Social Capital and Citizenship Education in Schools
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Social Capital and Citizenship Education in Schools Ben Kisby Department of Politics, University of Bristol, 10 Priory Road, Bristol, BS8 1TU, UK. E-mail: [email protected]
This paper provides preliminary evidence suggesting that Labour introduced citizenship lessons in schools because of its concern about perceived declining levels of social capital, and that the normative model of citizenship underpinning the curriculum is that which best corresponds to the concerns of social capital theorists. It also proposes an ideational approach to policy network analysis for analysing the introduction of the policy, with the concept of social capital, treated as a programmatic belief, regarded as the independent variable. British Politics (2006) 1, 151–160. doi:10.1057/palgrave.bp.4200006 Keywords: citizenship; citizenship education; New Labour; policy networks; social capital
Introduction Citizenship education was introduced in secondary schools in England in 2002. It is one of the most important UK Government education initiatives to be launched for a number of years and is the first time that citizenship lessons have been made compulsory in schools. This paper proposes a theoretical framework for analysing the introduction of the citizenship education initiative. It outlines the prima facie case for arguing that the concept of social capital motivated members of a policy network to introduce citizenship lessons in schools and shaped the normative model of citizenship underpinning the curriculum.
Citizenship Education in Schools Citizenship became a statutory foundation subject in the National Curriculum at key stages 3 and 4 (age 11–16 years) in England in September 2002. Citizenship education encompasses three strands — ‘Social and moral responsibility, community involvement and political literacy’ (DFEE/QCA, 1998, 11):
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1. Social and moral responsibility — learning from the very beginning selfconfidence and socially and morally responsible behaviour both in and beyond the classroom, both towards those in authority and towards each other (DFEE/QCA, 1998, 11). 2. Community involvement — learning and becoming helpfully involved in the life and concerns of their communities, including learning through community involvement and service to the community (DFEE/QCA, 1998, 12). 3. Political literacy — learning about and how to make themselves effective in public life though knowledge, skills and values (DFEE/QCA, 1998, 13). The decision to bolster the teaching of citizenship in schools was made clear by the publication of Labour’s first Education White Paper Excellence in Schools in 1997 (DFEE, 1997) after the general election, which announced the formation of ‘an advisory group to discuss citizenship and the teaching of democracy’ in schools (DFEE, 1997, 63). Later that year the then Education Secretary David Blunkett announced that the group would be chaired by Bernard Crick, one of the leading figures who had been pushing for the differen
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