ABSTRACT
Citizenship education draws from a blend of civic republican and liberal perspectives. The continuously perceived crises of disengagement led to calls for the introduction of citizenship education and, in the context of wider social, political, and economic changes, for the curriculum to be reformed. The Labour government's Citizenship Advisory Group which was instrumental in the establishment of citizenship education as a statutory subject in secondary schools, stated that reform was necessary because of worrying levels of apathy, ignorance, and cynicism about public life. The National Foundation for Educational Research (NFER) has shown that young people are negatively and inaccurately perceived in relation to their assumption of responsibility for crimes committed. HM Treasury and the Department for Children, Schools, and Families reported that Young people are also faced with the challenge of growing up in a culture that has widespread negative perceptions of youth.
