ABSTRACT
In recent years citizenship education at pre-higher education level in the United Kingdom has been the focus of much attention by political philosophers, philosophers of education, politicians, policy-makers, educational leaders, teachers and the general public. A major landmark in the extended process of consultation and debate about this matter in England was the report of the Advisory Group on Education for Citizenship and the Teaching of Democracy in Schools chaired by Professor Bernard Crick (‘The Crick Report’); (Qualifications and Curriculum Authority, 1998). This report saw citizenship education as comprising three separate but interrelated strands: social and moral responsibility, political literacy and community involvement (for an outline of the essential elements of the report in terms of nine central claims and recommendations see McLaughlin, 2000a: 545-546). The report paved the way for, and shaped the character of, the formal introduction of citizenship education into primary and secondary schools in England from August 2002, supported by a range of requirements and guidelines (on these see, e.g. www.qca.org.uk, www.nc.uk.net, www.dfes.gov.uk/citizenship and www.teachernet.gov.uk/ citizenship). Rather different provisions for citizenship education apply in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland (on these see www.wales.gov.uk, www.Scotland.gov.uk and www.deni.gov.uk respectively).
