Memorandum submitted by the Association for Citizenship Teaching (ACT)

Submission to the Children, Schools and Families Committee into Initial Teacher Training (ITT) and Continuing Professional Development (CPD) for teachers by the Association for Citizenship Teaching (ACT)

1. Introduction

The Association for Citizenship Teaching (ACT) exists to further the aims of Citizenship teaching and learning, championing citizenship education to all young people and supporting teachers and schools in delivering the subject. We connect teachers to regional and national networks, offering training, CPD, support and advice. Citizenship education should equip young people with the skills and knowledge to exercise their democratic responsibility and engage in public life therefore ACT supports teachers and schools in developing an understanding and appreciation of the three themes of the Citizenship education curriculum: Democracy and Justice; Rights and Responsibilities; and Identity and Diversity, living together in the UK.

Citizenship is not just about the lesson content it is also about embedding the concepts and practices of democracy into the culture and the school. As well as the Citizenship teacher, ACT therefore supports the whole school in delivering Citizenship education in the classroom and beyond. ACT was founded in 2002 when Citizenship became statutory in schools in England.

2. Executive Summary

Entry into the teaching profession

· ACT is concerned that those who go in to Citizenship education training through non PGCE routes are not connected to the greater body of trainees and sometimes lost in terms of further support. This applies especially to those who enter through Graduate Training schemes or SCITTs

The delivery of ITT

· ACT is encouraged by the nature of current provision of ITT for Citizenship education through the current PGCE certificate but notes to lack of aspiration in terms of numbers of students recruited to the Citizenship PGCE and also the lack of a provision on Citizenship education in all PGCE ITT courses.

CPD provision

· ACT believes that the provision for CPD regarding Citizenship education is underserved and that though there has been considerable investment in Citizenship education CPD - and success with some courses - the model delivering the DCSF CPD Citizenship Certificate has not delivered the best returns regarding recruitment to the courses across the country.

3. Entry into the teaching profession

The routes to entry into teaching are generally well organized regarding recruitment. Whilst ACT works closely with CitizED - the group of HEIs who provide Citizenship PGCE courses - we find it a great deal more difficult to make connections with those trainees who take alternatives routes - via GT schemes or SCITT. These latter seem unable to provide information about trainees to ACT or connect trainees to ACT. This means that we are unable to draw such trainees into the Citizenship education community or follow their progress through training and into post with support and advice. This is especially worrying against a background of changing curriculum in both secondary and primary and the range of policies and initiatives that Citizenship education is central to e.g. Community Cohesion or Student Voice. Citizenship education is a key to understanding how these two impact upon schools and yet they are unlikely to be given much space during the trainees' time with tutors or in schools during teaching practice.

ACT would like to see those who manage the GT scheme and SCITTs engage more closely so as to ensure that there is adequate support for these trainees beyond their initial training. This requires a coherence in training that does not exist at the moment.

4. The delivery of ITT

Regarding the delivery of ITT in Citizenship education, ACT has always been impressed by the support and direction of CitizED - a project of the TDA that joins the providers of Citizenship education PGCE together. ACT has worked closely with CitizED since 2002 and has enjoyed a positive working relationship. However, ACT is concerned at the lack of numbers who are able to enroll on this PGCE course. We know that there is still wide interest in becoming a Citizenship education teacher; for many students of social sciences, law or politics this is their route into teaching, especially in secondary schools. We know that often these students want only to teach Citizenship and that if they cannot train to teach this subject they will not enroll on any other ITT course. For example, at Exeter University the Citizenship PGCE course had more than double the number of applications to train in 2007. Those who were not able to get onto the training were lost to the profession - potentially very highly motivated teachers. The solution is to increase the number of places available for trainees in Citizenship education at the HEIs that run PGCE courses in Citizenship education.

Currently there are just more than 1100 trained Citizenship teachers who have completed their PGCE course. This is not enough to ensure that the subject is taught well in all schools. We have let down a generation of students by using reluctant, non-specialists to teach Citizenship and we must tackle this as a priority. Those trained teachers we do have tended to be of high quality and high energy, who are able to convince SLT to support Citizenship and secure curriculum time. There are no better advocates for the subject than the specialists. However, more than this they bring the expertise to the school to enable young people to have quality lesson time where topical and controversial issues like terrorism and extremism can be explored with confident and competent teachers. Similarly, such teachers are also able to better articulate the essence of the Duty to Promote community Cohesion or the detail of the recent guidance Learning to be Safe Together.

