Members of the House of Lords stressed the importance of citizenship education for British schools in a debate last week.
Discussing a Private Members’ Bill tabled by Lord Harries of Pentregarth, peers called on the Government to prioritize teaching about values and citizenship.
The Education (Values of British Citizenship) Bill suggests changes to education about ‘fundamental British values’ introduced in 2011.
It would require schools in England and Wales to teach the values of democracy, the rule of law, freedom, individual worth, and respect for the environment. These would be referred to under the new title of the “Values of British Citizenship”.
The new legislation aims to avoid general interpretations of values, making it easier for schools to properly equip young people to be educated on their individual freedoms, rights, and responsibilities.
Lord Harries told peers during the second reading: “I believe passionately that fundamental values should be taught in schools, at a time when the world has a growing number of dictatorships, autocracies and managed democracies, it’s vital that pupils in our schools should understand the fundamental political values on which our society is founded.”
Active citizenship
President of Young Citizens Baroness Frances D’Souza expressed her support for the bill. She said: “In reframing the fundamental British values, it gives schools the opportunity to focus on cultivating the new values and introduces new connections with human rights, government and policy.”
“In this sense, citizenship education is both a subject in itself and provides a framework for perceiving and relating to society more generally.”
D’Souza further emphasized the timeliness of the bill and was critical of the UK government’s lack of investment in the citizenship curriculum. She said it had resulted in a “weaker programme” that prioritized “constitutional history and volunteerism” instead of active citizenship.
“Young people today face an extremely complex world, from riots and food poverty in the UK to wars and environmental degradation, but they also feel distanced from a democratic system that might address their concerns,” she said. “The distrust of politicians, institutions and the democratic process has never been greater: 44 per cent of young people surveyed had little or no confidence in their ability to participate and 63 per cent did not believe that their voice was ever heard or had any impact.”
The ties that bind
Lord Blunkett said that while members of the parliament might disagree on the best manner to go about educating youth, all agree that citizenship and democracy education in schools are more important now than ever.
“Sadly, we saw over the summer the riots taking place across our country; and because, of course, we see the most enormous threats both from distortion on social media and from the re-emergence of the far right across the world,” he said.
“This is the moment to reinforce the importance of those values that hold us together—the ties that bind.”
You can watch the full debate here.
Photo credit: © House of Lords 2024 / photography by Annabel Moeller