ABSTRACT
The debate about citizenship education, and its place in British schools, is far from new. G. Batho has described the teaching of civics and citizenship since Victorian times; and there was particular activity in the 1930s, motivated by concerns about the spread of totalitarianism. Before the introduction of the National Curriculum, there were several initiatives with regard to specific topics or activities, which might now be seen as coming under the general heading of citizenship education, although that term might not have been used at the time. At broadly the same time as the guidance documents were gestating in the National Curriculum Council, the Commission on Citizenship was deliberating, and produced its report in 1990. Developments in citizenship education in this country have largely taken place without regard to what has been happening elsewhere. Nevertheless, they have coincided with very similar concerns and many major initiatives in other countries.
