ABSTRACT
Instituted in England and Wales in 1988, the National Curriculum is nearing the end of its shelf-life. Since the election of the New Labour government in 1997,1 a new core curriculum has been designed to take effect in September 2000. Citizenship education from August 2002 will be a compulsory part of the core curriculum at Key Stages 3 and 4, and there will be a non-statutory element in the form of Personal, Social and Health Education and Citizenship at Key Stages 1 and 2. As a result, equality, equal opportunities and human rights are about to become firmly on the educational agenda.2 In Education for Citizenship and the Teaching of Democracy in Schools (QCA, 1998), the Crick Report,3 it is recommended that ‘Citizenship Education’ take up to 5 per cent of curriculum time across all stages. ‘Equality’ and ‘human rights’ are two of the essential key concepts to be reached by the end of compulsory schooling, with a ‘belief in human dignity and equality’, a ‘commitment to equal opportunities’ and a ‘concern for human rights’ being ‘essential values’. Essential knowledge includes ‘human rights charters and issues’ (ibid., p. 44).
