The government announced the creation of a taskforce to help people understand their rights and responsibilities as citizens. The Public Legal Education Strategy Task Force would identify strategies to increase citizens' awareness and understanding of their legal rights and responsibilities, and develop the knowledge and skills needed to deal effectively with everyday problems.
Source: Press release 13 December 2005, Department for Constitutional Affairs (020 7210 8500)
Links: DCA press release | LAG press release | Citizenship Foundation press release
Date: 2005-Dec
A mapping study sought to identify the extent to which the new curriculum subject of citizenship education could contribute to the citizenship education strategy run by the Department for Constitutional Affairs.
Source: David Kerr, Elizabeth Cleaver, Gabrielle White and Michelle Judkins, DCA Connecting with Citizenship Education: A mapping study, National Foundation for Educational Research (01753 747281)
Links: Summary
Date: 2005-Dec
An article examined young people's status as citizens. It called for a more conceptually comprehensive and inclusive view of citizenship, so that young people's status as citizens could be better appreciated.
Source: Noel Smith, Ruth Lister, Sue Middleton and Lynne Cox, 'Young people as real citizens: towards an inclusionary understanding of citizenship': Subtitle, Journal of Youth Studies, Volume 8 Number 4
Links: Abstract
Date: 2005-Dec
A report reviewed academic literature on education for democratic citizenship in the school sector in England since 1995.
Source: Audrey Osler and Hugh Starkey, Education for Democratic Citizenship: A review of research, policy and practice 1995-2005, British Educational Research Association (01636 819090)
Links: Link removed
Date: 2005-Nov
A study found that young people's view of good citizenship was far broader than voting: taking part in activities to benefit the community and the environment, and obeying the law, ranked higher in importance.
Source: Helen Haste, My Voice My Vote, My Community: A study of young people s civic action and inaction, Nestl Social Research Programme (020 7388 9988)
Links: Report | NSAP press release
Date: 2005-Nov
The education inspectorate highlighted the benefits of involvement in citizenship programmes in a range of settings.
Source: An Evaluation of the Post-16 Citizenship Pilot 2004/05, HMI 2440, Office for Standards in Education (07002 637833) and Adult Learning Inspectorate
Links: Report | OFSTED press release
Date: 2005-Nov
Early findings were published from the 2005 Home Office Citizenship Survey for England and Wales. The survey examined public attitudes on racial prejudice and discrimination, community cohesion, and volunteering, charitable giving and civil renewal.
Source: Rachel Murphy, Elaine Wedlock and Jenny King, Early Findings from the 2005 Home Office Citizenship Survey, Online Report 49/05, Home Office (web publication only)
Links: Report
Date: 2005-Nov
An article said that many community safety initiatives were founded on relationships of suspicion between citizens. This generated a dynamic of exclusion that was likely to undermine attempts at civil renewal.
Source: David Prior, 'Civil renewal and community safety: virtuous policy spiral or dynamic of exclusion?', Social Policy and Society, Volume 4 Issue 4
Links: Abstract
Date: 2005-Oct
A report examined the role that public space development programmes could play in creating more active citizens, and in formalizing the routes to learning about citizenship.
Source: Neil McInroy and Stuart MacDonald, From Community Garden to Westminster: Active citizenship and the role of public space, Centre for Local Economic Strategies (0131 650 9166)
Links: Report (pdf)
Date: 2005-Aug
A report sought to illustrate some of the main ideas and concepts that underpinned debates around civil renewal and active citizenship.
Source: V?ronique Jochum, Belinda Pratten and Karl Wilding, Civil Renewal and Active Citizenship: A guide to the debate, National Council for Voluntary Organisations (0800 279 8798)
Links: Report (pdf) | NCVO press release
Date: 2005-Jun
A report said that much of what was offered to young people in the name of ?active citizenship? lacked appeal, because it seemed to be remote from their everyday experience.
Source: Stephen Coleman with Chris Rowe, Remixing Citizenship: Democracy and young people's use of the internet, Carnegie Young People Initiative (020 7401 5460)
Links: Report (pdf)
Date: 2005-Jun
A report said that public space was uniquely positioned to facilitate the development of active citizenship. It could act as a space for citizenship, as a medium by which debates about citizenship could take place, and as a site of debate and interaction.
Source: Neil McInroy and Stuart MacDonald, From Community Garden to Westminster: Active citizenship and the role of public space, Centre for Local Economic Strategies (0131 650 9166)
Links: Report (pdf)
Date: 2005-Jun
An essay by the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport argued that poverty of aspiration was as destructive to well-being as material poverty. This had to be tackled through the 'regeneration of the public realm', and through engaging people as citizens as well as consumers in public services.
Source: Tessa Jowell MP, Tackling Poverty of Aspiration Through Rebuilding the Public Realm, Demos (web publication only)
Links: Essay (pdf) | Demos press release
Date: 2005-Apr
An annual report charted the progress of citizenship practice in schools. Students reported in 2003-04 that citizenship was more noticeable to them in schools than in earlier years. They associated citizenship more with rights and responsibilities, and issues of identity and equality, than with formal political processes.