 

The picture is further complicated by the nature of PGCE courses per se. Whilst all training may be of high quality, the training does focus on the subject the trainee is wanting to teach. This means that time for whole school matters - such as Citizenship education - is lost. As stated earlier, Citizenship education is a key to unlocking aspects of the culture of the school and its links with the community. These matters are not the responsibility of one department in the school alone or one subject. All staff need to have this understanding and therefore there is a need to ensure that all trainees in all subjects have time to look at Citizenship education in the context of the whole school and the community as well as how their subject relates to Citizenship education. The third aim of the purpose of schools is to create Responsible Citizens; all staff therefore need to be able to engage with this aim. In training there seems to be little evidence that many trainees outside Citizenship education PGCE courses do engage with this broad aim. The aim itself has he implications for training. We need to consider how these needs can be met during a tight one year training opportunity.

 

5. CPD provision

ACT is concerned at the state of CPD for existing teachers regarding Citizenship education. The current DCSF certificated course has not recruited the number of candidates that the DCSF had expected it to do so. Original funding allowed for the recruitment of over 1200 teachers in the first two years. We are now into year three and the number of those who have completed the Citizenship CPD Certificate is well below 800. This we believe is due to three aspects; the management of the CPD, the lack of publicity and the weakness of tying such CPD to M Level courses. Central to all three has been the lack of opportunity for local authorities to be involved in the Citizenship CPD courses.

ACT believes that there is a large cohort of teachers who would like to take part in such CPD courses but they are put off by the current way the CPD course is tied to CAT points for M Level. Though many teachers might aspire to M Level at some stage, currently they just want to gain greater competency in Citizenship teaching and learning. The management of the CPD course is currently with Plymouth University but previously it was with DCSF. This department did not have the capacity to closely manage the CPD and therefore the HEIs who ran the CPD courses did so in virtual isolation. These HEIs were not there specifically to recruit and run CPD courses- their remit is ITT. Therefore the HEIs did not easily have the capacity to run effective recruitment and publicity campaigns for the Citizenship CPD. Consequently many teachers have not been aware of the course unless they have been members of ACT or they have heard about the courses through other routes - the ACT website for example. If local authorities had been involved in the CPD from the start then the picture would have been different. For example, at Winchester University the CPD course has been run by the University with ACT and Hampshire LA. For the past three years the course has recruited strongly. The same happened at Carlisle University. Many other such courses failed to recruit because the local authority adviser for Citizenship was not involved. The model we need to replicate is the PSHE Certificate CPD which ties the local authority in to all aspects of the CPD course.

Regarding head teachers and SLT, ACT believes that NCSL are currently making strident moves in ensuring that aspects of Citizenship education, including student voice, active participation and the Duty to Promote Community Cohesion are included in all their training programmes. This has not always been the case but ACT has been successful in working with NCSL in recent months to raise the profile of Citizenship education as a whole school matter rather than a subject specific one and also as a key to effective communities and school improvement. ACT will work to ensure that NCSL provides adequate range and opportunity for such aspects to be inherent in all its programmes for senior teachers, middle management and head teachers. If the implications of the revised secondary curriculum are to be met - the aims of the curriculum and the aspirations of the QCA Big Picture - then the quality and place of Citizenship training must be implicit and explicit to NCSL programmes.

6. Recommendations and Conclusions

Entry into the teaching profession and delivery of ITT.

· That the number of ITT PGCE places for Citizenship is increased and that those who undertake any form of Citizenship education training be connected to ACT. That all those who train to become teachers have adequate time at their HEI to explore Citizenship education in its widest context.

CPD provision

· That the model for providing Citizenship CPD Certificate follow that for the PSHE certificate and that local authorities be tied far more closely to the CPD certificate. That NCSL ensure that their programmes for leading middle managers and aspiring heads contain real quality in Citizenship education CPD.

ACT would draw attention to the recommendations that were made to government in February 2007 by the Select Committee regarding Citizenship education during its inquiry into Citizenship education in 2006-7. Paragraphs 21 and 22 of the Select Committees report made specific recommendations. The government response was made available in May 2007. In paragraphs 21 and 22 the government response clearly indicated that it was aware of many of the matters raised above. It would be useful for the current Select Committee inquiry into Initial Teacher Training and CPD refer to these two documents.

29 January 2009