Citizenship Education

Ten Years after Crick Report

admin — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 17:08:00 GMT

The Association for Citizenship Teaching (ACT) in partnership with the Hansard Society, Institute for Citizenship and Parliament's Education Service, held an event in Portcullis House on November 19, 2008 to celebrate the 10^th anniversary of the publication of the Crick Report.

The conference discussed what had been achieved over the last 10 years and the future of citizenship education.

The first keynote speaker was NfER research director David Kerr. He reckoned that there had been a steady but uneven improvement in Citizenship education over the last 10 years and established four main drivers of how citizenship was being delivered:

Citizenship-rich driven
Student efficacy driven
Curriculum driven
Participation driven

The main challenges for delivering citizenship lessons in school were pressures on curriculum time, assessment, the status of citizenship education and staff enthusiasm. Students considered the social and moral aspects of citizenship (such as obeying the law) to be more meaningful than political literacy or being active in the community. Mr Kerr argued that a reappraisal of citizenship education was due and that pupils were participating ‘horizontally' (i.e. taking part in political debates) but weren't really participating ‘vertically' (i.e. challenging political power structures).

The second keynote speaker was Chief Executive of the Institute of Citizenship Zandria Pauncefort. The main focus of Ms Pauncefort's talk was around the ‘Young Citizens' Say' survey that they conducted with support from the BBC, Parliament's Education Service and others. She argued that citizenship education was at risk of being ‘lost' in the curriculum and that there was too little emphasis on political literacy. When taught as a single subject, citizenship greatly improves understanding. The survey showed that 66% of young people thought they were treated unfairly by the media and 50% thought the media would blame politicians if a young person committed a crime. A further 75% thought politics was interesting but 51% felt they didn't have any influence.Ms Pauncefort concluded by suggesting that we needed to politicise the nation rather than just a generation and a debate needs to take place on what it means to be a 21^st century citizen.

The next speaker was Labour MP Tony Wright who co-chairs the Constitution, Parliament and Citizenship Associate Parliamentary Group. He explained that citizenship in schools cannot do the job by itself and that there was something deeply amiss in our public life. Tabloid newspapers were feeding cynicism and ignorance of the political process. He also argued that politicians need to do more to get people involved in formal politics using the example of Barack Obama in the US.

Tim Loughton, Conservative MP and Shadow Cabinet member for Children, suggested that young people were interested in campaigning on political issues using the examples of Friends of the Earth and the RSPB. He felt that PSHE encompassed too many subjects and extended schools would give more focus to these issues. Volunteering is an important method in engaging young people with civic life and setting up Youth Cabinets and Youth Mayors was very useful in enabling young people to feel a part of the political process.

Stephen Williams, Liberal Democrat MP and Shadow Cabinet member for Innovation, Universities and Skills, emphasised that citizenship should have its own place in the curriculum and young people were more politically literate than we give them credit for. He argued citizenship can be delivered informally through the UK Youth Parliament, School Councils and young people having a say on school policies such as bullying.

The speeches were followed by a Q & A panel discussion chaired by Mark Easton (BBC). The panel comprised Tony Wright MP, Tim Loughton MP, Stephen Williams MP, Sir William Atkinson the Head teacher of Phoenix High School in Hammersmith and Fulham and Audrey Osler, Founding Director of the Centre for Citizenship and Human Rights Education at University of Leeds

Questions included:

Should the BNP be allowed to disseminate information to young people?

Both Tony Wright and Stephen Williams argued that we shouldn't try to hide this material. Instead we should expose it!

Resources for citizenship?

Sir William Atkinson maintained that young people needed to feel a sense of ‘ownership' when it came to citizenship education and that it needs to be ‘lived' and integrated into school life. Other panellists felt that citizenship was not taken seriously enough, teachers needed more training and there should be some kind of statutory framework for citizenship.

How could we learn from the excitement in US politics?

One panellist thought the media were very positive when it came to the American election and that they should show more enthusiasm about the British political process. It was argued Obama made people feel like they could enact change and this needed to be replicated in this country so young people could influence their local communities.

Youth Citizenship Commission::Are young people allergic to politics?

admin — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 17:27:00 GMT

The latest HeadsUp forum is open now and will run from from Monday 17 November to Friday 5 December. The Youth Citizenship Commission was set up by Gordon Brown to look at ways of developing young people’s understanding of citizenship and increase participation in politics. There are 13 Commissioners including young people, academics, teachers and journalists.

