Youth political (dis)engagement and the need for citizenship education: Encouraging young people’s civic and political participation through the curriculum

Abstract

Over the past two decades, there has been a wide-ranging debate about the impact of citizenship education on young people’s political engagement and participation across Britain. Using data from a survey of 1025 young people aged 18 years at the time of the 2010 General Election, we examined the impact that studying for a formal qualification in General Certificate of Secondary Education in Citizenship Studies has on young people’s political and civic engagement. Drawing from the hypothesis that those young people who took the course would be more engaged than those who did not, results demonstrated that there are many differences between the two groups in terms of their political perspectives as well as their past and future patterns of political participation.