States Assembly | Political Education - Report

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Education and Home Affairs Scrutiny Panel

Political Education

Presented to the States on 26th November 2010

S.R.14/2010

Contents

Chairman's Foreword.........................................................................................................3

Terms of Reference ................................................................................................4
Sub-Panel Membership...........................................................................................5
Main Panel Membership..........................................................................................5 2 Key Findings...............................................................................................................6 3 Recommendations......................................................................................................9 4 Introduction...............................................................................................................11

Lowering the voting age to 16 years old............................................................11
Citizenship education within the PSHE curriculum ............................................11

5 Current Policy...........................................................................................................13

Development of Citizenship in Jersey Schools..................................................13
Overall approach to Political Education.............................................................14
Accountability ....................................................................................................14
Independent schools..........................................................................................15
Targeted age .....................................................................................................16

6 Programme Delivery.................................................................................................17

Curriculum plans and resources........................................................................17
Political Education within PSHE ........................................................................17
Supporting the curriculum..................................................................................19
Flexibility of PSHE curriculum............................................................................20
Curriculum updates and evaluation ...................................................................21
Scope for inclusion in other subjects .................................................................22
Teacher training.................................................................................................22
Post Key Stage 4...............................................................................................25
Assessment for PSHE.......................................................................................26
Should Education be solely responsible?..........................................................27
Politicians visiting schools .................................................................................29
Virtual learning environment..............................................................................31

7 Youth Service ...........................................................................................................32

Youth Service approach ....................................................................................32
Youth Service 5 Year Strategy ..........................................................................32
Approach to political education..........................................................................33
Issue led education............................................................................................34

Training of Youth Workers (Political Expertise) .................................................35
Elections............................................................................................................35

8 Elections...................................................................................................................37

Department for Education, Sport and Culture's Guidelines for Election Periods37
Rationale for Election protocol during 2008 elections........................................38
Failure of 2008 hustings at Hautlieu ..................................................................38
Distributing Voter Registration Forms................................................................40
Views on 2008 election policy............................................................................41
Plans for 2011 Elections....................................................................................42
Voting Age.........................................................................................................43

9 Politics outside the PSHE curriculum........................................................................44

Sixth Form Debating Society (SiDes) ................................................................44
School councils..................................................................................................44
Youth Assembly/Forum .....................................................................................45
Parental influence..............................................................................................46
Political system in Jersey...................................................................................47
Media.................................................................................................................48

10 Political Education from a student perspective......................................................50

Student Survey..................................................................................................50
Engaging young people.....................................................................................50

11 Other Jurisdictions ................................................................................................52

England .............................................................................................................52
Isle of Man Citizenship Programme...................................................................52
Northern Ireland.................................................................................................53
Wales.................................................................................................................54
Guernsey...........................................................................................................56

12 Appendix...............................................................................................................57

Background Information.....................................................................................57
Written Submissions..........................................................................................58
Public Hearings .................................................................................................58

Chairman's Foreword

I am pleased to present the Panel's Report on Political Education. The term is sometimes confused with Political Indoctrination.

The positive news is that we were very impressed by the commitment of teaching staff to the concept. They only have a small portion of very heavily subscribed PSHE curriculum (Political, Social and Health Education). The excellent report of Mr John Renouf (Citizenship in Jersey Schools) has acted as a template for teaching. Curriculum issues we identified were the balance between a factual approach which, for example, describes our institutions and the lively debate of political issues. We also wanted a more seamless transition from the primary to the secondary curricula.

This Review is bound up with the broader issue of how we engage those aged sixteen or over who now have the vote. Our Scrutiny was, in part, prompted by issues that arose at the last election when there was a strong perception that the authorities were making it difficult for candidates to enter schools and debate issues. While we do not condone unregulated electioneering, the Department for Education, Sport and Culture has to put in place a scheme before the next election which allows candidates to engage with students on a level playing field and with clear protocols.

Terms of Reference

1 To examine the Minister for Education, Sport and Culture's current policy for Political

Education in Secondary Schools:

How it is being delivered within the Personal, Social and Health Education (PSHE) school curriculum, and, where applicable, in other parts of the curricula,
How it is being delivered within the Youth Service curricula.

3 To examine the programme delivered both during the school calendar and more

specifically at election time.

4 To compare the political element contained in relevant curricula in other jurisdictions to

that in Jersey.

5 To examine the range of activities currently undertaken by students such as history of

our government, role of key people, debates on political issues.

6 To examine any further issues relating to the topic that may arise in the course of the

Scrutiny Review and which the Panel considers relevant.

Sub-Panel Membership

For the purposes of this review, the Education and Home Affairs Scrutiny Panel established the following Sub-Panel:

Deputy R. G. Le Hérissier, Chairman Deputy S Pitman, Vice-Chairman Deputy M Tadier

Deputy C Labey

Main Panel Membership

The Education and Home Affairs Scrutiny Panel itself comprised the following members:

Deputy R G Le Hérissier, Chairman

Deputy T M Pitman, Vice-Chairman Deputy M Tadier

Deputy J M Maçon

2 Key Findings

KEY FINDING: 1 (Section 5.3.1)

The Sub-Panel was unclear about the degree of quality control within the accountability structure. It was not apparent from discussions with relevant witnesses during the review that this structure ensured that PSHE was being delivered to the same consistent standard across Jersey Schools.

KEY FINDING: 2 (Section 5.4)

Independent schools have the freedom to set their own curricula in accordance with relevant policies and the requirements of examination boards.

KEY FINDING: 3 (Section 5.5)

The Sub-Panel believes that the current curriculum for politics within PSHE is targeted correctly. The focus for primary schools is for issue led discussion on current issues, formalised by a debate in the States Chamber in Year 5. The secondary school curriculum then builds on this experience. However, the Sub-Panel concluded that continuity of Political Education from primary to secondary school was not the same across schools Island wide.

KEY FINDING: 4 (Section 6.1)

Since the 2006 review of PSHE, the Sub-Panel believes that schools have been well resourced with curriculum and support materials to ensure successful and similar programmes across all schools.

KEY FINDING: 5 (Section 6.3)

The Year 5 States visit and Year 10 Scrutiny exercise are of great benefit to the PSHE programme and it must be ensured that all students are able to benefit from them.

KEY FINDING: 6 (Section 6.6)

The Sub-Panel is supportive of the inclusion of local material in other subjects so that it reinforces the information learnt within the PSHE programme.

KEY FINDING: 7 (Section 6.7)

The review has emphasised that teachers are fundamental to the success of the programme. It is not enough to rely on the curriculum structure and resources provided by the Education, Sport and Culture Department. A greater emphasis must be put on training teachers to deliver PSHE, with a particular focus on the local political structure.

KEY FINDING: 8 (Section 6.8)

The Sub-Panel was concerned that schools do not have a structured allocation for PSHE post Key Stage 4. The Sub-Panel believes that there needs to be a formal allocation of time in all schools for delivery of information, such as, how to get a social security card and planning for a pension.

KEY FINDING: 9 (Section 6.10)

What appears to be absent is a lifelong political/citizenship education strategy, joining primary, secondary, 16-19 yr olds and adult education. Although activity is structured in the first two phases, the Sub-Panel questioned whether it is being continued consistently into latter stages of education. The Sub-Panel believes it is vital that a lifelong strategy is developed in co-operation with other States departments, in particular Social Security and Home Affairs.

KEY FINDING: 10 (Section 6.11)

Politicians do not have equal access to schools. There seems to be an adhoc approach to schools inviting politicians to speak to students, often based on existing relationships between a number of teachers and politicians. Schools also insist that a lack of time is a barrier.

KEY FINDING: 11 (Section 7.0)

The Sub-Panel agreed that the Youth Service should have a different approach to that of schools when educating young people. As such, any political content to their curriculum could successfully be delivered by way of an issue led approach. Evidence, however, suggested that Youth Workers had not been provided with regular training and up to date resources about the Jersey political system, and as a result, had not been best placed to facilitate political discussions with young people.

KEY FINDING: 12 (Section 8.0)

The Sub-Panel found that attendance at official hustings by young people had been seen, at previous elections, to be minimal. It therefore believed that students must have the opportunity to attend a well planned and publicised hustings, organised on a school site, in school time, at which all politicians could attend. Schools must be able to display election literature on site, and inform students why it is important to vote and attend a hustings.

KEY FINDING: 13 (Section 8.7)

Evidence showed that young people need to be 16 ¼ before they can vote, due to the registration process.

KEY FINDING: 14 (Section 9.2)

Discussions with different schools suggested that school councils had not consistently been set up and run across all schools.

KEY FINDING: 15 (Section 9.3)

It appeared that, in contrast to England, there were no structured channels open to young people for them to feed through their views to politicians.

KEY FINDING: 16 (Section 9.4)

The Sub-Panel found that parental influence played a significant role in the formation of interest in politics.

KEY FINDING: 17 (Section 9.5)

The structure of government in Jersey is too complex and opaque for people to want to engage with it, especially those who are new to the island.

KEY FINDING: 18 (Section 9.6)

Jersey is lagging behind other jurisdictions when it comes to using social media to engage local people in politics.

KEY FINDING : 19 (Section 10.1)

The Sub-Panel believes that had the student survey been issued as a directive from the Minister for Education, Sport and Culture, all schools would have had to take part, permitting collection of meaningful analysis.

KEY FINDING : 20 (Section 10.2)

The Sub-Panel found that enthusiasm and knowledge for the political element of PSHE varied greatly from school to school, both within the state sector and between the private and state schools. Those in the selective' schools were found to be more engaged in local politics.

3 Recommendations

RECOMMENDATION: 1 (Section 5.4)

The Department for Education, Sport and Culture must work more closely with independent schools to ensure that local political education forms part of a structured PSHE programme, especially given the proportion of pupils attending these schools who could be the decision makers of the future.

RECOMMENDATION: 2 (Section 6.7)

The Department for Education, Sport and Culture must organise specific training for all teachers delivering political education, by way of an Inset Day and annual refresher courses. There must also be a structured programme for continuous monitoring to ensure standards are met on an ongoing basis. The Minister for Education, Sport and Culture should liaise with his counterparts in Guernsey to discuss their successful programme.

