Select Committee on Education and Skills Written Evidence


Memorandum submitted by NASUWT

  1.  NASUWT believes that the citizenship curriculum must be "fit for purpose". To this end, the Union advocates four key criteria which should be applied in relation to the citizenship curriculum; as follows:

    (i)  Workload impact

    —  Does the curriculum avoid the imposition of additional workload burdens on schools and teachers through effective design of content, teaching methods or assessment systems?

    (ii)  Capacity for teaching and learning

    —  Does the design of the curriculum support the principles of the remodelling agenda by ensuring that teachers are able to concentrate on their core responsibilities for teaching and learning? Does the curriculum ensure that teachers do not have to undertake responsibilities that could be more appropriately carried out by other members of the school workforce?

    (iii)  Raising standards

    —  Does the curriculum support the work of teachers to raise standards and provide high-quality learning opportunities for all pupils?

    (iv)  Pupil motivation

    —  Does the curriculum provide a learning context that will have a positive impact on pupils' motivation and behaviour?

  In respect of the citizenship curriculum, NASUWT believes that establishing the extent to which these criteria are met is essential if an effective assessment of the role of citizenship in the National Curriculum is to be undertaken.

KEY CRITERIA: WORKLOAD

    —  NASUWT has concerns about the place of citizenship education in an "overloaded" National Curriculum framework. As more subjects have been added into the curriculum the time available to teach has been condensed and the space for learning overly congested.

    —  The introduction of the citizenship curriculum has had some identifiable workload implications for teachers, including timetabling changes, the completion of curriculum audits and the recording and tracking of pupils.

    —  In some schools there have been pressures to lengthen the school day as a solution to an overburdened National Curriculum. In NASUWT's view, the curriculum should be rationalised to ensure that it is coherent and "fit for purpose" and does not lead to the worsening of teachers' working conditions through increases in their workload burdens.

    —  The QCA review of Key Stage 3 and 14-19 provision provides an opportunity to revise and rationalise the National Curriculum at Key Stages 3 and 4. NASUWT is in favour of a streamlined, coherent and cohesive curriculum framework, where the delivery of the citizenship curriculum does not create additional workload burdens for teachers.

    —  A wide range of curriculum models have been used to deliver citizenship education and can lead to additional work for teachers, who are required to audit the existing curriculum to identify links. The co-ordination and management of citizenship across the curriculum requires substantial organisation and administration which detracts from the time available for teaching and learning. In NASUWT's view, there is a need for clear, transparent guidance on the location and best models of delivery for citizenship education.

KEY CRITERIA: CAPACITY FOR TEACHING AND LEARNING

    —  Any review of citizenship education should comply with the provisions of the National Agreement "Raising Standards and Tackling Workload".

    —  Assessment methods should be "fit for purpose" and allow teachers to concentrate on their core responsibilities for teaching and learning. The current review of Key Stages 3 and 4 of the National Curriculum should avoid an overly bureaucratic approach to pupil assessment to ensure that it does not significantly increase the workload burdens for teachers.

    —  The remodelling agenda provides opportunities for schools to use other members of the school's workforce to organise citizenship education that takes place outside the "formal" classroom environment.

KEY CRITERIA: RAISING STANDARDS

    —  The time and space available for citizenship education has been affected by the distorting effects of a "high-stakes" accountability system based on school performance tables.

    —  citizenship is often seen as a "bolt-on" to the rest of the National Curriculum, rather than being fully integrated.

    —  Trade unionism should be included as part of the citizenship curriculum.

    —  Teachers have the right to receive effective support in the teaching of citizenship. While some local authorities provide excellent resources, there is a need for citizenship teachers to have consistent access to high-quality CPD.

    —  NASUWT welcomes the development of specialist ITT and PGCE courses in citizenship, which provide essential support for teachers delivering this curriculum area.

    —  There are positive reports about the quantity and quality of resource materials to support citizenship education, although some teachers report that there are fewer resources available for less able pupils.

KEY CRITERIA: PUPIL MOTIVATION AND BEHAVIOUR

    —  There is insufficient research available to comment on the effects of the citizenship curriculum on pupil motivation and behaviour. This is a significant concern and one that needs to be tackled as a matter of urgency.

    —  If citizenship is to make a positive contribution to tackling disaffection, it is important that more work is undertaken to understand the perceptions of the subject amongst teachers and learners.

BACKGROUND

  2.  NASUWT welcomes the opportunity to contribute to the Education and Skills Select Committee Inquiry into Citizenship Education.