The Commission will report to the Prime Minister in spring 2009 after HeadsUp users have had their chance to give their feedback on the report through the HeadsUp forum (23 February - 3 March).

The Commission has been given the task of finding out:

What citizenship means to young people
What they think of citizenship education
How young people are involved in their communities
How they would like politicians to communicate with them
Whether they think votes at 16 is a good idea

If you know any young people who want to have their say on these issues ask them to register at www.headsup.org.uk/content/studentregistration

Young People and the US Presidential Election

admin — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 16:49:00 GMT

Now that the dust has settled on the US Election we look at how successful Obama and McCain were in engaging young voters

Both the UK and the US have struggled with low turnout amongst young people over the last few years. However the 2004 and 2008 American Presidential elections have marked a huge turning point for the US in engaging this demographic. When we look at voter turnout for the 18-24 age group in the US and UK we can see that in 2000 36% of Americans in this category cast a vote, whereas 39% of 18-24 year olds went to the ballot box in the 2001 general election in the UK. The 2004 Presidential election showed a significant increase in 18-24 turnout with 47% casting a ballot. However, the young vote actually declined in the UK in 2005 with only 37% turning out.

CIRCLE (the Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement) have estimated the youth turnout (18-29 year olds) in this year’s Presidential election is at least 52% with 23 million voters under 30. This means there was an increase of 3.4 million votes compared with 2004. They have calculated this “using overall vote count projections by Curtis Gans, director of American University’s Center for the Study of the American Electorate, latest exit polls, and Census Current Population Survey”. These voters preferred Barack Obama over John McCain by a margin of two-to-one. Dr. Michael McDonald of George Mason University estimated the overall turnout at 61.2% or 130.4 million votes cast, an increase of 1.1 percentage points over the 2004 turnout.

In a meta-analysis undertaken by CIRCLE, much of the recent increase in turnout can be attributed to a major investment in mobilising young voters. The study suggested young people were most likely to vote when contact from a political party or candidate was more personalised and interactive. The most effective method was an in-person door knock by a peer followed by phone calls with longer, chattier scripts. Online campaigning was most successful when the young voter can interact or opt-in to the dialogue. Furthermore, mobilising young voters at an early stage can make them more likely to vote in the future (by around 29%) and probably for the same party.

Indeed, Barack Obama’s innovative use of social networking tools has allowed local volunteers to meet up and organise “door-knocking campaigns” through the my.barackobama.com website. According to Will Straw, Associate Director for Economic Growth at the Center for American Progress, in Woodsbridge, Virginia, a town of around 30,000 people, he was “part of a small team that knocked on 100 doors and spoke to about 50 people. When we got back to the local headquarters we found that about 7,000 other doors had been knocked on in the area on that day alone.” Considering Obama partly relied on the youth vote to get him into the White House, these volunteers’ in-person door knocks were extremely important.

You might be interested to know that ACT (the Professional Association of Citizenship Teaching) in the UK have come up with some ideas to harness enthusiasm from the US Presidential election that teachers can use in Citizenship lessons. This includes a discussion around what young people understand about Obama and the nature of America’s political system.

EU and All That! Citizenship conferences

admin — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 14:38:00 GMT

Back by popular demand...

Building on the previous run of eight successful EU and All That! conferences, the Hansard Society will be running a further six teacher conferences with the UK Office of the European Parliament across the UK.

The purpose of the conferences is to provide teachers with practical ideas for delivering engaging Citizenship lessons on the European Parliament. Each conference is made up of a series of workshops that introduce teachers to resources including The Democracy Cookbook and The EU: What’s That? and demonstrate how they can be used in the classroom. This training coupled with the resources being given to teachers (for free!) on the day means delegates will be ready to deliver more innovative lessons the next day.

Conferences are happening in the following locations:

Central London - 3rd December 2008
Peterborough - 11th December 2008
Liverpool - 4th February 2009
Newcastle - 11th March 2009
Exeter - 22nd April 2009
Central London - 20th May 2009

All conferences are completely free and teachers’ travel expenses will be paid.

To find out more about the conferences please explore the EU and All That! Citizenship conference website or contact citizenship@hansard.lse.ac.uk

HeadsUp Forum::Immigration and the UK - Report now available

admin — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 14:12:00 GMT

Immigration is an issue that is often high up on the list of priorities for people in the UK. In the most recent survey carried out by polling company Ipsos MORI 11% of the people asked rated immigration/race relations as the most important issue facing Britain today. A quarter in the survery said it was one of the most important issues facing Britain today.