RECOMMENDATION : 3 (Section 6.10)

The Sub-Panel believes that alongside primary and secondary education there needs to be a focused attempt to provide the opportunity for those new to Jersey to learn about the system. The Sub-Panel recommends, as a starting point, that the Department for Social Security in conjunction with the States Greffe and Department for Education, Sport and Culture, should provide information packs to all those who register, whether it be for work or income support. These packs should include information on the political system, culture and history of the island. In addition to this, familiarisation programmes should be encouraged for those new to the island, and open to any other residents.

RECOMMENDATION: 4 (Section 6.11)

The Department for Education, Sport and Culture must work with politicians to establish a formal protocol for politicians visiting schools throughout the year, whereby all visits are organised centrally through an agreed point of contact. The Department should also mirror Guernsey's approach to providing politicians with supporting materials (lesson plans etc) for their visits into schools. This is to provide a uniform approach to all visits and instil confidence in both schools and politicians.

RECOMMENDATION: 5 (Section 7.0)

The Sub-Panel recommends that Youth Service Workers should be included in any political education training organised by the Department for Education, Sport and Culture and provided with the same resources produced for teachers to support the PSHE programme. This, it believed, would build confidence within the Youth Service to lead discussions and answer questions of a political nature.

RECOMMENDATION: 6 (Section 8.0)

The Sub-Panel requests for the Minister for Education, Sport and Culture to pay close attention to the logistics of the hustings for students to be organised for the next elections. Further to this, the Sub-Panel request the Minister to ensure that the time and location(s) chosen are appropriate and will encourage students to attend.

RECOMMENDATION: 7 (Section 8.7)

The Sub-Panel recommends that a formal mechanism should be developed for schools to register students and forward details onto parish halls in advance of their 16th birthdays.

RECOMMENDATION: 8 (Section 9.2)

The Sub-Panel requests the Minister for Education, Sport and Culture to ensure that all schools have active school councils. Furthermore, the Sub-Panel recommends that students on school councils receive training, as is currently carried out in Guernsey.

RECOMMENDATION: 9 (Section 9.3)

The Sub-Panel recommends that the Minister for Education, Sport and Culture works, in conjunction with the Youth Service, to set up a Youth Council, to include representatives from school councils and youth groups. This council should mirror the States Assembly, discussing current topics and giving feedback to politicians.

RECOMMENDATION: 10 (Section 9.3)

The Sub-Panel also recommends that the Youth Council is supported by an interactive website, for example, HeadsUp (www.headsup.org.uk). This is an interactive tool to enable all young people to get involved in local issues and debates.

RECOMMENDATION: 11 (Section 9.6)

The Sub-Panel recommends that the Privileges and Procedures Committee oversees the setting up of States sites on both Facebook and Twitter.

4 Introduction

Lowering the voting age to 16 years old

Moves to lower the voting age to 16 were successful in each of the three British Crown Dependencies from 2006 to 2008.
Jersey followed the Isle of Man on 4 July 2007, when it approved in principle a reduction of the voting age to 16. The States of Jersey voted narrowly in favour, by 25 votes to 21, and the legislative amendments were adopted on 26 September 2007. The law was brought into force on 1 April 2008, in time for the general elections in late 2008.
The voting turnout amongst young people was considered to be poor in the 2008 elections. With this in mind the Education and Home Affairs Scrutiny Panel decided to form a Sub-Panel to review whether the school environment and current curriculum is engaging students sufficiently to encourage them to take an active role in local politics.

Citizenship education within the PSHE curriculum

At a Public Hearing held with the Minister for Education, Sport and Culture, he described the purpose of the Political, Social and Health Education curriulum (PSHE), which encompasses political education, in the following terms:

Minister for Education, Sport and Culture:

The curriculum is designed clearly to help pupils gain the knowledge, skills and understanding that they need to become informed, active and responsible citizens. It encourages students to actively participate in a wide range of activities and experiences across and beyond the curriculum, contributing fully to the life of a school primarily, and the community that they live in. Through that learning process, pupils are encouraged to take responsibility for themselves as well as those around them. This in turn helps them to understand the society in which they live, and also to consider the many issues that are not only part of growing up and becoming informed, but ultimately to become responsible members of society.

There is a whole focus of the P.S.H.E. curriculum and all the strands of it are designed to support that aim. As part of that programme they find out about the main political and social institutions that affect their lives, and equally about their responsibilities, rights and duties as individuals and as members of our community. As I say, the ultimate aim is to ensure that they are able and encouraged to be the active citizens who will participate and play an integral part within our community. [1]

Although in theory the PSHE presents itself as a valuable addition to the curriculum, as the Minister describes above. The Sub-Panel wanted to investigate whether in practice schools are onboard and pupils are benefiting as suggested.

5 Current Policy

Development of Citizenship in Jersey Schools

Citizenship was a component in the Island's Personal, Social and Health Education curriculum (PSHE) for all Key Stages prior to 2002 when it was introduced in the UK.
This development was reflected locally by the adoption in June 2002 of a revised PSHE curriculum for Jersey, closely based on the new UK model.
Unlike the UK, however, Jersey did not establish Citizenship as a separate subject, leaving it as a strand within the overall PSHE curriculum. [2]
Strand 2 of this PSHE curriculum deals specifically with:

Developing knowledge and understanding about being informed citizens, including a sense of justice, through active participation and enquiry.'

Pupils' learning in this strand deals particularly with Citizenship, which includes the area of Political Education.[3]

In 2006 the Department for Education, Sport and Culture commissioned a review of the Citizenship curriculum, carried out by Mr John Renouf . This was a fundamental re- evaluation of how Citizenship Education should be delivered. Much of the approach then taken by the Department stemmed from the findings and recommendations of this report and the following changes were made:

A new Citizenship curriculum policy was developed which details the type of learning activities that Jersey pupils should experience at specific times in their school career.
A curriculum guidance document was provided for schools and is now being used to plan the teaching of Citizenship.
A resource pack was developed to support the delivery of the curriculum, particularly for those teachers who are new to Jersey.
A webpage on the Virtual Learning Environment was developed to provide other relevant links for teachers and pupils and electronic versions of the resource pack.[4]

In addition to the above, two new learning opportunities were created and have been used since 2006.

All Year 5 pupils have an active learning experience in the States' Chamber. This is a collaborative project with the States Greffe.

All Year 10 pupils are offered an active learning experience which gives them an understanding of the role of Scrutiny and the workings of government.

A further review of the amended 2006 PSHE programme is detailed in the Education, Sport and Culture Business Plan to be carried out during 2010, reporting in October 2010.

Overall approach to Political Education

It was explained to the Sub-Panel that Citizenship (including Political Education) not only forms part of a timetabled curriculum but is also incorporated into school life. The focus for the Department is to ensure that the Political Education aspect of the PSHE programme enables students to become active citizens': becoming involved in their local communities, understanding the importance of decisions taken for the island and how they can affect them and voting when the opportunity arises.
The Minister for Education, Sport and Culture:

I think the first point I would like to make is that we focus on what we term as "active citizenship" rather than political education per se. It is an integral part of our Personal, Social and Health Education curriculum which, has been developed over a number of years, and further refined in 2006.[5]

It was explained that PSHE takes up 4% of the year's curriculum and Citizenship is only a quarter of that. This tight time frame emphasises the need therefore for students to have access to other opportunities at school to learn how to be active citizens. For example, voting for school prefect or voting for School Councils.[6]

Accountability

5.3.1 This is a chart that shows the accountability structure for delivery, effectiveness and monitoring of PSHE curriculum within the Department for Education, Sport and Culture.[7] Minister

Director Business Manager, Schools and Colleges

Head Teacher Head of PSHE

Teacher of PSHE

KEY FINDING: 1

Independent schools

The Sub-Panel aimed to look at how political education was being incorporated in all secondary schools in Jersey, however, both Beaulieu Convent School and De La Salle College have the freedom to determine their own curricula since they sit outside the remit of the Education, Sport and Culture Department and are not bound by the policies or directives developed in Jersey.
C. Beirne, Headmaster Beaulieu Convent School:

In practice, we seek to follow the guidelines and good practice of the UK National Curriculum Provision in our core foundation subjects but have sought to work more proactively within the areas of Religious Education and PSHE as mandated by the Trust Deed of the school and in accordance with the wishes of our Trustees. As a Catholic School, we see in our tradition that responsible citizenship is a virtue, and participation in political life is a moral obligation.[8]

The Business Manager explained that these schools are still invited to take part in training and encouraged to exchange ideas with other secondary schools.

5.4.2 Business Manager, Schools and Colleges:

Our policies are not applicable to the non-provided schools; however we do invite the heads of P.S.H.E. from the non-provided schools to be part of our professional development.[9]

KEY FINDING: 2

Independent schools have the freedom to set their own curricula in accordance with relevant policies and the requirements of examination boards.

RECOMMENDATION: 1

Targeted age

The curriculum for PSHE has been developed to sit across all key stages throughout primary and secondary schools.
The Sub-Panel questioned during the course of this review whether political education was appropriate for all age groups, and if so, how it should be structured to appeal across such a wide ranging group.
Ms E Southern (Primary School Teacher) informed the Sub-Panel that at primary age it is possible, through the curriculum and the setup (having one class teacher for all subjects), to be more flexible and bring political' issues into discussions within different subjects. This was described as teaching politics with a small p'. It is not the structured formal teaching of politics, but the opportunity for issue led, interactive and relevant debate during the course of day to day teaching.

Ms. E. Southern :

In primary you have the opportunity to make it cross-curricular, you can make it flexible,

use your skills and interests to really engage them over quite a prolonged period of time.'[10]

Members of the Sub-Panel asked secondary students when they felt it would be most appropriate to be taught about politics.

Deputy Treasurer of SiDes (Sixth Form Debating Society):

I think maybe in some cases they try and teach us a bit too early because I think with politics in key stage 3 a lot of people are not mature enough to really have that much interest in it and really understand it. ..in years 10, 11, 12, 13 which I think is really when we could get the most use out of it.[11]

Ms. E. Southern :

I would say Year 5 (States Assembly visit) is super but then you have got to keep it going in Year 6. If you can keep them going until the first couple of years of secondary, you have a much better chance of keeping them going all the way through'[12]

KEY FINDING: 3

6 Programme Delivery

Curriculum plans and resources

The department for Education, Sport and Culture provide both primary and secondary schools with Key Stage curriculum plans for PSHE. These include, in detail, the requirements expected from PSHE lessons.
In addition to the curriculum plans and after the departmental review carried out by Mr John Renouf in 2006, supplementary information sheets, lesson plans, activities and general resources are also provided to support the curriculum.

