Section 4: Areas for development and exploration
4.1 Areas for Development
Education for citizenship is a national priority, many features of which are underpinned by legislation such as the Human Rights Act 1998 and the Standards in Scotland's Schools, etc. Act, 2000. The Advisory Council expects that this will be reflected in local authorities' improvement plans and in school development plans and recommends that use be made of the framework provided by this paper in the review and development of these plans.
Specifically, it is recommended that the following areas for development be given priority. Development should focus on:
Schools and early education centres
- Reviewing existing provision and practice in terms of the framework developed in this paper, including provision of opportunities for young people to:
- participate in decision making
- participate actively in relevant learning experiences across the curriculum
- learn to make connections between different areas of study through cross-curricular experiences relevant to education for citizenship
- understand and participate in the life of the communities to which they belong.
- Promoting education for citizenship within the development planning process.
- Ensuring opportunities for meaningful and responsible involvement in decision-making by young people and adults associated with the establishment.
- Designating a member of staff to co-ordinate provision for development of capability for citizenship.
Local authorities
- Providing support for schools and early education centres in the review of existing provision and practice in education for citizenship.
- Providing for review and development of provision for education for citizenship within the authority's development planning process.
- Monitoring and evaluating education for citizenship.
- Reviewing opportunities for young people and others to take part in local authority decision making.
- Reviewing current resources and promoting the development of relevant new resources.
- Identifying, and making provision for responding to, professional development needs in relation to education for citizenship.
- Promoting education for citizenship in improvement plans.
National developments
In order to ensure the successful implementation of the framework set out in this paper, it is important that actions are taken nationally to create a supportive context for ongoing discussion and development. These will include
- a development programme to provide guidance and support on such matters as teaching and learning, assessment and approaches to evaluation of provision of education for citizenship from 3 to 18, not least to ensure that entitlement to education for citizenship is met post-14.
- strategies for identification of needs for pre-service education and continuing professional development related to development of capability for citizenship
- support for networking and information exchange, locally, nationally and internationally, and for the promotion of partnership across sectors
- systematic national monitoring, evaluation and reporting on progress
4.2 Areas for Exploration
The Advisory Council recognises that the process of reviewing education for citizenship has raised questions for which there are as yet no definitive answers. For example, seeing the development of capability for citizenship as a key purpose of education has implications for the content and the organisation of the curriculum and for the ways in which learning related to citizenship is recognised and accredited.
Further research and discussion are especially necessary and desirable in relation to such issues, all of which connect to established national priorities for education. The following paragraphs indicate some starting points for discussion.
Education for citizenship and improving attainment and achievement
There are good reasons to expect that effective education for citizenship will contribute to improved attainment and achievement by, for instance, increasing the individual's confidence and self-esteem, helping young people make connections between knowledge and skills gained in different contexts, and extending their vision and motivation. However, the link between developing capability for citizenship and attainment is not a mechanistic one, and there can be no guarantee of immediate measurable improvements in attainment. This means that developments in education for citizenship may be seen as a risky distraction. Schools are publicly accountable for their pupils' performance in examinations, not for the other less easily assessable aspects of their work. It would be regrettable if this were to inhibit imaginative developments in education for citizenship.
There will be, over time, a need to explore and shed light on the relationship between developing capability for citizenship and attainment. The relationship between the range of information published about young people's achievements in schools, and the impact this has on public and professional perceptions of educational priorities also requires further examination. Meantime, it should be clear that education for citizenship, as described here, will do much to promote achievement across a wider spectrum than that which is the focus of most measures of attainment.
Attitudinal change associated with developing capability for citizenship, for example, in relation to political or voluntary activity, is among the other key areas that will require further exploration.
Assessing development of capability for citizenship
It would not be appropriate or practicable to formally assess the quality of a young person's citizenship. Having said that, it will be important to give further careful and more detailed consideration to ways in which young people's learning related to education for citizenship, as described in this paper, can be assessed and accredited. This will include a critical examination of aspects of current practice in assessment for summative purposes.
Assessing elements of the learning outcomes separately might have the unintended effect of creating a disjointed and instrumental approach to education for citizenship. Nonetheless, young people are entitled to recognition of their learning, and of their contribution to the life of the school and the community. Moreover, many of the learning outcomes listed in Section 2 are already assessed in other contexts. It will be important that learning and development in relation to these learning outcomes are seen as contributing to each learner's development of capability for citizenship.
Developments such as Personal Learning Plans and the Progress File could be adapted to include recognition of aspects of education for citizenship or to highlight a citizenship dimension in accreditation already achieved.
Education for citizenship and inclusion
Some young people feel themselves to be excluded from aspects of school and community life through their social, material or physical circumstances. These young people may not find it easy to take part in the school's provision for development of capability for citizenship. Sometimes they may not react positively to efforts to include them. It is the school's responsibility to develop strategies to ensure that all young people benefit from their entitlement to education for citizenship. Whilst much existing work in equal opportunities, anti-racist education, special educational needs and inclusive education in general is relevant to and supportive of education for citizenship, there is considerable need for further development.
Staff development
Involvement in education for citizenship has implications both for the professional knowledge of teachers and early years practitioners and for their teaching skills. Even though it is not envisaged that approaches to education for citizenship should be strongly focused on areas of knowledge, teachers are likely to feel more confident with a basic knowledge and understanding of such areas as rights and responsibilities, decision-making processes, the role of the media in contemporary society, environmental issues and financial education. Furthermore, opportunities for initial and in-service education are likely to be of value, for example, on matters such as:
- how to involve young people in decision making
- supporting young people undertaking community placements
- developing international links
- dealing with controversial issues in the classroom
Perhaps most important of all, if interdisciplinary work across school and community sectors is to become meaningful, then teachers, early years practitioners and other professionals need to be able to participate in joint staff development in order to understand better the complementarity of each other's professional skills.