The run-up to the recent general election dominated social media and the press for several weeks. It engaged thousands of voters and non-voters with the arguments and policies of the six or seven main parties, and sparked debate and discussion over the key issues. It also highlighted the reasons to turn out and vote: images and slogans of the Suffragettes and other universal suffrage social movements were revived to remind the electorate (or those on social media at least) of the sacrifices made by women and men in past decades to give us the right to make our voices heard today.
All of this was vital for the election, and it did a great deal for getting people talking about politics. But this will fade. It will fizzle out as quickly as it appeared. That is why I am arguing for a revision of the national curriculum to include a politics and basic economics class for all children aged eleven to at least fourteen, if not to be included as a mandatory GCSE. As a politics student, I evidently believe in its importance and will fight its corner against anyone who dismisses it as ‘boring’ or ‘just lots of arguing’. But I also recognise its significance because it is an essential part of being a citizen of the UK, and, indeed, of the world. Everything is politics in some form. It is impossible to escape. And surely, as with physics, which explains the physical world we live in and is taught to children from the start of secondary school, politics should hold the same standing for explaining the social, moral and philosophical environment we all live and breathe.
A GCSE in ‘citizenship studies’ – which aims to teach fourteen to sixteen year olds about democracy, taxation, legislation and the role of the state – was revised and introduced by the Conservative and Liberal Democrat coalition in February 2015. Despite this, while vitally advocating an understanding of essential areas of government and civil society, it is only offered in a small number of schools and colleges in the UK and is, alas, only available at GCSE level. As Liam McLaughlin highlighted in an article in 2012, citizenship courses are too broad to go into any real depth about government and politics, and no explicit Politics course is offered at GCSE level at all. Some schools do insist on a basic education of politics and citizenship as part of PSHE lessons in secondary education pre-GCSE, and of course this is a start. But at the moment the education system is failing secondary school students: denying young people an understanding of the way they are governed, how they can change it or how they can at least have their voices heard.
Particularly worrying is the lack of public debate about this issue. It appears not to be something that bothers any of the mainstream parties – neither Education Secretary Nicky Morgan nor former Shadow Education Secretary Tristram Hunt in the previous parliament made any bid to introduce it as even an optional subject at secondary level. To me, it seems an obvious step towards increasing political participation and election turnout in future generations. And surely – especially so soon after what appeared a wholly unpredictable election that still only persuaded 66.1 per cent of the electorate to vote, and with almost half a million more 18-year-olds registered to Facebook than to the electoral roll – that would be a rather pressing concern for the political elite. Voting is not, of course, the only way of influencing politics and getting one’s voice heard, and more proactive political participation is certainly not unheard of in the younger generation today. The protests against tuition fee increases in 2011 and the anti-austerity demonstrations that have already flooded Downing Street and are set to continue over the summer of 2015 have been predominantly organised and populated by dissatisfied and (understandably) angry young people. This only adds to the case for empowering students through education, from Year 7 to future PhD students, of how and why such direct democracy occurs and what impact it could achieve.
Electoral turnout also provides a strong indication of the potential merits, for future generations, of greater political education. The Scottish Independence referendum in 2014 that achieved an unbelievable turnout of 84.6 per cent, and extended the right to vote to 16-year-olds, demonstrated that it is possible to engage the electorate, something in which young people are very much included. Approximately 75 per cent of the newly franchised 16- and 17-year-olds made their voices heard on 18th September 2014. And this continued into the general election: the total turnout in Scotland was 71.1 per cent, compared to 65.8 in England and 65.7 per cent in Wales. Of course this did not include the 16-17 age bracket but the Scottish Referendum forms a robust case for reducing the voting age for all UK elections. This in turn is a legitimate reason for introducing compulsory politics lessons from the start of secondary school, to build up essential political knowledge.
A basic understanding of economics is also incredibly important. Economics was a core element of the recent election campaign for all the parties. But only a tiny minority of adults and young people alike will have been able to understand the intricate details of the various policies and pledges and their potential impact for the country. This prevented a large proportion of voters from making a fully informed decision and left the electorate no choice but to ‘trust’ our politicians (something that is already fundamentally lacking in British politics). A compulsory economics element to either PSHE or Politics at perhaps GCSE level would give our future voters a better knowledge of the financial crash of 2008, of the Eurozone crisis and Britain’s role in it, and, most significantly, of the actions of governments past and present and their effect on society. To be able to question and analyse, for example, George Osborne’s budgets or (former) Shadow Chancellor Ed Balls’ promises for NHS spending during the election campaign would empower the younger generation to make educated decisions in future elections and, vitally, force politicians to be more open and honest about their plans. There is a serious need for the knowledge gap between the political elites and everyone else to be dramatically reduced. We must make sure our education system educates.
Words by Frankie Vera