The young people in the HeadsUp forum discussed the following key questions:

The free movement of people in Europe - how has it affected Britain? Is the free movement of people within Europe a good idea?

What effect does immigration have on British communities? Do you think the new British citizenship tests are useful to teach immigrants the things they need to know about the UK?

Can our public services cope with the demands of more people? Is it right for the UK to take skilled workers from poorer countries that might need them more?

Click here for the Immigration and the UK forum report.

Waste Reduction - What they said, what you said...

admin — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 13:53:00 GMT

The House of Lords recently published a report on waste reduction and, thanks to the What a Waste! competition, so did young people. Young people who took part in the competition received a response to their report from Lord O'Neill of Clackmannan, Chairman of the Science and Technology Sub-Committee.

There were big differences and real similarities between the recommendations made by young people and the House of Lords Sub-Committee:

Education was a key theme in both, but whilst young people focussed on schools and peer education, the House of Lords talked about educating designers and the public.
Innovation was another big theme - many young people felt that community centred social enterprise would help, whereas the House of Lords recommended business innovation.
Both young people and the House of Lords said that more could and should be done. In particular, both reports recognised the need for government support to encourage businesses and consumers to reduce waste.

About the competition and the reports...
The House of Lords Sub-Committee on Waste Reduction has been examining how the amount of waste produced in the UK can be reduced and their final report was published in August 2008. Through the What a Waste! competition, 11 - 18 year olds were able to submit their views to the Sub-Committee in creative ways. The excellent ideas received were summarised into the What a Waste! competition report and recommendations were made.

The young people's competition can be donwloaded here : What a Waste! Competition Report.pdf

The House of Lords Science and Technology Sub Committee Report is available here.

Lord Speaker's Competition Report - young people tackle waste reduction

admin — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 16:32:00 GMT

The House of Lords Sub-Committee on Waste Reduction has recently examined how the amount of waste produced in the UK can be reduced and asked to hear young people's views on the issue. A report summarising their views and offering recommendations has now been submitted to the House of Lords.

The House of Lords, with the support of the Lord Speaker and in conjunction with the Hansard Society, called for 11 - 18 year olds to submit their views on waste reduction to the Sub-Committee in creative ways. The work sent in was entered into the Lord Speaker's What a Waste! Competition and the young people behind the best entry in Key stage 3, Key stage 4 and Key stage 5 attended the House of Lords to present their ideas last month.

The winning entries represent just a handful of the excellent ideas which were submitted to the competition and as such a What a Waste! competition report, summarising all the work entered has been compiled. To ensure that the views of all young people who took part are heard by the Sub Committee, this report has now been submitted to Lord O'Neill for response.

Key recommendations from the What a Waste! Competition Report include:

The Plastic Problem
There are inadequate plastic recycling facilities in the UK. Those which exist are not used effectively because recycling plastic is not seen as cost effective by some local councils. As such, local councils should work together to pool recycling facilities and central government should encourage and fund this activity.

School Schemes
School centred schemes are a useful and realistic way to involve large numbers of people in waste reduction schemes. Peer education about waste and recycling within schools improves not only the school environment, but can also have a trickle down effect to the local community. Schools should use student lead assemblies to promote waste reduction and appoint teams of students to be responsible for waste and recycling within the school.

The full What a Waste! Competition Report is available for download here: What a Waste! Competition Report.pdf

Lord Speaker's Competition - Winners Announced!

admin — Tue, 10 Jun 2008 10:25:00 GMT

The winners of the Lord Speaker's competition for young people 2008, have attended the winners’ day at the House of Lords and presented their findings to a special sitting of the House of Lords Science and Technology Sub-committee on Waste Reduction.

The winners were:

Key Stage 3: William Lewis and Harry Roffey from Bodiam Manor School for their in-depth investigation into why plastic cannot be recycled in their local area, quizzing the local council and supermarket in the process. The team presented their findings in a PowerPoint presentation.

Key Stage 4: Josie Palmer and Katie Leivers from Ridgeway School presented an examination of what could be done to reduce waste using an eye-catching collage. To really bring the message home, the team raided senior staff's wastepaper bins and got creative with what they found.