  3.  NASUWT is the largest union representing teachers and headteachers throughout the UK.

  4.  NASUWT has members in post-16, secondary, primary and special education. Members of the Union are active in identifying issues and concerns around curriculum design, delivery and assessment and how these interact with teachers' terms and conditions. Issues, concerns and good practice identified by members have informed this evidence.

The role of citizenship in the modern curriculum

  5.  NASUWT welcomed the introduction of citizenship as a statutory National Curriculum subject in September 2002. NASUWT believes it is essential that young people develop an understanding of their rights and entitlements as citizens, and an appreciation of the political, economic and social contexts in which they operate at local, national and global levels. citizenship education enables teachers to address many of the complex issues surrounding individuals' rights and responsibilities in society, through the exploration of identity, belonging, diversity, human rights, democracy, democratic participation and global issues.

  6.  The citizenship curriculum provides pupils with an opportunity to express and examine their own views and attitudes, and develop important skills, which are not addressed in the same way in other National Curriculum subjects.

  7.  Citizenship has an important place in the modern curriculum. However, NASUWT has some concerns about the emphasis in the citizenship curriculum and the different approaches that have been developed in the UK. The citizenship curriculum in England defined by the Crick Advisory Group[43] in 1997 covers three broad themes:

    —  social and moral responsibility;

    —  community involvement; and

    —  political literacy.

  In Wales, citizenship is delivered through the statutory PSE curriculum and focuses on "empowering pupils to be active, informed and responsible citizens aware of their rights and committed to the practices of participative democracy and the challenges of being a citizen of Wales and the world." [44]In Northern Ireland, there is a strong emphasis on developing a "culture of tolerance" through citizenship education. In other European countries, citizenship refers specifically to equality, social justice or participatory democracy. In NASUWT's view, an approach that emphasises empowerment, participation and citizens' rights in a democracy is preferable to the current definition of citizenship as used in the National Curriculum in England which focuses on the duties that citizens "owe" to society, for example to vote in elections.

  8.  The inclusion of identity and notions of "Britishness" is important but makes citizenship a challenging area for teachers to teach. Definitions of "Britishness" are complex and there is a danger that this concept could be interpreted as denoting a fixed "British identity". NASUWT believes that a curriculum which seeks to explore notions of "Britishness" and "identity" should be clear, transparent and capable of being delivered by teachers. Appropriate resource materials are needed to assist teachers' delivery of this complex and contested area.

The citizenship Curriculum: Key Criteria

  9.  NASUWT believes that the citizenship curriculum must be "fit for purpose". To this end, the Union advocates four key criteria which should be applied in relation to the citizenship curriculum; as follows:

    (i)  workload impact;

    (ii)  capacity for teaching and learning;

    (iii)  raising standards; and

    (iv)  pupil motivation.

KEY CRITERIA: WORKLOAD

An overloaded National Curriculum

  10.  citizenship became a statutory National Curriculum subject at Key Stages 3 and 4 in September 2002, with a curriculum entitlement at Key Stages 1 and 2. While the concept of citizenship education is welcome, NASUWT has concerns about the place of citizenship in an overburdened National Curriculum framework. NASUWT supports the provision of a broad and balanced National Curriculum which does not add to the workload burdens of teachers. However, all too often, additional content has been added to the National Curriculum with no corresponding reduction in the size and volume of the rest of the curriculum. This means that the time available to "teach" the required curriculum has become increasingly condensed, with consequent pressures on teachers and pupils.

  11.  The introduction of citizenship as a statutory National Curriculum subject has had workload implications for teachers, including timetabling adjustments, the completion of curriculum audits to identify where citizenship is taking place, preparation time for the delivery of a new subject, additional assessments at all Key Stages, and the recording, tracking and reporting of pupils achievements, combined with additional work for Ofsted inspections and the production of SEFs.

  12.  In some schools, there have been pressures to lengthen the school day as a solution in an overloaded National Curriculum. In NASUWT's view, these pressures should be addressed by rationalising the curriculum to ensure that it is coherent and "fit for purpose" and that it does not lead to the worsening of teachers' working conditions.

QCA curriculum review

  13.  NASUWT notes that the QCA is currently engaged in a debate about the contours of a "modern world-class" curriculum for the future. This includes a review of the 14-19 curriculum and Key Stage 3, following on from publication of the 14-19 Education and Skills White Paper (2005). The review will address important issues about the content and design of the future curriculum. While NASUWT supports work to ensure that citizenship is not perceived as a "bolt-on" in an already "overfilled" framework, the Union also believes that a period of stability and consolidation is required, with minimal changes being made to ensure that teachers' workloads are not adversely affected and to minimise disruption to teaching and learning.


