Supplementary memorandum submitted by
Lord Adonis, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Schools,
Department for Education and Skills
Following my appearance before the Education
and Skills Select Committee on 5 November, to give evidence to
your ongoing inquiry into citizenship education, I promised to
send you some further information on a couple of the points raised.
You asked for more information about the longitudinal
study on citizenship education being conducted by the National
Foundation for Educational Research. I have enclosed a brief note
which explains the aims of the study and a summary of its latest
findings.
I also thought that it might be helpful to send
the Committee an additional note describing the Continuing Professional
Development (CPD) Certification course in citizenship education,
which was the focus of a great deal of discussion in the session.
We are making 1,200 places available over the next two years to
turn teachers of other subjects into qualified citizenship teachers
and to broaden and deepen their knowledge of existing citizenship
teachers.
Finally, I have attached some further information
on the Post-16 Citizenship project which will supplement the information
which you had already received in written evidence from the Learning
and Skills Network (ISN) and in oral evidence from Bernadette
Joslin.
January 2007
Continuing Professional Development Certification
course
— Following a successful pilot of the
CPD Certificate course in the North West, Midlands and London/South
East regions in 2005, Andrew Adonis announced DfES to fund a total
of 1,200 places at 17 HEIs over the next two years for teachers
to undertake to the certificate.
— The course will enable citizenship
teachers to broaden and deepen their subject knowledge in order
to improve the quality of their teaching and raise standards.
— 17 HEI's have been actively recruiting
teachers and most of the courses have started already. The remainder
of the courses will begin this month. Ofsted will be monitoring
the implementation of these courses.
— The course is a continuing professional
development course for existing teachers. It is aimed at people
who have already completed Initial Teacher Training. The CPD course
serves to broaden and deepen their subject knowledge to turn existing
teachers of other subjects into qualified citizenship teachers.
— HEI's can deliver the course "thick"—over
one term or "thin"—over three terms—12 months.
Most courses require five days of contact time plus self.
— The CPD courses is based on a set
of standards which have been developed and are based upon current
TDA Qualified Teacher Standards. These standards demand increased
levels of subject knowledge and skills and the core requirement
of all of the HEI courses relate to these.
THE CPD HANDBOOK
— In April this year we published,
in association with a number of other organizations with expertise
in citizenship education, a CPD handbook Making Sense of Citizenship
to support teachers.
— Two free copies have been sent to
secondary schools. We have also sent copies to Advanced Skills
Teachers, LA Advisors and CPD recruits.
— Five chapters of the handbook, including
the chapter on Primary Schools, are available online.
The Longditudinal Study on Citizenship
Education by the
National Foundation for Educational Research
— The Department for Education and
Skills (DfES) commissioned the NFER to undertake a groundbreaking
longitudinal study of citizenship education in schools over eight
years (2001-09). The study tracks a cohort (over 10,000) of the
first year group of young people to receive continuous entitlement
to citizenship education from age 11-18.
— The study has four components:
— A tracking survey of young people
in Year 7 (age 11-12) in 2002-03, through Years 9 (age 13-14),
11 (15-16) and 13 (or equivalent when they are aged 18). Questionnaires
are also completed by the students' citizenship teachers and school
leaders.
— A cross-sectional survey which takes
place every two years and surveys Year 8 (age 12-13), 10 (14-15)
and 12 (16-17) students and their citizenship teachers and school
or college leaders.
— Longitudinal case-studies in 12 schools.
— An on-going literature review.
— The latest report was published in
May 2006 and has a specific focus on active citizenship and young
people. This was in direct response to a growing recognition of
the link between citizenship education in schools and wider policy
initiatives which attempt to increase the participation and engagement
of children and young people in society.
— The report uses the latest data from
the Study in three ways:
— to update the progress of the development
of citizenship education, as an active practice, in schools generally
from 2003-05;
— to probe the nature and extent of
the opportunities and experiences that students have had in relation
to citizenship as an active practice in their schools, and in
wider communities (ie in contexts beyond school) and the challenges
involved in providing such opportunities and experiences; and
— to explore the readiness of citizenship
education practice in schools to contribute to wider policy initiatives,
notably the make a positive contribution outcome in the Every
Child Matters: Change for Children programme and civil renewal
action plan. The report's discussion and conclusions focus on
the key challenges to the promotion of active citizenship in and
beyond school.
— The findings from the 2006 report
update are listed in brief below:
— Analysis suggests that the main change
in approach to citizenship education in schools has been an increased
focus on curriculum aspects of citizenship education provision.
The proportion of schools described as progressing and implicit,
in the typology of schools developed in 2003, remained largely
unchanged in 2005. However, the proportion of schools described
as minimalist decreased, while the proportion described as focused
increased.