Source: Elizabeth Cleaver, Eleanor Ireland, David Kerr and Joana Lopes, Listening to Young People: Citizenship Education in England, Research Report 626, Department for Education and Skills (0845 602 2260)
Links: Report (pdf) | Brief (pdf) | NFER press release
Date: 2005-Apr
A report examined how schools were adapting to introducing citizenship issues. In general only one teacher per school tended to have participated in formal citizenship training. In most cases, the dissemination of what had been learnt to colleagues was "patchy and incomplete".
Source: Aileen McKenzie, Citizens All? Children's rights and citizenship education, UNICEF UK (020 7405 5592)
Links: Report (pdf)
Date: 2005-Apr
A new book discussed ways in which a capacity to imagine the future could be developed in Scotland, countering the fatalism of its official and traditional collective culture.
Source: Gerry Hassan and Eddie Gibb (eds.), Scotland 2020: Hopeful stories for a northern nation, Demos and Scottish Book Trust, available from Central Books (020 8986 5488)
Links: Demos press release | Introduction (pdf)
Date: 2005-Mar
Researchers sought to identify, measure, and evaluate the extent to which effective practice in citizenship education had developed in schools, so that such practice could be promoted widely. Teachers and school leaders remained positive about the outcomes of citizenship education, believing that it would have a number of positive impacts on students participation, engagement, skills, awareness and tolerance.
Source: ECOTEC Research & Consulting Limited, Citizenship Education Longitudinal Study: Second cross-sectional survey 2004, Research Report 626, Department for Education and Skills (0845 602 2260)
Links: Report (pdf) | Brief (pdf)
Date: 2005-Mar
An evaluation of a post-16 citizenship development programme said that the government should devise clear policies on citizenship education for the 16-19 age group.
Source: Rachel Craig, David Kerr, Pauline Wade and Graham Taylor, Taking Post-16 Citizenship Forward: Learning from the post-16 citizenship development projects, Research Report 604, Department for Education and Skills (0845 602 2260)
Links: Report (pdf) | Brief (pdf) | LSDA press release (pdf) | Young People Now report
Date: 2005-Feb
A report presented the main findings from a children s (8-10 years) and young people s (11-15 years) survey which was an extension to the main 2003 Home Office Citizenship Survey. Most young people played an active role in their communities, providing informal and formal help within their homes and families, and to the wider community.
Source: Christine Farmer with Sara Trikha, Children, Young People and their Communities: Summary of top-level findings from 2003 Home Office Citizenship Survey, Research Report RW29, Department for Education and Skills (0845 602 2260) and Home Office
Links: Report (pdf) | Brief (pdf)
Date: 2005-Feb
A report evaluated a three-year pilot programme (Active Citizens in Schools), which sought to engage children aged 11-15 in sustained volunteering activities through their schools. Participation in the programme had a significant impact on the young people involved, with all stakeholders speaking enthusiastically about the contribution it had made to their lives.
Source: Angela Ellis, Active Citizens in School: Evaluation of the DfES pilot programme, Research Report 620, Department for Education and Skills (0845 602 2260)
Links: Report (pdf) | Brief (pdf)
Date: 2005-Feb
A literature review looked at links between local government, social capital, and effective citizenship; and proposed the key issues to address in supporting community engagement.
Source: Rhys Andrews and Richard Cowell, Civic Education and Local Government: A literature review, Office of the Deputy Prime Minister (0870 1226 236)
Links: Report (pdf)
Date: 2005-Feb
The schools inspectorate said that, two years after citizenship education became a statutory requirement in schools, 25 per cent of classes were still unsatisfactory. Citizenship was the worst taught subject in secondary schools.
Source: Citizenship in Secondary Schools: Evidence from Ofsted inspections (2003/04), HMI 2335, Office for Standards in Education (07002 637833)
Links: Report (pdf) | OFSTED press release
Date: 2005-Jan
A literature review examined the concept of citizenship and how it related to local authorities.
Source: Richard Cowell, Rhys Andrews and Steve Martin, Civic Education and Local Government: A literature review, Centre for Local and Regional Government Research/Cardiff University (029 2087 4000)
Links: Report (pdf) | Summary (pdf)
Date: 2005-Jan
A report used data from the 2003 Home Office Citizenship Survey to explore levels of trust and community participation in England. There was no statistically significant relationship between social diversity (by socio-economic or ethnic groups) and trust in the courts, in Parliament, in the local council, in the police, or in employers. However, the more ethnically diverse an area was, the less likely people were to trust others within that area.
Source: Rachel Pennant, Diversity, Trust and Community Participation in England, Research Findings 253, Home Office (020 7273 2084)
Links: Findings (pdf)
Date: 2005-Jan