Key Stage 5: Mark Malik, Alice Jones, Daniel Beech, Sultana Akhtar and Matthew Jones from Joseph Leckie School set themselves the challenge of coming up with an innovative solution to the waste reduction problem and the result was a reusable shopping bag scheme. By using recycled materials and a community-centred approach, this social enterprise looks set to rid their community of plastic carrier bags.

The competition, run in partnership with the Hansard Society's Citizenship Education Programme, asked young people to submit their ideas on how to reduce the amount of waste the UK produces. Over 87 teams of young people submitted their ideas in the form of short films, animations, collages, essays, research papers and presentations.

Entries covered issues including the role of councils in recycling and the contribution of big business and were then judged by an eminent panel including the Lord Speaker and the Chairman of the House of Lords Sub-Committee on Waste Reduction, Lord O’Neill.

While the winners presented their findings in person, every entrant to the competition will have their voice heard by the Sub-Committee as a report compiling the entries has been submitted to Lord O’Neill for response. It is not just the winners who will have their views heard as the Hansard Society have compiled a report based on all entries which Lord O’Neill will respond to.

This is not a photo opportunity

admin — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 16:35:00 GMT

There is little doubt that MPs engaging with young people is a worthwhile pursuit for all concerned. Ed Balls was recently pictured on a rope swing in a playground, whilst David Cameron was last week photographed at a school in the West Midlands. These visits are of course prime for press coverage, but that's not to say that they cannot also hold great value for both MPs and young people.

Arthur Mellows College in Peterborough demonstrated just how beneficial these exchanges can be, when Stewart Jackson MP visited their sixth form recently to discuss his role as an MP. Hansard Society Scholar, Faith Jones, who attended the visit, was impressed by the level of preparation that had gone into the visit, adding that every student was well engaged and had prepared an insightful, relevant question to ask. Teachers at the college had used the Hansard Society's MPs in Schools pack to equip students with vital background information for the visit. It's worth noting that the MPs in Schools pack is not only for use by schools - it has an equally important section aimed at MPs, so that they too can prepare themselves for the experience, because remember, this is not a photo opportunity.

MPs in Schools is part of the Elected Representatives in Schools Series which includes MPs, AMs, MSPs, MEPs and Scottish MPs in Schools. Click here for further information on this free resource.

What Matters to You(ng People)?

admin — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 11:24:00 GMT

That was the question the Hansard Society asked young people at People & Politics day in Westminster last week. Organised by Unlock Democracy, People & Politics day brought some 1800 young people together with senior political figures, political parties and organisations such as the Hansard Society, aiming to make citizenship education personal.

Whilst discussing projects such as Y Vote Mock Elections and HeadsUp with participants, we were also asking what issues matter most to them. With our "blast board" and customised badges (both pictured) we hoped to bring ourselves up to speed with the concerns of young people today. Rather than asking young people to sign up to any particular cause, we wanted them to set the agenda - mirroring the ethos of projects such as Y Vote and HeadsUp.

It's little surprise that most participants were by no means backward in coming forward. That said, some young people wanted to check if their chosen issue was "ok" before putting pen to paper - the first participant to flag up child abuse stands out, as does the young woman with concerns over the impact of size zero models. This begs the question, who told you it wasn't ok? With a little encouragement, however, their thoughts were soon displayed on the blast board and pinned to their blazers.

So, what does matter to young people? The broad issues added to the blast board over the day, are shown according to the number of mentions on the graph below.

The clearest message from the day, was that in one guise or other, young people do care about politics.

What a Waste! The Lord Speaker's Competition for Young People

admin — Mon, 25 Feb 2008 10:04:00 GMT

If you’re under 18 and feel strongly about how we can reduce waste, this is your chance to make your voice heard in Parliament - and win up to £100 for your team. A House of Lords committee has been examining all aspects of waste reduction and is joining forces with the Hansard Society to encourage young people to enter a new competition to present their views on waste and recycling – by video, audio or written submissions. Following the success of last year’s essay competition, What a Waste! is being sponsored by the Lord Speaker, Baroness Hayman, and supported by Parliament’s Education Service.

Groups of young people in Key Stages 3, 4 and 5 can submit their ideas about waste reduction and improve their level of political literacy at the same time. As well as a cash prize, winning groups will visit the House of Lords to make a presentation to members of the Science and Technology Committee and receive feedback. The deadline for submissions is 28th April 2008 and all entrants will receive a certificate.