KEY FINDING: 4

Since the 2006 review of PSHE, the Sub-Panel believes that schools have been well resourced with curriculum and support materials to ensure successful and comparable programmes across all schools.

Political Education within PSHE

The Sub-Panel was informed that time is limited within the PSHE curriculum. Within a 25 hour week and 39 week year PSHE is timetabled for one period a week. Within that period PSHE includes 4 different strands, one of which is Citizenship which includes the political aspects that this review is looking at. This, the Sub-Panel was informed, can make it difficult to allocate enough time to every subject that needs to be covered within PSHE.
Political Education has to be balanced with the other subjects that make up PSHE.

Head of Personal, Social and Health Education Careers, Le Rocquier School:

Well we have to work within 4 to 5 strands of the P.S.H.E. curriculum so we have to give them all equal footing. So we devote a little bit of time every year but remember we are producing global citizens so apart from the local politics we have to include a bit of everything else at the same time. More to it, we try and include in the day-to-day life of the school so we have a School Council and they vote ... they take the opinions of their classmates to the School Council and discuss different ideas, and they have got a budget and they decide where they are going to spend it. Sometimes they look at global issues, sometimes they look at local ones.

So because we are so constricted by time within the lessons and perhaps we could do more if we had the time, we take it out to form time and we take it out to the whole school

working together. We try many different ways to enlarge what our programme is without encroaching too much on other subjects that are exam based. [13]

Feedback during the review process indicated that, due to the squeeze on the PSHE curriculum and thus on the Political Education element, the focus on local politics was very limited, if at all, and instead there appeared to be an emphasis each year on other strands within PSHE.
An independent review carried out in one secondary school in 2008 reported:

During the day, I often heard the complaint that We have so much to cover!' and even in the good and outstanding lessons the teacher ran out of time. This suggests that the curriculum needs review. [14]

Feedback from students indicated that they would welcome greater emphasis on local politics. They suggested that time could be found for this by avoiding annual repetition within other PSHE subjects:
President and Founder of SiDes:

I think in Jersey it should definitely be local politics because everyone can just go and find something out about the U.K. or America. Jersey, we should be proud with the system we have got and you just hide it away from students as if it does not exist. [15]

6.2.7 Deputy Treasurer of SiDes:

I just remember having about 5 years of the same drugs education and sex education and after a while you kind of think: "I did this last year." Then people get bored and start playing around. [16]

It was also suggested to the Sub-Panel by Heads of PSHE that Political Education might take a back seat due to the already bulging curriculum:

Head of PSHE, Jersey College for Girls:

One of the issues that came out was some of the students were just completely overloaded and so, in a way, I think the political aspects have had a squeeze because of that. But obviously through the form time it is covered, particularly in election years.[17]

Witnesses did advise the Panel, however, that they tried to work around the limitations of one period a week by including relevant topics within other areas of school time.

Business Manager of the Schools and Colleges:

That is in line with national expectations in terms of law in England, and our Jersey curriculum mirrors to the most part the national curriculum in the U.K. (United Kingdom). There is the designated curriculum time but there are all these other things that go on in school life that enable those young boys and girls to learn about being active citizens.

So if we look at actual time commitment it is a small part of the 25-hour week but when you look at all the other activities involved in school life there are opportunities for assemblies, form time, through people coming in, through how they run their school day, how they run their School Councils, school playground friends, you name it, there are countless examples of it being a practical activity during the school week as well.[18]

Time pressures within the curriculum are not restricted to Jersey. The UK report the same issues:

At the time of its introduction, concerns were expressed about how time and space would be found for citizenship education in an already crowded curriculum. Time pressures were explicitly expressed in both the Crick report and in the DfES's subsequent guidance to schools, which encouraged heads and subject leaders to audit what they were doing, identifying areas where citizenship-related learning was already taking place and/or opportunities whereby lessons could be adapted to have a citizenship focus.[19]

Supporting the curriculum

The Year 5 visit to the State's Chamber is an element of the Jersey Citizenship Programme. Every Year 5 child in Jersey visits the States Chamber to take part in a class debate to learn about the way the States operates and its history.
Through this exercise it is intended that Year 5 students will:
1. Know that the States Assembly makes the laws which regulate the lives of people in Jersey
2. Know how the people of Jersey are represented in the States Assembly
3. Know where the States Chamber is and what it is like
4. Know how the States Assembly makes decisions
5. Understand and use persuasive arguments in the context of a debate
Ms. E. Southern :

When pupils come to the States building and sit in Member's seats with the microphones, it is fabulous. The pupils learn about the roles of States Members by taking the role of

Constable, Senator or Deputy in the States and then having the fun of making speeches as states members. I would hope that people would make the most of that opportunity'[20]

For the Year 10 Scrutiny Exercise a suitable topic is chosen in consultation with PSHE teachers and a member of the Department for Education, Sport and Culture. This topic is then introduced to and studied by the students in advance of the session with visiting politicians.
On the day, students work in their form groups with one States Member per group. This will involve students devising questions on the chosen topic to ask the relevant Minister. The Members' role is to help students understand the Scrutiny function and assist them with the development of questions. Once the questions are agreed students can then put them to the Minister and Senior Officers from the relevant department, while the Scrutiny Members observe.
The purpose for the Year 10 Scrutiny Exercise is based on enabling the students:

To understand the role of Scrutiny and the structure of Ministerial Government
To examine developing States' policy and explore alternatives to it
To develop questioning skills

KEY FINDING: 5

The Year 5 States visit and Year 10 Scrutiny exercise are of great benefit to the PSHE programme and it must be ensured that all students benefit from them.

Flexibility of PSHE curriculum

6.4.1 Although the curriculum documents provide a broad structure for schools, the Sub-Panel was advised that within individual schools there is scope for teachers to interpret the Key Stage guidance differently and use their own ideas and activities to deliver the curriculum

[21]. The Sub-Panel believe that flexibility is a benefit, but also has the capability to be detrimental to the programme if a teacher does not have adequate training or enough knowledge of, for example, local politics, to be able to engage the students. It can also mean disparity between schools if the quality of teaching differs.

Business Manager, Schools and Colleges:

Say, for example, teaching some of the core subjects like English, maths, science, the content there in the structure is dictated by the external examinations. Within P.S.H.E., the heads of P.S.H.E. have the ability to create a curriculum and be a little bit more

imaginative, and see what strengths they have in the school, what they get from outside agencies.[22]

Curriculum updates and evaluation

Since the curriculum was reviewed and improved in 2006 the Sub-Panel questioned how the Department for Education, Sport and Culture kept the programme up to date. They were informed that, the heads of PSHE meet every half-term to discuss the secondary PSHE curriculum and share ideas between schools.

Head of Personal and Social Education, Les Quennevais School:

If I or my students come up with the solution to a particular problem and I thought that is

worth other schools knowing about, then yes, indeed, I do communicate very regularly. It is not just the half-term meetings. We email each other fairly regularly; pass on our triumphs and disasters.[23]

The Business Manager of Schools and Colleges confirmed to the Sub-Panel that there are differences in the way that it is taught across the schools, however, he assured the Sub- Panel that students from different schools would leave having had the same access to information helping them to be active citizens':

Business Manager of the Schools and Colleges:

In terms of the actual content, in terms of the approach, I would agree there would be

differences across schools. In terms of the end product, from the monitoring we have put in place so far, the citizenship programme is being taught as a strand of the P.S.H.E. programme.[24]

In terms of measuring the success of the programme the Business Manager for Schools and Colleges informed the Sub-Panel that the biennial health-related behaviour questionnaire communicated to schools by the Department for Health and Social Services is also a significant tool for the Department for Education, Sport and Culture. It allows individual schools, head teachers and heads of department to understand, for example, what their year 6, year 8 and year 10 students are saying. Any issues arising from this can then be responded to by that school.[25]
In addition to this, other evaluation methods are used in individual schools, for example:

Head of Personal, Social and Health Education Careers, Le Rocquier School:

I had a Student Committee, and I will need to do this again next year, who looked at

assessment and they came up with their own assessment tools so we trialled it and we have changed it. So we have an assessment tool that we do at the end of every year and

their comment about what we have done and how we could improve and what they would like to do.[26]

Scope for inclusion in other subjects

Due to the demand on time within the PSHE curriculum and school curriculum as a whole, the Sub-Panel questioned whether Political Education could also be incorporated within other subjects, such as the History syllabus.
The Minister answered:

The Minister for Education, Sport and Culture:

This is a particular subject that I am quite interested in because in discussing and looking at all sorts of various, different topics and issues relating to our heritage and culture I became aware that in the Isle of Man they have made quite considerable efforts to include their local history and elements of it within the G.C.S.E. (General Certificate of Secondary Education) syllabus. I have raised this matter, because I happen to be on the Consultative Curriculum Council, and as part of the review we are looking to learn from and copy some of the benefit that the Isle of Man has seen in further improving and developing the local identity. I think that is a really positive step and it will pick up, I believe, maybe not every aspect of our modern local history but certainly the relevant points and perhaps by doing that we can encourage our students to look further and to explore other areas that surround those events.[27]

The Business Manager informed the Sub-Panel that a new resource designed to support learning about local history is due to be introduced shortly:

Business Manager of the Schools and Colleges:

We are about to launch an excellent resource for our primary schools which is the local history strand which will be within the history curriculum rather than P.S.H.E. but you made a very good point about the issue of modern local history.[28]

KEY FINDING: 6

The Sub-Panel is supportive of the inclusion of local material in other subject matters so that it reinforces the information learnt within the PSHE programme.

Teacher training

The Sub-Panel was conscious of the fact that although teachers are provided with curriculum documentation, the Citizenship strand also relies on their ideas and interest in

the subject matter to make it interesting and relevant to students. As such, the Sub-Panel felt it was possible for there to be disparity between schools and even between how the subject is delivered within one school, depending on the person teaching it.