  14.  NASUWT believes that it is essential for any review of citizenship education to comply with the provisions of the National Agreement Raising Standards and Tackling Workload. The curriculum review should seek to bring downward pressure on the working hours of teachers, cut unnecessary bureaucracy and reduce the level of prescription. These curriculum design features would reflect fully the objectives of the National Agreement and the New Relationship with Schools agenda.

Assessment

  15.  The DfES'S and QCA's[45] proposed "menu" of assessment methods for citizenship, including portfolios, peer assessment and participation logs, and the use of in-school levelling processes to ensure the consistency of assessments, also raises concerns about the workload implications for teachers. While teachers use all these assessment methods, it is NASUWT's view that teachers should be encouraged to use their professional judgement when making decisions about appropriate assessment tools. Assessment should be "fit for purpose" and allow teachers to focus on their core responsibilities of teaching and learning. In any review of the citizenship curriculum an overly bureaucratic approach to pupil assessment should be avoided to ensure that this does not significantly increase the workload burdens of teachers, and, thereby, undermine educational standards.

Modes of delivery

  16.  A wide range of curriculum models[46] have been used to deliver citizenship, including stand-alone, discrete subject timetabling, integration with PSHE, delivery through other related curriculum areas such as humanities and RE, and suspended timetable activities. This wide variety of potential delivery models for citizenship education can lead to additional workloads for teachers. This problem is exacerbated by the requirement for teachers to audit the curriculum to identify where citizenship is already being delivered and might "fit" as a stand-alone subject. [47]

  17.  The co-ordination and management of citizenship across the curricula, the assessment of pupils and the recording and tracking of their achievements requires substantial organisation and administration on the part of schools. This process can be time-consuming, and detracts from the time available for teaching and learning. Similarly, time spent justifying schools' "choices" in relation to citizenship education merely in order to satisfy Ofsted inspectors or to inform the completion of the school's SEF further exacerbates time and workload pressures.

  18.  In NASUWT's view, for the curriculum to be "fit for purpose" there is a need for clear, transparent guidance on the location and best models for delivery of citizenship education in the National Curriculum framework.

KEY CRITERIA: CAPACITY FOR TEACHING AND LEARNING

  19.  The choice of location of the citizenship curriculum can lead to teachers spending a disproportionate amount of time auditing the existing curriculum to identify where citizenship is already taught and developing separate timetabled sessions to ensure its delivery. The time spent on the practical organisation of the citizenship curriculum detracts from the time that citizenship teachers should be allocating to the delivery of the curriculum. Clear and transparent guidance on the location and delivery of citizenship education is required to maximise the time available for teachers to undertake their core responsibilities for teaching and learning.

  20.  The National Agreement contractual changes and implementation of the remodelling agenda in schools has prompted many schools to revise their curriculum practice and the organisation of teachers' work. This has produced many positive benefits for pupils as well as for teachers and their schools; in particular by creating capacity for a personalised/tailored curriculum and for teachers to focus their time and skills on the development of strategies for improving pupil outcomes. The National Agreement and the remodelling agenda presents a very important opportunity for the DfES, QCA and schools to collaborate on the future development and organisation of the citizenship curriculum. Working with the Workforce Agreement Monitoring Group, the QCA could consider how the citizenship curriculum could be more effectively delivered by the whole school team. There is a real opportunity to build on existing DfES and QCA materials[48] on citizenship education that indicate how many schools are including educational visits, outside speakers, community and volunteering activities and the operation of school councils as part of their citizenship curricula programmes. In schools with effective citizenship programmes, many of the administrative and organisational duties associated with these activities will be carried out by school support staff. Teachers and other staff will also work together collaboratively to deliver different aspects of the citizenship curriculum. Specific school personnel can also positively assist in the delivery of citizenship education; for example, the school librarian/resources manager employed to assist pupils' research information for citizenship projects.

KEY CRITERIA: RAISING STANDARDS

  21.  The pressure to deliver additional subjects in an already "overloaded" National Curriculum[49] has led some schools to perceive citizenship as a "threat" to the teaching time for other subjects. Moreover, the "high-stakes" accountability mechanism of school performance tables has resulted in action by many schools to weight curriculum time in favour of mathematics, English and science[50], and to give less time to other subjects that are perceived to be less critical to schools' measures of success. The publication of school performance tables does not support the provision of a broad and balanced curriculum and operates to distort the delivery of learning objectives. The effects of an overloaded curriculum and the distorting effects of school performance tables have led to citizenship frequently being treated as a "bolt-on"[51] to the rest of the National Curriculum.

