Politics in schools : ‘what exists’ and ‘what works’?

In the run up to the 2019 UK General Election, the Politics in Schools project brought together more than 20 public, private and third sector organisations to provide bespoke educational materials and training to teachers around the country. In February 2020, these practical activities were followed by quantitative and qualitative research with hundreds of teachers and students across the UK (primarily England). This report offers timely and insightful findings arising from that research and, in doing so, takes a first step towards building an evidence base on political education in this country that has been largely missing since the end of the Citizenship Education Longitudinal Study in 2010. In terms of the delivery of political education, this report finds: formal and informal political education remains a peripheral feature in many secondary schools; teachers’ attitudes towards politics and their pedagogic practices differ substantially by their training experiences; there is a significant mis-match between teachers’ self-reported responsibility to deliver political education in any format and the training support that they receive; and teachers have clear preferences when it comes to current policy options related to politics in schools. In terms of the impact on students, this report finds: political education (in different formats) can improve students’ attitudes to political engagement; increase their current expressive participation in politics; and heighten their future anticipated participation in democratic exercises such as voting. These findings inform a number of broad recommendations for the policy community, school leaderships, and elected officials.