“Teach us something useful”: contested spaces of teenagers' citizenship

Abstract

The introduction of compulsory citizenship education in England in September 2002 raises exciting new areas of interest in the politics of childhood and youth. Young people, in their early teens, inhabit a transitional middle-ground somewhere between childhood and adulthood and are ‘constitutionally’ excluded from many spaces of citizenship. The new curriculum is founded upon creating future responsible citizens. Concurrently many teenagers carve out their own spaces of citizenship within both their schools and communities. This paper explores the everyday political-spatial experiences of a group of 13–16 year olds within their schools and communities, highlighting the importance of relating the new curriculum to teenagers' needs and aspirations, as well as drawing valuable lessons from teenagers' own expertise and constructions of citizenship.