Due to this the Sub-Panel felt that specific training for teachers involved with this subject was imperative.

The Sub-Panel was informed that it is the responsibility of the Head of PSHE to ensure the teachers delivering PSHE within their schools are properly trained in that area.

Head of Personal and Social Education, Les Quennevais School:

Within Les Quennevais school it is my responsibility to make sure that my staff are able to deliver every aspect of the curriculum, whether it is sex education, drugs education or the citizenship strand.[29]

The Business Manager for Schools and Colleges talked through the induction process for new teachers:

Business Manager of the Schools and Colleges:

Our new staff when we induct them ... because quite a few of them are not from the Island, the documentation that is in John's review in terms of knowing Jersey, we ensure all our new staff understand the local history, in other words, because there is an induction into this system. Quite likely those teachers in time will end up as P.S.H.E. teachers so the point you make about professional development for those colleagues is very important.[30]

From a school perspective the PSHE Heads at Jersey College for Girls and Le Rocquier informed the Sub-Panel how they handled training for this subject area:

Head of Personal, Social and Health Education, Jersey College for Girls:

I would say we have our P.S.E. meetings where we would initially get together and then when we have colleagues that join our team then we make sure that they know what they are doing, that we provide materials for them, that we help them.

Head of Personal, Social and Health Education Careers, Le Rocquier School:

It is like a cascading ... so whatever we know we cascade. The other thing, I think, is a lot of us tend to team teach so we knew that if there is somebody in our department who is not quite as confident, we will team teach the lesson if we possible can. So you offer support and that is one way they learn as well.[31]

Although it is evident that there are procedures in place for training and distributing information to new and existing teachers, the Sub-Panel maintained concerns that continuous monitoring needed to be developed further. The Sub-Panel strongly believe teacher training should be viewed as an ongoing process as advised by Ms E Southern : Ms. E. Southern :

Well I think historically teachers, secondary teachers, were not very confident in local politics and the history of the Island, so a couple of times I have done training with Andrew Heaven for secondary P.S.E. teachers and that was useful. But you cannot just do it once and then think it is done. The secondary P.S.E. teachers do meet, so therefore they would be in a position to say: "We need more training" if they do. The primary P.S.E. teachers do not meet - so therefore there is not at this moment in time a vehicle for them to say what sort of training they need around that area.[32]

The independent review of PSHE in a secondary school in Jersey in 2008 reviewed three different teachers delivering PSHE lessons and after noticing inconsistency of the quality and approach of the teachers it advised:

Improve consistency of learning and teaching to match the best seen. Of the lessons observed, one was outstanding, one good and one that was not satisfactory. It would be worth the department defining more clearly what very effective teaching of PSHE looks like.[33]

When asked by the Sub-Panel, the Heads of PSHE agreed that the concept of a day of training for Political Education was good. The only barriers would be cost and time commitments.

Head of Personal, Social and Health Education Careers, Le Rocquier School: Teachers may only teach one or two lessons a week and if it is something they have not done before you have to talk them through it. I cannot see a head teacher letting them out for one day a week for one lesson. So it is difficult. But you find that teachers are keen to deliver something that they are knowledgeable about and they will put a lot of extra work in to make sure they know what ... they do not want to stand in front of a class and deliver something they do not know about. You tend to get people who are interested teaching P.S.E., who are keen for the students to learn and to be able to express themselves and to be knowledgeable enough to go and look for answers to questions.[34]

6.7.7 Students informed the Sub-Panel, that it was their impression, that teachers had more knowledge about global affairs rather than Jersey politics.

President and Founder of SiDes:

I think one of the problems that it seems to me is that the teachers know about the U.S. system but they do not know about the Jersey system. If the teachers do not know it then you cannot be taught it.[35]

KEY FINDING : 7

RECOMMENDATION : 2

Post Key Stage 4

6.8.1 PSHE including Political Education is not included in the curriculum post Key Stage 4. The demand on students time during years 12 and 13, especially with modular exams, means enrichment programmes such as learning to be an active citizen' must be either carried out during form time, through assemblies delivered by internal staff or outside visitors and through other vehicles such as the Youth Parliament.

Head of Personal, Social and Health Education, Jersey College for Girls:

As I said earlier, they do it through form, through talks, through people coming inSo they do have the opportunities to do that and then, of course, they lead the school in terms of the school council and the prefects and the leadership team. They have a lot of responsibility but obviously that is slightly different. But that is democracy in practice, they lead the houses they do the activities so they are really, really busy.[36]

KEY FINDING : 8

Assessment for PSHE

PSHE is not examined or assessed in any way. The head of PSHE from Le Rocquier School explains the benefits of this:

Head of Personal, Social and Health Education Careers, Le Rocquier School:

My premise has always been that we have got a huge range of ability and our lessons are not really terribly writing based. We promote discussion, we promote listening skills, putting forward your ideas to others and every child has an equal footing in my classroom, and not just mine, right across board within P.S.E. If there is more writing you are going to turn some of the students off. They want to come to our lessons because they are given a chance to express their point of view.

I think if we were to introduce an exam based curriculum for P.S.E. you are going to turn off more students whereas now, at the moment, they are keen to come to lessons, they are eager and they know no matter what their ability they have a got a chance to express themselves

We looked into the P.S.E. citizenship type examination but if we did that there is no local politics on it at all and it would mean that we would have to live within the constraints of that curriculum and not be able to come out and do more local politics.[37]

The Sub-Panel questioned the alternatives:

Certificate

Deputy M. Tadier :

I can see both sides of the argument for not having a formal exam, it is good because it is a breath of fresh air people want to come to the lesson but on the other hand it would be good to have a way, an incentive, a carrot if you like, to say: "Well you have done a course, you have attended, you have contributed, here is a certificate" which may, for example, be you can pass with distinction or merit, et cetera. Is that worth looking into?[38]

Head of Personal, Social and Health Education, Jersey College for Girls:

It might be, yes, in terms of the local politics or the citizenship aspects of it. Like we do the first aid as a module so they get a certificate for the young first aider.[39]

Continual Assessment

Head of Personal, Social and Health Education Careers, Le Rocquier School: If we did continual assessment that would also be quite good, and their contribution to classroom discussion and how many facts they knew, we could perhaps do that.[40]

Head of Personal, Social and Health Education, Jersey College for Girls:

We grade ours sort of like half-termly and they have periodic reports and certainly at key stage 3 we do it for P.S.E. citizenship as well. Key stage 4 it is more difficult because we have slightly restricted time within the lessons and they have their assembly time and their tutorial time. But we certainly do that and we write them reports and we have certain assignments during the term that are assessed by the teacher, others peer assessed.[41]

It was also agreed that the International Baccalaureate, commencing at Jersey College for Girls next year, might also be more conducive to continual assessment within PSHE.
The Sub-Panel discussed the issue that only what is examined is taken seriously. However, they felt that the danger with introducing any form of assessment for PSHE might be that subjects within PSHE, which can already be difficult to broach with young people, might become more difficult and hamper debate.

Should Education be solely responsible?

The Sub-Panel was interested to find out who should take the lead responsibility for the political education of young people. The Minister explained:

The Minister for Education, Sport and Culture:

We have got to remember ... and I think it is quite easy sometimes to just focus on the Education Department and those responsible for delivering the education, and not look at the wider involvement of others, whether that is either politicians, whether it is the families, whether the parish organisation authorities; and indeed, all the other voluntary organisations and pressure groups and the like that make up our community.

We have seen, in fairness, with regard to the Scrutiny experience there has been I believe a great success in developing a better understanding of the new system of government that we are all part of. But we have not had enough Scrutiny members taking part in those events that we have organised across the schools. What does that tell you? What impression does that give to our young people? So I am saying that although I acknowledge that education has a responsibility, we have a curriculum, we are required to prepare our young people for the world that they will be living in, participating in, working in, there is equally a responsibility, whether it is government, whether it is parishes or any others, to step up to the mark and play their part in, in particular, developing and promoting involvement within the community.[42]

From a student perspective, schools need to help to help themselves:

Deputy Treasurer of SiDes:

I think there is a lot of scope for the students to get more involved. But I think the schools need to show that they are supporting the students getting involved in politics because I think ... we do not really think about it because we have so many other things to think about but if the school kind of started it off, kind of got the ball rolling.[43]

The Sub-Panel believes that the responsibility for political education should fall to a partnership led by the Department for Education, Sport and Culture, to include other States departments, such as Social Security and Home Affairs, as well as the wider society. It can not just be a case of relying on teachers of school age children. There is also a need for programmes to extend into higher education, especially for those adults new to the island.

KEY FINDING: 9

What appears to be absent is a lifelong political/citizenship education strategy, joining primary, secondary, 16-19 yr olds and adult education. Although activity is structured in the first two phases, the Sub-Panel questioned whether it is being continued consistently into latter stages of education. The Sub-Panel believe it is vital that a lifelong strategy is developed in co-operation with other States departments, in particular Social Security and Home Affairs

RECOMMENDATION : 3

Politicians visiting schools

The Sub-Panel believes that the relationship between schools and politicians is very important. The opportunity for politicians to visit schools and talk to students about political life and encourage debate about current issues is valuable for both students and politicians, and acts as a helpful way to supplement the PSHE curriculum. Currently the Sub-Panel do not believe that politicians are being given this opportunity often enough and on an equal basis.
The Sub-Panel questioned the Department for Education, Sport and Culture about the protocols for schools wanting to invite politicians to visit. The Department confirmed that it believed there were real benefits to encouraging interaction between politicians and schools, and it did not stand in the way of this process.

Business Manager Schools and Colleges:

It is the role of the head of P.S.H.E. to invite politicians into the school. We have put no barriers, there are absolutely no barriers in the department for politicians to take part, to participate in the school curriculum. We give the responsibility of that involvement down to the head teacher and the head of P.S.H.E.[44]

The fact that the Department stated that there was no barrier in terms of inviting politicians into schools did not provide the Sub-Panel with the answer as to why they felt it was not happening on a regular basis.
What was revealed after furthering questioning was that time constraints again play a big factor in deterring schools from organising visits. Also one PSHE head explained that, logistically, it was difficult to organise several politicians to visit a number of forms in one year group at the same time and that this was an ongoing barrier for their school when organising the Year 10 Scrutiny exercise.
In addition to time constraints the Business Manager added further reasoning:

Business Manager of the Schools and Colleges: I know that all schools invite politicians in.

