Asked by
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of
the teaching of citizenship education in schools.
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department for
Education () (Con)
My Lords, citizenship education is considered as part of Ofsted
school inspections. In addition, Ofsted plans to undertake a
review of personal development in schools in England. The review,
which will include consideration of citizenship education, will
involve analysis of inspection evidence, and culminate in the
publication of a national report on personal development later
this year. This will be similar to reviews that Ofsted has
published for other subjects.
(CB)
I thank the Minister for that reply. The report The Ties that
Bind, from the Select Committee chaired by the noble Lord, , made a
number of recommendations on citizens’ education. Recommendation
16 said:
“The Government has allowed citizenship education in England to
degrade to a parlous state. The decline of the subject must be
addressed in its totality as a matter of urgency.”
In their response to that recommendation, the Government simply
indicated what is in the subject and what schools may do, but
said absolutely nothing about what the Government would do, so I
very much hope there will be not only a report but some action
after that report.
(Con)
The Government share the noble and right reverend Lord’s
aspiration, and the aspiration of the committee to which he
refers. We want our children to leave school with the knowledge,
skills and values that prepare them to be active citizens, and
good citizenship education obviously can help to achieve that. We
look forward to the report and acting on it when we receive
it.
(Lab)
My Lords, will the Minister accept one of the specific
recommendations of The Ties that Bind and reinstate bursaries for
citizenship teachers for the 2023-24academic year? Will she
further consider keeping these bursaries in place until there are
sufficient numbers to ensure that there is at least one trained
specialist in every secondary school?
(Con)
The noble Baroness will be aware that we are continuing to focus
our bursaries on English baccalaureate subjects, particularly
those experiencing teacher shortages, to secure as many
applicants as possible in areas where schools will devote most of
the teaching time. Citizenship trainee teachers are eligible for
a tuition fee loan and a maintenance loan to support them.
(LD)
My Lords, if we wish our young people to emerge from school with
skills for life, citizenship education is surely essential.
Following on from the previous question, what progress are the
Government making in recruiting citizenship teachers, who are in
very short supply?
(Con)
The noble Baroness will know that, currently, the data does not
allow us to identify that specifically in relation to initial
teacher training. We have got the data on the number of
citizenship teachers, which has been broadly stable over the last
five years. I point out to the House that the number of children
doing citizenship as a GCSE last summer was up by 10%.
(Con)
My Lords, the Government’s schools White Paperdoes not address
citizenship directly. Can my noble friend the Minister say
exactly how the Government are intending to address this?
(Con)
I thank my noble friend for her question. She is right that the
schools White Paper focused very much on our literacy and
numeracy ambitions: that by 2030 90% of primary school children
will reach the required standard in reading, writing and maths,
and the average GCSE grade will rise from 4.5 to 5 in English and
maths. Those subjects are absolutely critical for children being
able to engage in citizenship in all its different forms. Our
focus on a broad and balanced curriculum will also support
that.
(Lab)
I wonder whether the Minister, who, with the Minister of State,
has a sympathetic ear on this subject, can tell me why the
department is supporting Ofsted in its belief that personal
development and active citizenship and citizen education are one
and the same, when they clearly are not?
(Con)
The understanding is that citizenship education is an important
part of schools’ accountability for their pupils’ spiritual,
moral, social and cultural education. I do not think there is a
suggestion that it is equivalent to personal development, but it
is a critical part of personal development.
(CB)
Slavery has become one of the really important issues which is
discussed generally. I am hoping that the Government might
encourage schools to cover slavery. If they do, would they please
include modern slavery, which is rife, and not just the slavery
of the past?
(Con)
The noble and learned Baroness makes a really important point. I
think she will also recognise that schools will have different
ways of teaching their pupils and getting them to understand
important issues such as slavery and, sadly, modern slavery.
(Con)
My Lords, there was a suggestion a few years ago in your
Lordships’ House that all young people, as they left school,
should go through a citizenship ceremony similar to that which
those who take up British citizenship go through. This idea had a
very favourable reception but seems to have disappeared. Is it
something that my noble friend can put back on the agenda?
(Con)
I am not aware that that is being considered. However, the
Government’s commitment to the National Citizen Service, which
works with tens of thousands of children and hundreds of
educational settings across the country to provide not just
opportunities for children and young people but a recognition of
their contribution to society, remains unstinting.
(CB)
PSHE is not currently a compulsory subject in education. As the
Minister rightly said, PSHE is a part of citizenship. Does the
Minister agree that it would be extremely helpful to have
citizenship, including PSHE, as a compulsory subject in schools?
Surely that is as important as any other compulsory subject in
education so that all children are prepared for adult life in
this country.
(Con)
My Lords, I am not sure that I completely followed the noble
Baroness’s question. RSHE is already a requirement in secondary
school. If I may, I will come back to the noble Baroness and
clarify.
of Darlington (Lab)
The schools White Paper mentions citizenship once, there is no
bursary, the Government do not collect the data on initial
teacher training in citizenship, and Ofsted does not consider it
in the same way as other curriculum subjects. Can the Minister
understand why noble Lords are concerned that the Government are
not giving citizenship the focus that it needs?
(Con)
I understand that the context of the society in which we
currently live, and of some of the issues around the world, make
citizenship and that really strong grounding in our values as a
nation incredibly important. On the noble Baroness’s specific
points, evidence of citizenship education is considered at every
inspection; whereas, if it were part of a national curriculum
subject inspection, it would not be inspected in quite the same
way. I point the House to the reforms that we have made to
professional qualifications for teachers, particularly in
relation to leadership, where there is a renewed emphasis on
building a strong school ethos, leading in terms of behaviour and
culture, and building character.
(Con)
My Lords, citizenship education is vital to the development of
skills and understanding to nurture pupils to play a responsible
role in society, and for their own betterment in real situations.
Citizenship became a statutory national curriculum subject in
England in 2002; 20 years on, how have the Government improved
the national curriculum to deal with an evolving society?
(Con)
I thank my noble friend for his question. The curriculum content
in relation to citizenship covers democracy, politics, Parliament
and voting, as well as human rights, justice, media literacy, the
law and the economy. Increasingly, the curriculum has a wider
focus on environmental issues and the responsibility of all of
us, as citizens, to care for the environment.
