Rethinking citizenship education in England

Abstract

The introduction of compulsory citizenship education in England’s schools, following the Crick Report’s recommendations of 1998, has proved controversial and, according to a growing body of evidence, largely unsuccessful in its implementation. If citizenship education is to play an effective role in democratic renewal this article argues that its form and content needs to be reconsidered beyond the limits of Crick. Contemporary citizenship theory, and especially notions of intimate and multiple citizenship, provide useful conceptual tools for this critical revaluation. Having first set the Crick Report in political context, this article develops a critique of the Report’s sociological naivety and its contradictory recommendations. The analyses of intimate and multiple citizenship that follow further point to the limits of Crick and suggest the need for a broader and bolder approach to citizenship education. The final section draws out some of the implications of this argument for the citizenship curriculum in schools.