The Deputy of Grouville : On a regular basis?

The Minister for Education, Sport and Culture: To meet the needs of the pupils.

The whole point as I understand it and relating to the policy, is that the P.S.H.E. curriculum forms part of the overall curriculum of the school. As such we have got to recognise that, first of all, there is a limited amount of time that can be spent on this particular matter, because we have to educate our children in the core subjects that will enable them to access work and careers. That is the first point, and we need to recognise that, when you start looking at: "Okay. This is the Personal, Social and Health Education curriculum we are providing." Within that, there are these different elements. One is political education. Now it might be high on our agenda; it might be very low on a young person's agenda. Their interest may be in their health, their behaviour.[45]

However, when questioned, students attending a hearing with the Sub-Panel did not believe that they had enough access to politicians in school time. Their impression was that it was the reluctance of the politicians to visit schools that was to blame:

President and Founder of SiDes:

No. Personally, I think perhaps it is politicians ... you get this feeling of isolation that they do not want to come to schools and that. I, as I have just said, have never seen a politician in the school and whether or not that is because they do not want us to vote, I am not sure, but I think it ... you start to get this feeling that politicians do not care about you so why should you care about what they are doing and therefore you are not going to vote if you do not feel that they are going to do anything for you.[46]

The students, however, did concede that it was a two way process and schools had as much of a part to play as politicians when it came to arranging visits.[47]
Students added further comments on this matter:

Member of SiDes:

There is a conflicting agenda sometimes where the schools want to do one thing and the States might want to do something else with education, there needs to be a way of almost getting rid of that, working together to improve political education. Is it because the schools say we do not have time? That is all I can think of. That would be the only objection to politicians coming in, we would not have enough time to fit it in with our school timetable. I think that should be an issue. I think there should be time for students to learn about politics.[48]

When asked if other people were invited into their schools to give talks, the students answered that there were regular visits from various professionals. This again raises the question as to why politicians could not be invited in as part of this process:

President and Founder of SiDes:

We get quite a lot of charities and that sort of thing. Lots of that, almost ... not quite every week but at least once a month we get that.[49]

KEY FINDING: 10

Politicians do not have equal access to schools. There seems to be an adhoc approach to schools inviting politicians to speak to students, often based on existing relationship between a number of teachers and politicians. Schools also insist that a lack of time is a barrier.

RECOMMENDATION: 4

Virtual learning environment

6.14.1 A webpage on the Virtual Learning Environment was developed after the 2006 review of PSHE to provide other relevant links for teachers and pupils and electronic versions of the resource pack.[50]

Business Manager Schools and Colleges:

We keep updated on the Virtual Learning Environment the information around about which Deputies and Senators are on which committees so at any point there is a piece of work they go straight to V.L.E. and it is up to date information. So even the hard copy you had recently, it may well have changed on our V.L.E. now because my P.A. will update all the time and just keeps track of what the changes are, makes the changes so the schools have got up to date information.[51]

We do put up activities on our virtual learning environment that can be shared, because if there is a really good idea we think: "Well, all schools need to have access to this." That goes on the virtual learning environment and so different teachers: "Oh, yes, I see how that has worked," and they see evidence of outcomes of those resources.[52]

7 Youth Service

Youth Service approach

The Youth Service provided the Sub-Panel with information on the principles that they work to.
The youth work approach is about empowering young people to make their own informed decisions e.g. confidence building, providing information and having group discussions.
The Youth Service encourage young people to be aware of what is going on around them both locally and internationally, especially when it will impact on their lives - e.g. the poster campaign on registering to vote when the voting age lowered to 16 years old, raising awareness of issues such as sexual health, smoking and bullying through projects and workshops.
Youth workers have to be careful not to be biased or to influence young people on any subject but especially religion and politics.
Youth workers assess the needs of the young people they work with and use the Youth Service Curriculum to develop a youth work programme to address those needs.
Youth work is informal education' which young people choose to be involved in during their social time, so whatever the Youth Service does has to be meaningful and attractive to young people.
Principal Youth Officer:

But basically the youth work approach is very different from schools, as you would imagine. It is informal education and it is working with young people in their social time, in their own time, and they can vote with their feet to either come to a youth project, be involved in the Youth Service or not. So what we do is we work to a basic statement.[53]

Youth Service 5 Year Strategy

7.2.1 Included in the 5 Year Strategy for the Youth Service are the following actions:

Adopting the Hear by Right Standards which have been developed by the National Youth Agency and are based on the United Nations Rights of the Child
Developing and establishing the Jersey Youth Council as a forum for young people to discuss issues that interest them and to act as a voice' for young people in Jersey

Developing a Young People's Website which will provide a method for young people to access information on a variety of topics and improve lines of communication between the Youth Service and young people.

Approach to political education

As part of the review, and in light of the time pressures on the school curriculum, the Sub- Panel felt it was important to see if there was scope for developing political education within the Youth Service curriculum.
The Sub-Panel questioned the Minister about the focus on political education within the Youth Service:
The Minister for Education, Sport and Culture:

As such, the issues such as drugs, alcohol, and all the relevant things that we know that young people are faced with on a day to day basis, tend to, as I say, require greater priority than political education

.It might not be what I call "in your face" political education, but it is, if you like, learning through life experiences, how you as an individual can be responsible. But equally, what rights you have, because those individuals can encourage their parents to go and vote in the parish assembly to support their project.[54]

The Principal Youth Officer added to the Minister's statement:

Principal Youth Officer:

Well, as James said at the beginning and I have tried to say, we would pick up on political education as and when it came up. At the time of the elections we did some more structured stuff in that we developed a poster and a leaflet that went into all youth projects and we did have copies of the registration document because we wanted to show young people how ... some young people do not have the literacy skills to fill them in.[55]

The Minister further clarified:

The Minister for Education, Sport and Culture:

I think this is the point, though. I do understand that you want to focus on political education, and the importance that you place on it. But the Youth Service, I am afraid, is not designed, and it was never intended to promote political education.

The Deputy of Grouville :

Well, it is. It has it in its curriculum.

Principal Youth Officer:

It is a small part of the curriculum.

The Minister for Education, Sport and Culture:

I think that maybe we have different views. Political awareness is different from political education.[56]

Issue led education

It was explained to the Sub-Panel that it was intended for the curriculum to be, to a certain extent, led by young people and the issues they want to work on.

Principal Youth Officer:

we pick up on opportunities in the youth club in a sort of flexible way so if there happens to be something in the J.E.P. (Jersey Evening Post) we might pick up on that that night having a copy of the paper about, or there might be something in the national news or international news that we pick up on.

We try and get young people involved in the running of their youth project in all sorts of ways, so making decisions about the youth project. [57]

Unlike in the school environment, the Principal Youth Officer was keen to express the Youth Service's emphasis on encouraging young people to lead the topics and take control of their learning rather than dictating the curriculum and subject matter to them.

Principal Youth Officer:

But that is educating to realise that they have a voice, they have opinions. .. young people can be, when they are coming in, innocent to a youth project or to any other adult environment, could be manipulated. They do not know any better, and they could be manipulated into certain things. They can be there as tokenistic, for decoration. "Oh yes, we have young people coming to our meetings." But they are sitting there, they are never involved, they do not feel comfortable. But this is the bit that we are trying to get to, where they start to make decisions, are involved in adult decisions. But then they are consulted and informed, adults share decisions with young people, and eventually, moving up to where young people initiate and direct.[58]

To this end, it was indicated that if young people were not interested in, or did not request to discuss, a political issue, then it was unlikely to be covered. The Sub-Panel believed that in this case it was the responsibility of the Youth Workers to instigate interest in political issues in order to encourage young people to become active citizens'. This they felt could be done in an unbiased and impartial manner.

Training of Youth Workers (Political Expertise)

7.5.1 The Sub-Panel asked whether Youth Workers received any training with regards to local politics and the structure of the States of Jersey, to help them have confidence to engage with young people on the subject.

Principal Youth Officer:

I do not know. I am learning as I go along, as well, about the political system. We are not experts; we are experts in youth work. What we will do is find the information out for ourselves, if young people are interested in that.[59]

Elections

7.6.1 The Sub-Panel asked how the Youth Service intended to approach the next elections:

Principal Youth Officer:

We will be doing what we have done before, working with 16 year-olds, 17 year-olds, who have not registered, to encourage people to be aware of their rights to register to vote. We will look at doing those sort of ... not just around the election time, but those events which bring people in about an issue that young people are worried about. In the same way as John mentioned, or Cliff mentioned, about the young people who had an issue with transport. They had brought in people about that. We can do that in the Youth Service as well, and have a question time or event like that.

The Deputy of Grouville :

Who will be explaining how to vote, or handing out those forms, or having them on the side? Who will be explaining to vote for who and why?

The Minister for Education, Sport and Culture: No one will, no one.

Principal Youth Officer:

We will not do that, we will not.[60]

KEY FINDING: 11

RECOMMENDATION: 5

8 Elections

Department for Education, Sport and Culture's Guidelines for Election Periods

The Minister for Education, Sport and Culture provided the Sub-Panel with the following guidelines used at the 2008 elections. It was explained to the Sub-Panel that these guidelines were intended to assist the democratic process and to ensure that young voters were introduced to it as objectively as possible. The principles which underpin them were to:
1. Help young people understand the political process;
2. Encourage them to use their vote;
3. Ensure fairness and balance;
4. Avoid disruption to education;
5. Prevent young people being placed under any duress.
New electors have the right to be informed about the nature of the electoral process. If this information is given within the normal educational context, for example through the Citizenship curriculum, it should be presented impartially without supporting any particular candidate, group of candidates or political party.
The Department for Education, Sport and Culture pamphlet Your Guide to Voting', which outlines the registration process, should be made available in schools for all first time voters.
During the election period (between the time when nominations are confirmed and the election, i.e. 3-4 weeks), schools should not invite or allow any candidates for election to campaign in schools. Pupils who are eligible to vote have the same opportunities as other members of the electorate to attend public hustings in their own time.
If an individual candidate approaches a school seeking an opportunity to address young voters during school time, head teachers should decline the request. This is to ensure fairness to all candidates, avoid disruption to the curriculum and avert any potential concern about pupils being placed under undue pressure.
Leaflets and other electoral publicity should not be displayed or distributed on school premises.
These guidelines were put into force in time for the 2008 elections and were to apply to any subsequent elections. However, the guidelines and their operation were to be reviewed after the 2008 elections.

