Why young people need politics in education

Until the age of 15, I wasn’t interested in politics. This all changed for me following the historic election of Barack Obama. After this I went on a bit of a journey, speaking to any adult I could about politics and educating myself on political issues.

I eventually took Government and Politics for A-levels and earned an undergraduate degree in Politics.

I can see similar things happening to young people today with the EU referendum and it makes me proud to see young people in Bristol take to college green on Wednesday demanding the vote at 16 and some for mandatory political education.

Another example of this demand is a recent UK parliament E-petition calling for mandatory political education which has, at time of writing, over 28,000 signatures.

Ever since I became interested in politics I too have wanted mandatory political education for young people and still think it’s something that needs to be included in the curriculum.

However, as someone who works in a school full time and who interacts daily with young people from a wide range of backgrounds, it’s obvious that the issue isn’t as simple as it seems.

The purpose of this article isn’t to argue against political education (I believe in it, after all) but to argue that it needs to be done in the right way, inclusive of all.

One of the reasons for introducing political education into the curriculum is that it will apparently ‘engage’ young people in politics. I think that for a small number of students this will be true. However, I worry that for a large number this will turn them off politics.

I want you to think about a subject at school that you had no interest in – not one you necessarily disliked, but one you thought had no value or relevance to your life. Now imagine how your teenage self would react to being told you were being forced to learn it for GCSE with no consideration of what you want.

Understandably you wouldn’t immediately become engaged with the subject and would probably resent the subject. Having discussed with students how they would feel if politics were added to the curriculum at GCSE level or earlier, I am convinced that for a large group of young people, who in my experience already see little relevance politics has to their life, it would turn them off politics for a long time.

A large number of the young people I spoke to since the EU referendum who do want to learn more about politics would generally describe themselves as middle class and/or have plans to go to university.

Again, in my experience these students are more likely to already be involved in politics or have an opinion about it and studies show that people who are in education longer or who are more affluent are more likely to vote and take an interest in politics.

I’m worried that by bolting political education onto the curriculum it may only benefit those from more affluent backgrounds or those who would already be likely vote and educate themselves.

We also have to think about the emotional development of young people at different ages and in different year groups. This is the sort of thing that would have made me angry as a young person; I would have felt patronised and untrustworthy.

The truth is that young people throughout secondary school are still trying to figure out who they are and are still learning what is and isn’t appropriate. Things like their sense of empathy may not be fully developed.

At least once a week I hear students making and laughing at racist, homophobic and sexist jokes and a lot of the time they genuinely don’t understand why it’s offensive or wrong or are just laughing along with their friends because they don’t want to be alienated.

This doesn’t excuse them of course, but it is worth bearing in mind. Working with young people you will be incredibly surprised at how mature, thoughtful and kind they can be, but you’ll also be surprised at how the opposite is true.

I worry about the potential for bullying that can come up when discussing topics like immigration, benefits and refugees.

So how do we make sure that political education is done correctly? First of all, it needs to be taught in a way that emphasises not achievement but learning; introducing it as an assessed GCSE would be foolish and would turn off students who did not see it as vital to their future plans.

In addition to this, it needs to be taught in a way that is inclusive of students with different needs and abilities.

Politics is something that is open to everyone over the age of 18 and political education should be accessible to everyone no matter what the ability.

In addition to this, it should be fun and engaging with local politicians being asked to come into schools to explain clearly and directly what they do.
How do we achieve the above?

The explanation is simple – let teachers teach. Teachers are best placed to know their students, differentiate the work for them and ensure they are learning. Unfortunately with the current government’s education policy I’m not sure if the above will happen as teachers are overworked, unable to innovate and afraid of or ill-equipped to deal with difficult topics due to the poor implementation of the Prevent strategy.

I am hopeful, though, that young people hungry for change like those who demonstrated on Wednesday will force the government to introduce political education and it will be implemented in the correct way.

Will Anderson works with young people in a school just outside of Bristol.

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