experiences
are provided in citizenship is, therefore, fundamental to its success.
In
order to ensure the requirements of the citizenship programmes of study are met
and that pupils gain a broad range of active citizenship experiences pupils should
have planned opportunities to: - Take responsibility for
their own learning, exercising informed choices within and between learning opportunities,
recording what they have learned and achieved, reflect on their learning and action
plan to establish next steps;
- Explore and debate topical
issues of significance and interest and to take part in critical discussions that
are relevant to their lives – including identifying issues of local concern
and exploring how the media covers of significant issues;
- Work
in groups of different sizes and compositions, taking on varying roles, experiencing
leadership as well as membership and sharing the responsibility for the outcomes
of group activity;
- Explore and discuss the varied attitudes
and values underpinning issues encountered in society, considering out people‘s
experiences and thinking about, expressing and explaining views that are not their
own, e.g. through debates, simulation activities or role play;
- Undertake
work with adults other than teachers, using visitors and outside organisations.
This includes making links with the community including local businesses, e.g.
taking action through organising petitions, conducting opinion surveys;
- Work
outside the classroom, becoming actively involved in the decision-making and organisation
of the school and in community based activities;
- Take
time to reflect on all their experiences in both the formal and informal curriculum,
identifying what has been learned and applying it to future activities and to
enable pupils to transfer what is learned to situations in their own lives, now
and in the future.
Assessment
How
can you effectively assess citizenship? QCA have suggested a short course GCSE
in citizenship studies. The three strands of Citizenship are
reflected in the assessment. - AO1 Knowledge and understanding
of events of current interest, rights and responsibilities, democracy, government
etc will be externally examined and worth 40%.
- AO2
Skills in obtaining, explaining and interpreting information on such issues and
expressing opinions using evidence will be internally examined.
- AO3
Planning, participating in citizenship activities and reflecting on and evaluating
their effects will be internally examined.
AO2 and
AO3 combined are worth 60% and the new specifications should be available to schools
at the end of 2001 ready for teaching in September 2002. Issues
to consider Time
Internal assessment
of AO2 and AO3 is likely to be a major workload either for tutors or for Citizenship
co-ordinator or both. It will be necessary anyway for pupils to keep some sort
of folio of the results of investigations and discussions and about their practical
citizenship activities as OFSTED will wish to see these. However, to assess students
for particular grades in both aspects would be far more demanding of time, a task
similar in scale to assembling of Key Skills portfolios in the Sixth Form but
with the added complication of grading. Would the lesson time
schools intend to give to Citizenship/PHSE allow time for the necessary oral,
written, practical and administration work involved in the GCSE? Would revision
time needed affect pupil workload too much? Cost
Need
to consider costs to the school of examination fees, possibly additional resourcing,
additional staff training and moderation time for internal assessment. All issues
that the government has not hitherto taken into account when introducing other
initiatives such as in the Post-16 reform. Ethical Issues
There is the possibility that grading students‘ participation
in the community could have some negative repercussions. According to QCA, the
challenge is ‘to measure what we value rather than valuing only what it is
easy to measure‘. Students will gain credit for articulating the understanding
they have gained even from initiatives which have failed. Even so, gaining marks
for organising charity events etc. could appear to undermine the worthy motives
from which they at present arise. Giving Importance to Citizenship
Studies
Staff and pupils may regard the subject as more worthwhile
if it has a concrete outcome (QCA‘s view). Conclusions
It is likely to be some time before strategies for assessing
the nebulous skills of AO2 and AO3 are successfully achieved by participating
schools. On the other hand, if our pupils and staff take Citizenship
seriously anyway and the pupils seem to be benefiting from the lessons as currently
planned, it may not be felt necessary to have a qualification to underline its
importance. The absence of pressure to assemble portfolios, meeting assessment
criteria and to ensure that every candidate has been fully prepared for the examination,
might allow more time for a flexible approach. Citizenship should be an exciting
subject in which we can, hopefully, experiment with different teaching methods
such as Socratic dialogue, and respond to events in the news as they occur. In
the long run this could benefit pupils more than one additional qualification
and staff would be likely to find it a more positive experience which does not
impinge unduly on their workload. Perhaps the message that
understanding how societies work and participating are important for their own
sake, and not to gain a qualification, is a good message for the school to convey.
* Citizenship schools, Titus Alexander, Campaign for Learning / UNICEF, 2001
Marsha
Elms is Headteacher at Kendrick School for Girls |