Entry details, competition rules, background information and lesson plans for teachers are all provided online.

Visit the competition website to register for the project, today: http://www.parliament.uk/holcompetition/

Should our forces still be in Iraq?

admin — Tue, 19 Feb 2008 15:16:00 GMT

Should our forces still be in Iraq?

Young people debate defence issues with legislators

Follow the online debate at www.headsup.org.uk

Under-18s are tackling a variety of defence issues in a secure and structured online debate, organised by the Hansard Society. Defence d-day...Should our forces be in Iraq? will run from February 25 to March 14, 2008 at www.headsup.org.uk

As well as giving their views on Iraq, the young people taking part in the debate will consider other key questions:

Should we intervene in overseas conflicts and what are the implications of these decisions?
What is the impact on the families of those serving in the armed forces? Have you (or your friends) got any relatives serving in the armed forces? Do your grandparents remember WW2?
Do we stop and think about life in post-war zones such as Iraq, Afghanistan or the Balkans? Was it worthwhile?
Has violent or non-violent conflict resolution been more successful when looking at recent conflicts?

Legislators and experts involved in this forum include:

Bob Ainsworth MP - Minister of State for the Armed Forces
Gerald Howarth MP - Shadow Defence Minister
Linda Gilroy MP - Member of the Defence Select Committee
Willie Rennie MP - Shadow Minister for Defence
Nick Harvey MP - Shadow Defence Minister

Barry Griffiths, HeadsUp Manager, commented: "Although Iraq and Afghanistan attract most headlines, we want the young people taking part in this debate to consider wider aspects of war and consider the effect of conflict on civilians as well as the armed forces and their families."

HeadsUp is a vital resource for teaching the political literacy element of the Citizenship Curriculum and ensuring young people's voices are heard by decision-makers. In addition to the forum where school students explore and debate the political issues and ideas that matter to them, there are teachers' notes, ideas for classroom activities and background information for young people all available on the HeadsUp website.

Editors' Notes

HeadsUp (http://www.headsup.org.uk/) is an innovative website where under-18s debate political issues and processes. The site is a non-partisan, cross-party educational resource that provides a secure, structured and student-centred discussion platform.

Two ways to register to participate in HeadsUp:

1. Young People - If you are under 18 and want to get in on the action you need to complete the Student Sign Up Form.

2. Teachers/youth workers/youth group - can register a whole class/school year/group by completing our Teachers Registration Form.

All HeadsUp forums are open to view and follow the debate. Participants will still need to register or login to post comments.
The project is jointly funded by the Ministry of Justice (former DCA) and the House of Commons.
Young people taking part in this HeadsUp Forum are available for interview. However, this may take some time to arrange due to the busy academic calendar]. For more information contact Virginia Gibbons, Communications Manager at the Hansard Society on 0207 438 1225 or 07812 765 552.
At the end of the debate, a summary report detailing young people's contributions will be distributed to relevant government ministers, MPs, AMs, MEPS, MSPs and selected all-party groups in Parliament.
4000 individuals are currently registered with HeadsUp.

Young people say no to political correctness

admin — Tue, 15 Jan 2008 14:17:00 GMT

Under-18s taking part in a Hansard Society online debate thought that political correctness has gone too far. They felt that while young people should be taught to be tolerant and respectful, they should be able to talk about discrimination, race and religion without fearing that they are using the wrong vocabulary. They concluded that political correctness leads to uncertainty and threatens free speech.

The debate Discrimination in the UK – Fact or Fiction? ran from November 19 to December 7, 2007 at www.HeadsUp.org.uk. Parliamentarians and decision-makers from all political parties took part in the debate.

Young people taking part concluded:

that racism was prevalent in some parts of society but a group of students felt that the broad threat of racism was less of an issue than religious discrimination or cultural awareness.
that ageism badly affects young people as well as old. It was argued that young people are often not considered as much of a priority as old people when it comes to age discrimination.
that schools should address their sexist policies on PE. In addition, participants did not believe that sexism had disappeared completely in the workplace as many reported that men still occupy a large proportion of top jobs in the UK.
that political correctness has gone too far as it leads to uncertainty and threatens free speech.

Barry Griffiths,HeadsUp

Manager, commented: “The legislators taking part in this debate used the forum as a real engagement tool which they visited regularly, allowing them to question and inform young people about all aspects of animal cruelty policy The young participants appreciated this feedback and interaction .”