Rationale for Election protocol during 2008 elections

Feedback to the Sub-Panel indicated that experienced teachers were taken aback by the policy decisions surrounding the 2008 elections. This supported the Sub-Panel's belief that the policy developed by the Minister for Education, Sport and Culture for schools during the 2008 elections was unsuitable, especially with regards to politicians being able to access schools. It asked for justification from the Minister for Education, Sport and Culture:
The Minister for Education, Sport and Culture:

It was 2 things. To ensure fairness and balance and also to avoid disruption to education and the concern that we have a responsibility to our students which we take very seriously and we did not believe that they should be placed in any situation that a member of the general public would not be put in. As such the view is taken that we would not allow candidates access to schools in election time.[61]

Failure of 2008 hustings at Hautlieu

The Panel requested information on the process behind the organisation of the 2008 hustings, held for Students at Hautlieu:

Business Manager of the Schools and Colleges:

... our view was that these young adults had equal opportunities as any other adults in the Island to access the candidates, their manifestos, in the same way. So a simple view was candidates would not go into any other workplace to address voters so why would they go into schools during the working day? So when they (political candidates) said: "Well, actually these young people may not be able to get transport, for whatever reason they may not be able to access a husting as other adults would" they asked if they could conduct hustings at a central environment so we organised Hautlieu. The candidates attended. It was advertised across the schools saying there was a hustings opportunity. I believe the turnout was very, very low for those 16 to 18 year-olds.[62]

When asked how it was advertised, the Sub-Panel were informed:

Business Manager of the Schools and Colleges:

Through the sixth form; we asked head teachers through the sixth form common rooms, the year 11 staff areas, that this opportunity was at Hautlieu School at 4.00 p.m. on whichever day it was. And it was done through the J.E.P. (Jersey Evening Post) and the media, it was advertised by the candidates through the media, that this opportunity was

there if they wanted to attend a husting where their issues that they were interested in could be ... they could ask the candidates, that was their opportunity.[63]

When asked why the turnout was so low the Business Manager for Schools and Colleges informed the Sub-Panel:

Business Manager of the Schools and Colleges:

I do not think it was an educational reason. I think it was their current engagement with the political process and their wanting to be involved or, maybe they had the information already through other sources. [64]

The Sub-Panel informed the Minister for Education, Sport and Culture and his colleagues that it felt the turnout was low due to information not getting out to students and the fact that it had been organised at the same time that the buses left and students had other after school commitments to attend.
A member of SiDes added:

Member of SiDes:

From what I have heard, somebody has told me, that it was only because it was just poorly organised. We did not know about it. I do not think it was a reflection of young voter apathy, I think it was just ... it was not particularly well organised.[65]

The Sub-Panel also felt it was important to comment that if it appeared that students were not interested enough to be involved, then it was important for The Department for Education, Sport and Culture to take the lead and develop their interest:

Deputy S. Pitman:

It's about education taking a lead on this issue with young people and education informing young people and allowing them to learn why politics is important to them. That message does not seem to come across in the hustings and I believe there were about 15 to 20 people that attended.[66]

The Minister responded:

The Minister for Education, Sport and Culture:

Let us be very clear, as I say we come back to the students' need to be able to access politicians and participate in exactly the same way as the general public. Students are no different to you and me. They know, they read papers, they hear the news, they watch the T.V. (television), they talk to their friends and they still have access to telephone books with all the telephone numbers of all the States Members listed in the front.

There is no reason why any student, whatever their age, is restricted in being able to access States Members. What we can do and what we aim to do through the various learning initiatives and the curriculum that we use, is to ensure that those students know what they are able to do, know how to engage if they choose, because it is a choice after all in the same way that it is an individual choice for people to exercise their right to vote, to get involved in politics, to promote a particular issue or matter, the same applies to our students.[67]

The Minister did however concede that improvements need to be made in time for the next elections.[68]
The Head of PSHE at Les Quennevais School added to the Minister's statement:

Head of Personal and Social Education, Les Quennevais School:

I think it is not just improvements. Like you I would love to see them hold a meeting for young people at Fort Regent with the candidates. But it is an issue not just for young people. It is an Island-wide thing. If you have 20 candidates it is the format that is crucial. I think for people of all ages if you have 20 candidates doing their 5-minute speech and there is time for 2 questions at the end that does not appeal to many people and it is something that the States are going to have to look at. It is a problem. But it is a problem not just for young people; it is a problem in terms of how those hustings are handled in future because what young people like in particular is the personal ding-dong. They want to get a politician into the classroom and have a go at him or her and be able to ask follow- on questions. At the kind of hustings meeting that is not possible. There are too many candidates. I think that one has to look, particularly for young people, at the format and the best people to advise on the format when the time comes will be young people, asking them how they can best engage with the candidates.[69]

Distributing Voter Registration Forms

The Sub-Panel questioned whether it would be possible to hand out voter registration forms to students in Year 12 to encourage them to register.
The Minister responded:

The Minister for Education, Sport and Culture:

I would not necessarily support that idea because we are talking about again equality in provision for all individuals within our society and I do not believe that students should be treated any differently, whatever their age may be, to any other voter.

They need to be educated in the fact that there is a requirement to register in the same way ... and again we give notice to the public that that happens. There is responsibility for the individual to take, as with other members of our community, which we and our citizenship programme and curriculum is designed to do, to encourage the individual student to take responsibility for his or her actions. It is not to force-feed.[70]

The Business Manager for Schools and Colleges added:

Business Manager of the Schools and Colleges:

Could I just support your statement? The best solution we found at that time was to give them an electronic link where they could download the form themselves and then go through the process.[71]

Views on 2008 election policy

The Sub-Panel was informed by two heads of PSHE from Le Rocquier and Jersey College for Girls that, had the policy allowed it, they would have organised for different politicians to attend their schools to provide students with different views and talk about the importance of voting.

Head of Personal, Social and Health Education, Jersey College for Girls:

Yes, well every other election in about 30 how many years I have been there we have done our own election at school and we have had all the literature and we have done big displays but because of the directive this time we did not.[72]

Head of Personal, Social and Health Education Careers, Le Rocquier School:

I think if I had been given the opportunity we would have invited people in to talk to our Year 11s at an assembly and that would have been the fairest thing that we could have done. Remember for us it would have been the first time 16 year-olds could have voted and it was a really, really big thing in school about that.[73]

The Sub-Panel asked the Heads of PSHE whether it was possible to organise for politicians to visit schools during an election period in an impartial way?

Head of Personal, Social and Health Education, Jersey College for Girls: I would think so. We have been working long enough really ...

Head of Personal, Social and Health Education Careers, Le Rocquier School:

To be honest, whenever you are teaching you have to be impartial, you cannot take one side or the other.[74]

Witnesses were confident that by the age of 16 students did know how to vote:

The Deputy of Grouville :

When your students leave school would it be fair to say that they know how to vote and the importance of voting?

Head of Personal, Social and Health Education Careers, Le Rocquier School:

Yes. This is what we have been discussing in the last few weeks. You have got the vote at 16 whereas so few other people across the world get that vote, and if you want to change things you have got to vote because if you do not vote you cannot complain about how Jersey is run. You have not had any chance or you have not take a position and voted for somebody you feel could make the changes that you want. [75]

Business Manager of the Schools and Colleges:

The practical aspect of how to become a voter was usually dealt with post-16 education, but with the change in law then we had to deal it in key stage 4; and in 2008 we did a piece of work to ensure that was included in the key stage 4 curriculum. So those aspects are dealt with within the teaching of key stage 4, and understanding how to go through that process to register with the parish hall or getting the forms to them.[76]

Plans for 2011 Elections

8.6.1 The Sub-Panel asked the Minister for Education, Sport and Culture to explain what improvements would be made for the next elections in 2011.

The Minister for Education, Sport and Culture:

I think we are and will be keeping a relatively open mind. Clearly we know that you are carrying out this particular review. You have perhaps raised an issue that was not necessarily one of the department's priorities at this moment in time but it is certainly worth considering and reviewing. It fits in with our P.S.H.E. so we will consider and reflect on the experience of the last elections in 2008 and at the same time we will look obviously to any findings or recommendations that you may make to see whether or not we can improve the ability to meet the needs of our young people. That is our aim. It is not just to instruct.[77]

KEY FINDING: 12

The Sub-Panel found that attendance at official hustings by young people had been seen, at previous elections, to be minimal. It therefore believed that students must have the opportunity to attend a well planned and publicised hustings, organised on a school site, in school time, at which all politicians could attend. Schools must be able to display election literature on site and inform students why it is important to vote and attend a hustings.

RECOMMENDATION: 6

Voting Age

8.7.1 It was raised by a student during one public hearing that logistically the voting age had actually been lowered to 16 ¼ .

President and Founder of SiDes:

Yes, so ... I was a month away. My birthday is a month away from the actual voting date, which is quite annoying because it is ... yes, okay, the system had changed that you could now vote at 16, but it was actually 16 and a quarter the actual voting age.[78]

KEY FINDING: 13

Evidence showed that young people need to be 16 ¼ before they can vote, due to the registration process.

RECOMMENDATION: 7

The Sub-Panel recommend that a formal mechanism should be developed for schools to register students and forward details onto parish halls in advance of their 16th birthdays.

9 Politics outside the PSHE curriculum

Sixth Form Debating Society (SiDes)

SiDes was set up by sixth form students to provide the debating opportunity that was not, in their view, being provided to them through the education system. The society extends to all sixth forms; De La Salle, Beaulieu, Victoria College, Jersey College for Girls and Hautlieu. It is centralised around a social networking site, and meets fortnightly.
1. School councils

Throughout the review, witnesses have placed an emphasis on the importance of using political education to teach young people how to be active citizens'. Specifying that it is not just about the small proportion of the PSHE curriculum taught in class but about enabling students to have a real say about the running of their lessons and, on a greater scale, the school. In light of this the Sub-Panel believed that school councils had a vital part to play.
The review revealed that not all schools appear to have school councils and if they do they are not active school councils.

