Education for Citizenship

Education for Citizenship Report of Young People's Consultation

Young People's Consultation Pack

PDF icon PDF file: Education for Citizenship Consultation Pack for Young People (3.2 MB) .
Colourful pack developed by LT Scotland in association with Save the Children in Scotland to engage pupils in the consultation process. Schools say they continue to find the resources very useful.

Download the full report

PDF icon PDF file: Report of Young People's Consultation (294 KB)
Read the full report completed in June 2001.

Read the report summary

Gathering young people's views

The Education for Citizenship Young People's Consultation Pack was developed in partnership with Save the Children in Scotland in order to involve young people in the consultation process, and to enable the Review Group to take account of the views of young people in its deliberations. The materials aimed to gather the views of young people on their understanding and experience of education for citizenship, and their ideas about good practice.

The Young People's Consultation Pack

The pack took the form of information leaflets about education for citizenship and human rights, discussion activities to explore aspects of education for citizenship, and a pupil questionnaire to be completed individually. Discussion exercises and questionnaires were organised on two levels: Level 1 was aimed at Primary 6-7, and Level 2 at Secondary 3-6, although teachers were encouraged to use the materials more flexibly at their own discretion.

Three forms of feedback were obtained from schools taking part:

feedback from teachers about the main points raised by pupils in discussion;
individual questionnaires from pupils;
teachers' evaluation forms of the pack itself.

Piloting the pack in schools

Six copies of the pack were distributed to each local authority, who selected pilot schools to work with the pack between December 2000 and March 2001. Fifty-three centres returned consultation responses to Learning and Teaching Scotland: of these 29 were primary schools, 22 were secondary schools and two were local authority student councils. Four of the schools were for pupils with special educational needs.

A total of 941 pupil questionnaires was returned: 551 at Level 1 and 390 at Level 2. Responses were collated using Microsoft Access. Very little information was gathered about the characteristics of young people completing the questionnaire. A little secondary analysis has been possible in respect of pupils' age and gender. However, Learning and Teaching Scotland can make no claims as to the representative qualities of this group of young people as a sample; nor do we have very much information about the conditions under which questionnaires were completed. The questionnaire results should be seen in the same way as any other consultation response - the views of interested parties, developed and expressed under a variety of circumstances. There is no suggestion that these views are representative of all Scottish school pupils. Listed here are the major outcomes of the consultation.

Fairness and respect

Most young people responded positively to most statements about the respect accorded to different groups of people in their school. The one exception to this was that a majority of Level 2 respondents did not agree that teachers were treated fairly and with respect.
Substantial minorities at Level 2 did not agree that pupils, ancillary staff, pupils from poorer homes or boys and girls were treated fairly and with respect.
A substantial minority at Level 1 did not agree that teachers were treated fairly and with respect.
A substantial minority of boys at Level 1 did not agree that boys and girls are treated equally and with respect.

Pupil consultation

A large majority of young people claim to be consulted on issues such as school rules and behaviour, and on extracurricular activities. Smaller majorities say they are consulted on school facilities, and at Level 2 on the content and teaching of lessons and on important school policies.
A majority of Level 1 respondents are not consulted on the content and teaching of lessons. Approximately 75 per cent of respondents attend schools where there is a student council.
A large majority of Level 1 respondents think their student council is doing a good job.
A small majority of Level 2 respondents think their student council has had some success in getting things changed in school.
A majority of Level 2 respondents do not agree that their student council represents the views of all pupils.

Knowing your rights

A large majority of Level 1 and Level 2 respondents are able to give some coherent explanation of what it means to have rights, with being allowed or entitled to do certain things, and 'having a say' being the two most popular responses.
A large majority of young people claim to learn about rights at school, with modern studies and PSE the most frequently mentioned subjects at Level 2.
Only 34 per cent of Level 2 respondents claim to have been taught about the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child.

Community links

The need for better leisure facilities, and for less vandalism, litter and general untidiness are the most frequently recognised community needs.
A substantial minority of Level 2 respondents could perceive no areas of improvement required in their community.
A majority of Level 2 respondents and a substantial minority at Level 1 were unable to claim any community involvement activities, either in a private capacity or through school or voluntary associations.
However, large majorities of young people registered moral support for community activities such as helping sick neighbours and reporting crime. Smaller majorities were indicated for more active involvement, such as organising community events and campaigning for safer roads.

The global dimension

More interest was expressed in world than in local community issues. The most commonly expressed concerns were for war, world poverty and environmental problems.
More than half of all Level 1 respondents had studied environmental problems at school. Level 2 respondents claim to study a wider range of world issues through the formal curriculum. Amongst secondary pupils modern studies is identified as the subject most likely to address world issues.

Political interest

A large majority of respondents think that politics is important, with most thinking it should be studied at school. Active rather than didactic methods of study are most favoured.
Amongst Level 2 respondents, expressed interest in political involvement compares favourably with actual adult involvement, with a large majority intending to vote in national elections. Comfortable majorities also intend to vote in council elections and are interested in voluntary work in the community, and small majorities are prepared to campaign for improvements to their area or to write a letter of protest to their MPs. There is much less support for joining either pressure groups or political parties.

Learning about citizenship

Modern studies and PSE are identified as the most significant contributors to education for citizenship amongst Level 2 respondents, with Level 1 respondents identifying a wider range of environmental studies and RME topics, as well as some less content-specific activities such as Circle Time.

Teacher evaluation

A substantial majority of teachers responded favourably to all aspects of the Young People's Consultation Pack. Reservations were expressed about difficulty of the ideas, levels of reading and writing skill required for the questionnaire, and some aspects of presentation, including photocopy quality.
Some of the materials were not well suited to young people with learning difficulties.