HeadsUp is a vital resource for teaching the political literacy element of the Citizenship Curriculum and ensuring young people’s voices are heard by decision-makers. In addition to the forum where school students explore and debate the political issues and ideas that matter to them, there are teachers’ notes, ideas for classroom activities and background information for young people all available on the HeadsUp website.

For more information contact Virginia Gibbons, Communications Manager at the Hansard Society on 0207 438 1225 or 07812 765 552.

Editors’ Notes

This forum attracted the online involvement of a range of decision-makers, these included:

Jo Swinson MP - Liberal Democrat Shadow Minister for Women and Equalities
Baroness Prosser - Deputy chair of the Equality and Human Rights Commission
Anne Begg MP - Member interested in equality issues
Mary Honeyball MEP - Member of the Committee on Culture and Education
Margaret Mitchell MSP - Convener of the Equal Opportunities Committee
Andrew Stunell MP - Member interested in equality issues
Dr Katherine Rake - Director of the Fawcett Society
Harriet Harman MP - Leader of the House of Commons and Minister for Women and Equality

HeadsUp (www.HeadsUp.org.uk) is an innovative website where under-18s debate political issues and processes. The site is a non-partisan, cross-party educational resource that provides a secure, structured and student-centred discussion platform.

Two ways to register to participate in HeadsUp:

Young People - If you are under 18 and want to get involved you need to email us at info@headsup.org.uk, specifying your preferred username and password.
Teachers - can register a whole class/school year/group by completing our online registration form.

All HeadsUp forums are open to view and follow the debate. Participants will still need to register or login to post comments.

The project is jointly funded by the Ministry of Justice (former DCA) and the House of Commons.

Young people who took part in this HeadsUp Forum are available for interview. However, this may take some time to arrange due to the busy academic calendar]. For more information contact Virginia Gibbons, Communications Manager at the Hansard Society on 0207 438 1225 or 07812 765 552.

At the end of the debate, a summary report detailing young people’s contributions will be distributed to relevant government ministers, MPs, AMs, MEPS, MSPs and all-party groups in Parliament.

Over 4000 individuals are currently registered with HeadsUp.

60% of under-18s more likely to vote after taking part in HeadsUp

admin — Thu, 06 Dec 2007 15:19:00 GMT

A detailed evaluation exercise of the Hansard Society’s HeadsUp innovative website for young people demonstrates a proven way to get young people interested in politics and involved in political debate.

The HeadsUp Evaluation Report [PDF, 313KB] is available be download.

Key evaluation findings are:

60% of young people said they more likely to vote after taking part in HeadsUp
92% of teachers rated HeadsUp excellent or said they would use it again
Debate findings from HeadsUp were quoted in Commons’ debate
Comments from participating MPs include ‘an excellent resource which is not only informative, but encourages active debate’; ‘the standard of debate and discussion was very high’ and ‘The HeadsUp report is very encouraging; it shows how much young people are interested and keen to participate in addressing the issues’
HeadsUp gives less confident youngsters in class the chance to have their say
Since 2003, the number of legislators has increased significantly. For example, in the last 10 debates 86 legislators have participated. There has been a consistent involvement of high-profile Ministers

HeadsUp (www.HeadsUp.org.uk) is a unique, ground-breaking website where under-18s debate political issues and processes. The site is a non-partisan, cross-party educational resource that provides a secure, structured and student-centred discussion platform. The site is particularly useful in delivering the Citizenship curriculum and recent forums have seen comment from several Secretaries of State and their Shadow counterparts.

Barry Griffiths, HeadsUp Manager, commented: ‘HeadsUp is a testament to the young people, teachers and legislators who use the resource on a regular basis as the site has been running since 2003. There are many requests made upon young people’s time and the fact that they continue to use HeadsUp highlights its attraction to young people across the country interested in having their say on topical issues.’

The HeadsUp evaluation report looked at the period September 2006 – August 2007. It examined the website’s design and ease of use; how students responded to the debate topics and the role of decision-makers on the site; how useful teachers found the site; and the views of MPs and other decision-makers who took part in the forum debates over the year.

For more information contact Virginia Gibbons, Communications Manager at the Hansard Society on 0207 438 1225 or 07812 765 552.

