Annex A: Areas of knowledge relevant to citizenship
Citizens in today's world seem to require factual and conceptual knowledge from a wide range of domains in order to come to thoughtful, informed decisions about important matters for their lives now and in the future. Ideas and phenomena associated with areas of learning and development as varied as expressive arts, geography, history, mathematics, the media, philosophy, politics, natural and social sciences, religion and technology are all parts of the broad base of political, social and cultural understanding that is relevant to living thoughtfully as an active, informed citizen.
Within this range of domains, there are some areas of knowledge and understanding that are especially relevant to the development and expression of ability to be active and responsible citizens. Informed citizens require knowledge and understanding of:
- themselves, human cultures and societies and the natural and made worlds in which they live
- the complex interdependencies between the various types of system - physical, biological, and societal - that make up the world
- the political, legal, administrative and cultural structures and processes of democratic societies, locally, nationally and internationally
- the legal and human rights and responsibilities of citizens, individually and collectively, in a democratic society
- barriers to full opportunity to exercise citizenship arising from socio-economic circumstances, prejudice and discrimination
- economic and financial aspects of individual and societal needs and wants and how these relate to issues of environmental sustainability, cultural development and social equity
- the changing nature of the world of business, of working life and economic activity
- the potential of developments in science and/or technology to change the physical, social and cultural environment, for good or ill
- the role of the arts in individual and community life, for example in developing community cohesion and in providing vehicles for expressing political critique
- the role of the media and marketing processes in shaping public opinion and influencing individual and collective decision making
- the nature of change and continuity and the effects individuals or groups of individuals, including voluntary groups, can have on the evolution of societies
- how Scottish society has evolved in the wider British, European and global context
- the diversity of identities - religious, ethnic, cultural, regional, national - within Scotland, across the UK and worldwide, and the need for mutual respect, tolerance and understanding
- the sources of disagreement and conflict between individuals and communities and the ways in which people can set about resolving such conflicts.
This list implies that young people need to have opportunities for learning across a broad range of subjects and curricular areas. A key challenge for curriculum design and planning is how to select factual and conceptual content, and to choose contexts for learning, that will help to provide an appropriate and valuable foundation for developing capability for citizenship. At the same time the outcomes of these selections and choices need to provide a basis for young people's education for personal growth and for productive and enterprising working lives.