What is the Standard?
Giving young people a voice – and listening to it – are clearly ways forward to building a more inclusive, participative and cohesive society. Much publicity is given to responses to dealing with antisocial behaviour of young people but less is given to successful efforts made by schools and colleges to promote active and responsible citizenship.
These standards provide a way in which those efforts made by schools to promote democratic engagement may be recognised and celebrated. Furthermore, the achievement of the standards provides robust evidence for the purposes of self-evaluation and external inspection.
The Power Inquiry (2006) includes recommendations to stimulate democratic understanding and participation, particularly amongst young people. (Recommendations 16 – 18).
These intentions are echoed in the National Curriculum for Citizenship, which states:
"Pupils should be taught what democracy is, and about the basic institutions that support it locally and nationally." (Non-statutory guidelines for Key Stage 2)
"Pupils should be given opportunities to participate [for example' in the school's decision making process, relating it to democratic structures and processes such as councils, parliaments, government and voting]" (Non-statutory guidelines for Key Stage 2)
"Pupils should be taught about the electoral system and the importance of voting." (National Curriculum – Citizenship Education - Key Stage 3 Programme of Study)
"Pupils should be taught about the importance of playing an active part in the democratic and electoral processes." (National Curriculum – Citizenship Education - Key Stage 4 Programme of Study)
The Green Paper "Every Child Matters" that preceded the Children Act (2005) included amongst its key performance measures:
"The percentage of young people in secondary schools participating in school/college or mock elections" (Every Child Matters- Outcome Area 4 – Indicator 1)
The Every Child Matters outcomes are now incorporated into the current framework for the inspection of schools.