Editors’ Notes

HeadsUp is a vital resource for teaching the political literacy element of the Citizenship Curriculum and ensuring young people's voices are heard by decision-makers. In addition to the forum where school students explore and debate the political issues and ideas that matter to them, there are teachers' notes, ideas for classroom activities and background information for young people all available on the HeadsUp website.
HeadsUp was launched in June 2003 as a resource to promote political awareness and participation amongst young people under the age of 18. The site assists teachers in covering the political literacy strand of citizenship education and MPs can use it to consult with their younger constituents. The site is co-funded by the Ministry of Justice (former DCA) and the House of Commons.
The main feature of HeadsUp is a moderated online forum, where students deliberate on topical issues that relate to work in Parliament amongst themselves and with parliamentarians. The forum is supported by relevant background information and reference material – for both young people and educators. There are now two ways to register to participate in HeadsUp:
Young People – If you are under 18 and want to get involved you need to email us at info@headsup.org.uk. We will then email you back with your unique username and password. Once you’re registered you can take part wherever and whenever you want.
Teachers – can register a whole class/school year/group by completing our online registration form.
All HeadsUp forums are open to all to view and follow the debate. This will benefit many young people, teachers and parliamentarians as they will now be able to ‘try before they buy’ and observe the dynamic of the debates without being registered. Participants will still need to register or login to post comments.

Is everyone really treated equally?

admin — Mon, 12 Nov 2007 15:30:00 GMT

Young people debate discrimination with legislators

Follow the online debate at www.HeadsUp.org.uk

Under-18s are tackling the sensitive subject of discrimination in a secure and structured online debate, organised by the Hansard Society. Discrimination in the UK – Fact or Fiction? will run from November 19 to December 7, 2007 at www.HeadsUp.org.uk

The following key questions will be put to young people in the debate:

Does racism still occur – have you or your friends been a victim? What methods are being used in your school or local community to stop this happening? How are people of different faiths treated in multicultural Britain?
Do you think it’s still the case that men are more likely to succeed than women in the workplace? Is sexism still a big issue in 21st century Britain?
Are you concerned about being treated differently because of your age? What role do the media play in this negative stereotyping? Have you been the subject of ageism – if so in what context?
Has political correctness gone too far or perhaps not far enough? Some critics argue that political correctness implies censorship and threatens free speech – are they right?

The forum has attracted the involvement of the following legislators and experts:

Jo Swinson MP – Liberal Democrat Shadow Minister for Women and Equalities
Baroness Prosser – Deputy chair of the Equality and Human Rights Commission
Anne Begg MP – Member interested in equality issues
Mary Honeyball MEP – Member of the Committee on Culture and Education
Margaret Mitchell MSP – Convener of the Equal Opportunities Committee
Andrew Stunell MP – Member interested in equality issues
Dr Katherine Rake – Director of the Fawcett Society
Harriet Harman MP - Leader of the House of Commons and Minister for Women and Equality

Barry Griffiths, HeadsUp Manager, commented: “It will be interesting to see if young people report that racism, ageism and sexism are still occurring. Given the sensitive subject matter, the interaction between legislators and participants could be crucial.”

HeadsUp is a vital resource for teaching the political literacy element of the Citizenship Curriculum and ensuring young people’s voices are heard by decision-makers. In addition to the forum where school students explore and debate the political issues and ideas that matter to them, there are teachers’ notes, ideas for classroom activities and background information for young people all available on the HeadsUp website.

Editors’ Notes

HeadsUp (www.HeadsUp.org.uk) is an innovative website where under-18s debate political issues and processes. The site is a non-partisan, cross-party educational resource that provides a secure, structured and student-centred discussion platform.
Two ways to register to participate in HeadsUp:
1. Young People – If you are under 18 and want to get involved you need to email us at info@headsup.org.uk, specifying your preferred username and password.
2. Teachers – can register a whole class/school year/group by completing our online registration form
All HeadsUp forums are open to view and follow the debate. Participants will still need to register or login to post comments.
The project is jointly funded by the Ministry of Justice (former DCA) and the House of Commons.
Young people taking part in this HeadsUp Forum are available for interview. However, this may take some time to arrange due to the busy academic calendar]. For more information contact Virginia Gibbons, Communications Manager at the Hansard Society on 0207 438 1225 or 07812 765 552.
At the end of the debate, a summary report detailing young people’s contributions will be distributed to relevant government ministers, MPs, AMs, MEPS, MSPs and selected all-party groups in Parliament.
4000 individuals are currently registered with HeadsUp.