— Schools continued to use a variety
of citizenship delivery models. However, there was a notable increase
in the use of dedicated timeslots and in the use of assembly time.
— Teachers were more likely in 2005,
than in 2003, to believe that citizenship education was best approached
as a specific subject and through extra-curricular activities.
— School leaders and teachers were
more familiar with a range of key documents related to citizenship
education in 2005 than in 2003.
— Teacher confidence in teaching citizenship-related
topics saw a moderate increase in 2005, although overall confidence
levels remained relatively low.
— Students were more aware of citizenship
in 2005 than in 2003. The main ways in which they reported learning
about citizenship was: through personal, social and health education
(PSHE),religious education, as a discrete subject and tutor groups.
Descriptions of citizenship education that encompassed "active"
components, such as voting and politics, were relatively uncommon
amongst students, although a sizeable proportion identified the
importance of belonging to the community.
— Although traditional teaching and
learning methods continued to dominate in citizenship and other
subjects, a range of more active methods were also used. There
was also an increase in the use of computers, the internet and
external agencies, and a decrease in the use of textbooks.
— There was a substantial increase
in the proportion of schools with an assessment policy for citizenship
education in 2005, and the use of formal assessment methods was
considerably more widespread than in 2003.
— Teachers received more training in
citizenship in 2005 than in 2003. Despite this here was a high
demand for further training in relation to subject matter, assessment
and reporting and teaching methods.
— The main challenges to citizenship
education were felt, by school leaders and teachers, to include
time pressure, assessment, the status of citizenship and teachers'
subject expertise with student engagement and participation seen
as lesser challenges.
For further information about the Citizenship
Education Longitudinal Study and details of previous annual reports
visit www.nfer.ac.uk/research-areas/citizenship
The Ministerial Working Party
RE -ESTABLISHMENT
OF CITIZENSHIP
EDUCATION WORKING
PARTY
Background
— The working party was set up to provide
support for the implementation of citizenship education and its
remit covered primary and secondary schools. Perhaps inevitably
it tended to focus more strongly on the secondary sector in advance
of the introduction of statutory citizenship there.
— The working party met once or twice
a term and there were around 20-25 people involved, drawn from
a range of backgrounds. The biggest single group was teachers
and head teachers but there were also local authority advisers,
officers from the QCA, Ofsted and the TTA, and representatives
of some faith groups and citizenship organisations. There were
one or two Members of Parliament who had taken a particular interest
in citizenship education such as Yasmin Alibhai Brown and Andrew
Rowe MP.
— The working party was chaired by
the Minister with responsibility for Citizenship, initially Jacqui
Smith, who found the group a useful forum for discussion of key
issues but also for doing some important practical work towards
policy implementation eg in commenting on the QCA schemes of work
and offering guidance on the development of resources.
— In 2002, the Citizenship Education
Working Party was reconstituted on the basis that it offers a
unique forum for discussion bringing together all the most involved
groups and ensures that citizenship education is viewed at a strategic
level.
— Although looking at citizenship education
across the whole age range, it should have a particular focus
on 14-19 including the transition at Key Stage 3-4 and the provision
for 16-19.
— The membership should reflect this
emphasis and would, therefore, include people from schools, FE,
training providers and the voluntary and youth sectors, as well
as QCA,TTA and Ofsted. It would also be important to have representation
from business and enterprise education. It would be good to have
one or two young people on the group.
— The specific tasks of the group include:
— giving advice to the Department on
specific issues—such as identifying where there was a need
for particular support in delivering citizenship education;
— facilitating co-ordination between
the key players on significant issues like accreditation, assessment
and training;
— acting as a sounding board for policy
development especially on Key Stage 4 and beyond and, in this
regard, helping to ensure that the progressive and developmental
nature of citizenship education is maintained and strengthened;
— helping to develop thinking and practice
on key aspects of citizenship education eg Citizenship and ICT,
Citizenship and Key Stage strategies, Citizenship and standards,
Citizenship and Enterprise Education;
— disseminating thinking and practice
from the Department to colleagues and organisations with which
the members were associated and providing feedback;
— providing a critical overview on
important tools like the website and keeping a watching eye on
things like the eight year longitudinal research project;
— identifying and possibly co-ordinating
the interests of different units, particularly within the Department,
which have a concern and an involvement in developments in citizenship
education, such as the Children and Young People's Unit; and
— The establishment of such a group
with this remit would send a very positive message about the importance
attached to citizenship education and the Government's commitment
to support its delivery.
The group is now called the Ministerial seminar
group and contains people from DCA, Home Office and DCLG and the
immigration board, Association of Citizenship Teaching and Ofsted.
It is chaired by Lord Phillips of Sudbury and
vice chaired by Jan Newton, DfES Advisor on Citizenship Education.
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