Ben Kisby, University of Sheffield and James Sloam, Royal Holloway, University of London
Declining participation in conventional forms of politics has become a central theme for academics and policy-makers in recent years, and has often been viewed as marking a crisis in citizenship (Power Inquiry 2006; Stoker 2006; Hay 2007). The trend is most observable amongst younger people, who have become increasingly alienated from electoral politics (and, indeed, the state). On the other hand, young people (15 to 25 year olds) are not politically apathetic (Catan, 2003); they have their own views and engage in democratic politics through various modes of participation (Pattie et al. 2004; Sloam 2007). How can we reconnect young people to the political system? Much faith has placed in education as an answer to this problem (e.g. DFEE/QCA 1998), and there is strong evidence to suggest that educational interventions have the potential to boost prospects for future political activity (Colby et al. 2007). We argue that the introduction of citizenship education has the potential to help provide young people with the knowledge, skills and values to participate effectively in the democratic life of the country. The introduction of citizenship lessons in 2002 was a step in the right direction, but it currently suffers from a number of serious problems (OFSTED, 2005)…
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