President and Founder of SiDes:

Obviously a school council in itself would help with politics but we do not have one. I

guess we could ... our headmaster is quite understanding and I am sure we could just go up to him and talk to him about it.

Deputy M. Tadier :

At Hautlieu have you got a sixth form committee?

Deputy Treasurer of SiDes:

We have got a council but it is hardly a council, it seemed to have formed a couple of years ago. We heard something about it then. Then ever since it has fizzled off since sixth form started there has not been a kind of election for students going on to the council. Obviously there is head boy and head girl, which would have a lot of say in it but no specific council as such.[79]

9.2.4 The Education and Skills committee reported on the importance of school councils in its 2007 report:

Our visits to schools were particularly valuable in allowing us to witness participation in action. At the Blue School in Wells, over 250 students were involved with the school council, which was divided into over 20 separate teams' each focusing on a particular area – examples included energy usage, management support, fair trade and Africa Link'. Students self-selected to the council, and received training in a range of skills to help them participate effectively. Each team met weekly to plan their activities, and most had brought about significant changes in their school and wider communities – for example, securing funds to rebuild bike sheds, and reducing the school's energy expenditure. Additionally, all students on the council met to discuss wider issues; these meetings were open to all students of the school.[80]

KEY FINDING: 14

Discussions with different schools suggested that school councils had not consistently been set up and run across all schools.

RECOMMENDATION: 8

The Sub-Panel requests the Minister for Education, Sport and Culture to ensure that all schools to have active school councils. Furthermore, the Sub-Panel requests for students on school councils to receive training, similar to that carried out in Guernsey.

Youth Assembly/Forum

In addition to the Year 5 visit to the States Chamber and the Year 10 Scrutiny Exercise, the Youth Assembly appears to be playing an important role for students.
Member of SiDes:

In terms of actual Jersey politics, I would say the most we have done is in preparation for the Youth Assembly when we had to prepare speeches and ask questions of the Chief Minister. That was probably the occasion we most focused on Jersey politics.

The Deputy of Grouville : Did you enjoy it?

Member of SiDes:

Yes, it was great. It was really good.[81]

The Minister for Education, Sport and Culture was also very positive about the impact of the Youth Forum and the Sub-Panel was pleased to hear that future developments of this function were already on his agenda.

Minister for Education, Sport and Culture:

I think that one of the particular areas that I am keen on, and we are looking at - perhaps it

should have been sooner rather than later - is the idea of developing a meaningful youth forum, where young people are given a voice, and can engage with other agencies, whether it be politicians, whoever.[82]

9.3.3 Members of the Sub-Panel met with students at Jersey College for Girls, who identified that it would be of great benefit for a student council to be set up permanently, where each political issue could be debated and feedback provided to the States Assembly. It was suggested that perhaps this student council could sit in the States during the alternate week to that of the Assembly. Each school could provide representatives to sit on this council so that all schools across the island were equally represented.

KEY FINDING: 15

It appeared that, in contrast to England, there are no structured channels open to young people for them to feed through their views to politicians.

RECOMMENDATION: 9

RECOMMENDATION: 10

Parental influence

Prior to the implementation of political education in the school curriculum, albeit with time constraints, it was the responsibility of families and local communities to discuss issues with young people.
The Sub-Panel were conscious that parents continued to have an important role to play and were keen to know if issues were discussed or debated within families.
One student informed the Sub-Panel:

Deputy Treasurer of SiDes:

I think actually that is ... the only reason I do know a bit about politics is through talking to my dad and my grandparents and if I had not done that I do not think I would really have a clue what was going on.[83]

It was, however, very difficult to get any conclusive evidence that suggested that this was replicated across families in Jersey. From the two school visits conducted by the Sub- Panel, it was apparent that what was the same for one family was not for the next. The Student Survey could also have indicated that families were a key source of political information for young people, but the sample size completed made any conclusions of this sought impossible.
The Sub-Panel also received submissions from members of the public, including parents, who gladly declared that they discussed political issues as a family. However, a large proportion of the submissions, expressed dissatisfaction about the running of the States and the Members themselves:

I do indeed discuss politics with my children. Sadly, those discussions necessarily revolve around the utterly incredible political situation facing this Island at the present time. Specifically that we are being represented by a number of ill-mannered, ill-educated, ill- informed individuals who are more intent on feeding their own ego's, demonstrating the unashamed politics of envy, and displaying astonishing negativity.[84]

KEY FINDING: 16

The Sub-Panel found that parental influence played a significant role in the formation of interest in politics.

Political system in Jersey

9.5.1 The Sub-Panel debated with witnesses whether the structure of the political system in Jersey is too complicated and makes it hard and perhaps boring to learn, and in some instances, teach in schools.

Head of Personal, Social and Health Education Careers, Le Rocquier School: Explaining a Centenier and a Vingtenier and explain where the numbers come from and it was because we were speaking French, then they start beginning to understand the local politics and their parish politics and how the parish is run a little bit better. For some of our students who come from Scotland or from England it is even more complex and difficult to understand. [85]

9.5.1 One submission commented:

While it is clearly outside the remit of this review to comment on whether Jersey should have political parties, the lack of political parties makes it harder for the general public to establish a relationship with their political process and to become involved.

It is suggested that this places a greater onus on political education' to engender an interest in politics and a belief in its ability to bring about real change.[86]

9.5.3 A student commented along similar lines:

President and Founder of SiDes:

One of the main issues is not having party politics. You see how well it works in almost every other country that with a party you know what you are getting. With the Jersey political system you do not because it is one person, they can change their mind, they probably will not actually get anything they stand for passed through the States so there is not much point in voting. Most people see it that way. Whereas if you have got a party that ... either a minority government system or majority then you know that if they get in then you are going to get at least some of what they stand for passed, what you want is going to become law or become reality.[87]

KEY FINDING: 17

The structure of government in Jersey is too complex and opaque for people to want to engage with it, especially those who are new to the island.

Media

The Sub-Panel believes that the media have a large part to play when it comes to creating an image of politics for the general public.
For young people who have grown up in a media age, local politics, in comparison to the UK, seems inaccessible.

President and Founder of SiDes:

Yes, I think with local politics there is nothing compared to the U.K., in the U.K. you can get all of the parliamentary debates and Prime Minister's question time. Prime Minister's question time I watch every week that it is on and if we had something like that in Jersey politics ... I know we have Chief Minister's question time, apparently, and we have got it on BBC Radio Jersey, but just something that people can actually see the politicians and get to know them then I think that might work in getting young people involved.

Member of SiDes:

As we have seen the Prime Ministerial debates almost revolutionising the way the policies are presented that has had a big impact, so it might just be kind of modernising Jersey politics, so there is greater coverage, knowing who your politicians are, increasing the awareness of who the politicians are, I think that would probably increase interest among the public, but I know it is difficult.[88]

The States Assembly website is neither user friendly nor appealing to young people. President and Founder of SiDes:

It is a good website, but it is not that clear I find. I think one of the ideas I came up with was Facebook because everyone our age is on Facebook, if you were to have a States channel on there or page, and then that had something with what questions were being asked in the States or what proposition, every so often just put that on then people might start to take some notice but they are not going to go to a website which they probably do not even know exists.[89]

There are many different mediums that could be used to encourage interaction, not only from young people but also across society.

Deputy Treasurer of SiDes:

It is fair enough getting the media involved but if it was with the J.E.P. or the BBC Radio Jersey, which people our age are not really going to listen to or ... a lot of people do not read the J.E.P. that is why I think using leaders such as Facebook and Twitter and all these kind of things, I think would be a lot more accessible to people our age.[90]

KEY FINDING: 18

Jersey is lagging behind other jurisdictions when it comes to using social media to engage local people in politics.

RECOMMENDATION: 11

The Sub-Panel recommends that the Privileges and Procedures Committee oversees the setting up of States representations on both Facebook and Twitter.

10 Political Education from a student perspective

Student Survey

The Sub-Panel designed an online survey, using Survey Monkey, which was distributed to all secondary schools and the Youth Service, with the request for representatives from each year group to take part and answer questions testing their knowledge about local politics. The Sub-Panel was very disappointed that the response to the student survey was too low for meaningful inference and conclusions. Although 325 surveys were completed, this was below 10% of the targeted student population to register a response.
The Sub-Panel believes that possible barriers to the success of the survey were the:

sporadic nature of take up by schools.
time of year, full curriculum and exam pressures.
the fact it was not a directive from the Department and schools did not feel compelled to get involved.

KEY FINDING : 19

The Sub-Panel believes that had the survey been issued as a directive from the Minister for Education, Sport and Culture all schools would have had to take part, permitting collection of meaningful analysis

Engaging young people

During the course of the review the Sub-Panel were mindful that despite the best efforts of schools and the Department for Education, Sport and Culture, perhaps students were just not that interested in political education.
After initial questioning both on school visits and at hearings, students appeared to give the indication that politics was really not important to them or to their peers.

Deputy Treasurer of SiDes:

No. You get a few people that do but the vast majority I would say do not really have any views on it or know anything about it.[91]

Further discussion with one form of students saw a dramatic reversal in attitudes. Students who at the start of a meeting could not name a political issue and had no knowledge of the structure of the States or positions held within it, after a guiding hand and enthusiasm from their teacher and questions from politicians, were openly debating live issues and seemingly enjoying it.
This reiterates the importance of getting it right in schools. While students need to be open to learning, teachers need to inspire young people, and be provided with the tools to be able to do this.

KEY FINDING : 20

The Sub-Panel found that enthusiasm and knowledge for the politicial element of PSHE varied greatly from school to school, both within the State sector and between the private and state

schools. Those in the selective' schools were found to be more engaged in local politics.

