Young people and UK citizenship education

Abstract

A number of commentators have highlighted the potential of citizenship education to offer young people a radical critique of society. For example, Aapola et al. (2005) have argued that it can provide a forum for contesting gendered power relations and their differential effect on young men and women from different class and ethnic groups, and for exploring the ways in which constructions of masculinity and femininity are dynamic and related to the public/private divide. However, it has also been argued that the playing out of ‘active citizenship’ (a common component of many citizenship programmes in schools and colleges) in the lives of young women, frequently means taking responsibility for themselves economically, while at the same time taking care of others. Indeed, some have suggested that current conceptualizations of citizenship — particularly its ‘active’ variant — have served to further social control rather than promote any critical engagement with social structures. In engaging with this debate, this article explores the impact of young people's socially focussed extra-curricular activities, undertaken in a number of different sixth-form colleges across the UK. Based on a year-long study of five peer-driven groups (including an Amnesty International group, a peer support group and a students' union executive), it considers gendered patterns in the take-up of these activities. In addition, it explores the extent to which such pursuits encourage participants to take a critical stance towards the world around them, placing particular emphasis on the structure of gender relations.