Curriculum scope

  22.  One gap in the citizenship curriculum relates to developing pupils' knowledge and understanding of industrial relations and the opportunities for workers to engage in the democratic process through recognised trade unions. As voluntary organisations in civil society, trade unions have an important role to play in developing ideas about "citizenship" and the active engagement of trade union members in the social, economic and political processes in society. It is NASUWT's view that trade unionism should be included as an area of study as part of the citizenship curriculum. As students increasingly engage in periods of work experience and work-related learning, an appreciation of the role and functions of trade unions, and measures to protect health and safety in the context of developing a wider knowledge and understanding of industrial relations and democratic participation, would seem to be an essential ingredient within a contemporary citizenship curriculum. The TUC has produced an excellent resource pack focused on raising awareness of trade unions for use in schools, which could be used by citizenship teachers. [52]NASUWT believes that the TUC programme should be promoted widely by QCA as an integral component of the citizenship curriculum.

Initial Teacher Training and CPD

  23.  NASUWT welcomes the development of initial teacher training (ITT) and PGCE courses for citizenship teachers. Ofsted's report[53] of ITT courses for citizenship teachers found that these courses were generally well received by participants and were judged to be of satisfactory quality. The provision of ITT and PGCE courses forms an essential part of the framework of support required by teachers to focus on raising standards of teaching and learning. It is vital that this success is built upon and not compromised by future revisions of the ITT curriculum.

  24.  However, whilst initial training appears to be good, the training provided to teachers as part of CPD is a cause for concern.

  25.  The citizenship curriculum contains complex and sensitive issues that NASUWT strongly believes should be part of every child's educational entitlement (eg dealing with discrimination, tackling racism equal opportunities, and notions of identity and belonging), but which can be very challenging for teachers to "deliver" effectively. Teachers need access to high quality CPD on the teaching of citizenship, whilst some local authorities already provide excellent resources and training for teachers this provision is patchy, and may be difficult for teachers to access due to the ways in which schools make provision for teachers CPD.

  26.  There have been positive reports about the quality and quantity of resource materials available for the teaching of citizenship from such organisations as NFER[54] although some teachers have pointed out that there are fewer resources available for less able pupils.

KEY CRITERIA: PUPIL MOTIVATION AND BEHAVIOUR

  27.  Regrettably, there appears to be insufficient research available on the effects of the citizenship curriculum on pupil motivation and behaviour. This is a significant concern and one that should be tackled as a matter of urgency.

  28.  The teaching of citizenship should contribute to a greater appreciation by pupils of appropriate ways of participating in a democratic civil society. It should promote pupils recognition of rights and responsibilities and the need for respect and tolerance. The establishment of schools councils has been one way in which pupils have been engaged in working constructively together and sharing opinions. Such developments could well inform how young people engage with wider democratic processes, including future participation at the ballot box. The citizenship curriculum should also make a positive contribution to tackling disaffection. It is very important that more work is undertaken to understand the perceptions of the subject amongst teachers and learners. This is particularly important given that citizenship will remain a core National Curriculum subject at Key Stage 4.

March 2006















43   Advisory Group on "Education for citizenship and the Teaching of Democracy in Schools" 1997. Chaired by Professor Bernard Crick. Back

44   Eurydice "citizenship education at school in Europe: Country reports" 2005 page 3. Back

45   QCA Assessing Citizenship: example assessment activities for key stage 3 2006. Back

46   DfES CPD Handbook Making sense of Citizenship 2004. Chapter 2. page 3. Back

47   QCA The schools self-evaluation tool for Citizenship education 2005. Back

48   DfES CPD Handbook Making sense of Citizenship 2004 page 7 and the QCA citizenship: a scheme of work for key stage 4: Teacher's guide 2002 page 11. Back

49   The DfES CPD Handbook Citizenship in the curriculum (2004) states that "finding the right amount and kind of timetable time for citizenship is not always easy. The school timetable can appear over-stretched with citizenship competing with other subjects for what time there is." Chapter 2, page 2. Back

50   DfES Watching and learning 2 Earl, L et al, Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, University of Toronto, September 2001. Back

51   Ofsted Report Citizenship in secondary schools: evidence from Ofsted inspections (2003-04) February 2005, page 4. Back

52   TUC publication: A Better Way to Work (2005). Back

53   Ofsted Report Initial Teacher Training for teachers of Citizenship 2004-05 2005. Back

54   NFER Report for the Department for Constitutional Affairs (DCA) Connecting with citizenship education-a mapping study 2005. Back


 
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