11 Other Jurisdictions

England

Citizenship education was introduced in the school curriculum in 2002 as a stand alone subject to PSHE. Comprehensive Key Stage curriculum documents have been developed and are available online.
Online facilities were also set up to support the curriculum. For example, HeadsUp (www.headsup.org.uk), which is an online space for under 18s to debate political issues important to them, run by the Hansard Society. Young people can share viewpoints with their peers and decision makers throughout the country. The idea of the forum is to develop young people's political awareness and promote active citizenship. It also enables politicians to consult with young people, to find out their ideas, experiences and opinions.
Enquiries have been carried out to review the implementation and development of citizenship in England. A report produced by the Education and Skills Committee in 2007 suggests many of the same findings that have been seen in Jersey during this enquiry for example:

The quality of citizenship education is inconsistent across the country
The approach by the DfES has been light touch' giving schools freedom in terms of delivery – but best practice could be communicated better
Development of the workforce is crucially important to the success of citizenship education
School/Student councils play a central part in citizenship education, these should be made statutory and support whole school participation not just an elite group
There needs to be a focus to make it lifelong citizenship education

Isle of Man Citizenship Programme

The Isle of Man Citizenship Programme follows many of the ideals of other jurisdictions: to develop informed citizens whilst developing skills of enquiry, communication and responsible participation.
The Sub-Panel were provided with the following election policy guidance notes for Secondary Headteachers in the Isle of Man. These provide suggested protocols regarding access by candidates in the general election to registered school pupils over the age of 16 during school hours.
The principles governing any protocols are:

to encourage understanding and involvement in the political process
to encourage young people to use their vote
to ensure fairness and balance
to prevent young people being put under any duress
to avoid disruption to education

If a school wished to invite candidates in a particular constituency to attend school and speak to young voters, then all candidates for that constituency should be invited and not just a selection of them.
If any individual candidates approach schools and seek the opportunity to address young voters, head teachers will need to use their discretion in deciding:
1. whether to agree or refuse
2. on the timing and other arrangements
3. the manner in which pupils are invited to attend any such meeting so as to avoid any compulsion to attend being placed on them.
If a head teacher gives consent, it should be borne in mind that similar consent is given to all other candidates who may seek it. Since these may be numerous because a number of constituencies may be involved this could cause considerable disruption for the running of the School.
Leaflets etc should not be displayed or distributed on the premises of the school
There is no obligation, however, for schools to invite or allow any candidates to campaign in schools and head teachers are free to refuse to do so.

Northern Ireland

The Northern Island Curriculum Development Team advised the Sub-Panel that a revised curriculum is now in place in all year groups in all grant-aided schools in Northern Ireland. One of the main aspects of the revised curriculum is that it is less prescriptive than previously, therefore the former Programmes of Study are no longer statutory.
Instead, a statutory Minimum Content has been set out as a framework on which each school can build upon. The Minimum Content provides teachers and schools the flexibility to use their professional judgement to devise schemes and units of work for all learning areas that follow the needs and interests of pupils. It is up to individual schools to decide which resources, materials and text books they use to deliver the curriculum.
Guidance material supporting the Local and Global Citizenship curriculum describes it as: an integral part of the statutory curriculum that should be delivered in a visible and discrete

way (along with the other strands of Learning for Life and Work). [92] It is something that should be linked to and supported by; the school ethos, other subjects, whole school events, community links, experiences and events and extra curricular activities to develop the cross-curricular and thinking skills and personal capabilities of the revised curriculum

The guidance material also indicates that it is not the same as citizenship in England, Wales or elsewhere.

Wales

Management of Political Education in Schools

It is the responsibility of the Local Authority, head teacher and governing body of the school to ensure that learners receive a broad, balanced curriculum that is appropriate to the age of the learners. They must not allow the teacher to promote one-sided political views when teaching any subject. Teachers must present different views in a balanced way where political issues are covered.

The legal framework for this is set out in Sections 406-407 of the Education Act 1996 ("the 1996 Act")

Section 406 of the 1996 Act places a duty on LEAs, governing bodies and head teachers to forbid partisan political activities by junior pupils (12 years of age and younger) at maintained schools, or the promotion of partisan views in teaching. Where the activities take place otherwise than at a maintained school that duty applies only where arrangements for junior pupils to take part in such activities are made by any member of the school staff (in his or her capacity as such), or anyone acting on behalf of the school or of a member of the school's staff.

Section 407 of the 1996 Act places a duty on the same bodies and persons to ensure to take such steps as are reasonably practicable to secure that where political issues are brought to the attention of pupils at a maintained school, or taking part in extra curricular activities, that they are offered a balanced presentation of opposing views.

Together these provisions set the framework for what can happen in schools. Political issues can therefore be discussed but must be treated in a balanced way with opposing views made clear.

Electoral Arrangements for young people in Wales

The Committee published its report on "Electoral Arrangements in Wales" in December 2006. This addressed a number of recommendations to the Elections Planning Group. This group which is led by Welsh Assembly Officials acts as a forum for discussion on electoral procedures and for addressing potential problems. In addition it provides a strategic oversight in the preparation of elections and the sharing of best practice. The Elections Planning Group has no statutory functions but continues to facilitate discussion and the promotion of best practice in the areas of democratic engagement amongst stakeholders.

The Electoral Commission promotes electoral registration and the compiling and maintaining of the electoral register. They have produced a Democracy Cookbook, a resource aimed at providing practical information to young people on how democracy works. Local Authorities have also adopted a number of initiatives to engage with young people in their area such as youth forums.

Political Engagement in PSE Lessons

The curriculum in Wales provides opportunities for schools to develop the political literacy of young people. The approach is focused on developing active citizenship as an integral component of Personal and Social Education (PSE), a statutory part of the curriculum for learners aged 5 – 16 in Wales. It is the responsibility of schools to plan and deliver broad, balanced PSE to meet the specific needs of all learners. The PSE Framework is the key document which schools and colleges in Wales should use to review, develop and plan PSE provision for 7 – 19 year olds. A key aim of the PSE framework is to:

Empower pupils to participate in their schools and communities as active responsible citizens and to develop a global perspective

The PSE guidance website provides the following explanation of political literacy for learning providers:

Political literacy is about helping young people become politically aware and effective. It is about giving them the ability to interpret issues and events politically and as such is a complex mix of skills, values and knowledge.

Advice about teaching the sensitive issues in PSE including the need to avoid political indoctrination in schools is also provided on the PSE guidance website (www.wales.gov.uk/personalandsocialeducation)

PSE Framework

The PSE framework specifically identifies opportunities for learners to develop a practical understanding of their rights and of the links between political decisions and their own lives Schools are provided with a clear context for developing the political literacy' of learners and their understanding of the democratic process in Wales and beyond.

Additionally, learners aged 14 – 19 years-old should have opportunities for active engagement in understanding the political, social, economic and cultural aspects of Wales as part of whole world.

Political awareness is also a requirement for those young people who are studying for the Welsh Baccalaureate Qualification.

Guernsey

Guernsey's PSHE curriculum allocates one hour a week similar to that in Jersey. Guernsey has also kept citizenship within the PSHE program, instead of as a separate strand as it is in the UK.
Politicians have access to schools, if invited, at any time. Deputy Mike O'Hara obtained funding and worked with the Guernsey PSHE Advisory Teacher to produce materials, such as lesson plans, to give to all States Members for their visits into schools. The aim of this process is to maintain a structured approach and re-assure both Politicians and schools that there is a uniform approach to what is being delivered to each school.
The Education department has not produced a written policy for schools for the election period, and is happy for schools to act as they see fit. Many schools have been active during election periods and held mock elections both with attending politicians and students only.
The Island maintains a strong school council structure. These are not compulsory for schools to have but each school has seen the benefits. There is also an island Youth Forum that meets at least each once a term. Mock Summits are also held, where each school is given a country to represent.
Guernsey put in a place a specific PSHE advisory teacher to work island wide with primary and secondary schools, to provide guidance and training for teachers and school councils. This role has been pivotal to the success and strength of the program. The Advisory teacher met every term with teachers within the schools to provide training and guidance. They also met with external agencies to help to train them and build communication between them and the schools in order to benefit the PSHE program.
Thorough frameworks and schemes of work have been designed. Time was spent adapting political education resources from the UK to make them applicable to the Island.
Recently qualified teachers now have specific citizenship qualifications from their PGCEs.

12 Appendix

Background Information

The following documents are available to read on the Scrutiny website (www.scrutiny.gov.je) with the exception of those documents that were provided to the Sub-Panel on a confidential basis or in a format unsuitable for uploading to the web.

Documents

1: Jersey	PSHE at Les Quennevais (2008) KS3/4
1: Jersey	PSHE at Haute Vallee KS3/4
1: Jersey	PSHE Primary Schemes of Work KS1/2
1: Jersey	PSHE at St Lukes
1: Jersey	Citizenship in Jersey Schools (John Renouf ) Separate file
1: Jersey	Citizenship in Jersey Schools Overarching Summary Separate file
2: Review Jersey	Review of PSHE programme at Jersey School (CONFIDENTIAL)
3:Other Jurisdictions	UK KS3 Programme of Study for Citizenship
3:Other Jurisdictions	UK KS4 Programme of Study for Citizenship
3:Other Jurisdictions	IoM Programme of Study for Citizenship
3:Other Jurisdictions	Northern Ireland Programme of Study for Citizenship
3:Other Jurisdictions	Political Engagement in Welsh Schools
3: Other Jurisdictions	Political Education / Citizenship in Guernsey
4:Review UK Citizenhip	Education and Skills Committee, Report of Second Session 2006-07
4:Review UK Citizenhip	NFER - Embedding Citizenship Education in Secondary Schools in England 2002-08 (Research Brief)
4:Review UK Citizenhip	NFER - Embedding Citizenship Education in Secondary Schools in England 2002-08 (Full Report)
4:Review UK Citizenhip	Speakers Conference on Parliamentary Representation (Citizenship and Engagement) (Jan2010)
4:Review UK Citizenhip	Youth Citizenship Commission (YCC) - Are Young People Allergic to Politics
4:Review UK Citizenhip	YCC Report (HeadsUp Forum)
4:Review UK Citizenhip	YCC Press Release
4:Review UK Citizenhip	YCC Report - Making the connection/Building Youth Citizenship in the UK
5: Youth Service	Youth Service Report
6: ESC Report	Report on Citizenship for CoM (2006)
7: Student Survey

Written Submissions

2.1 J Fitzpatrick

2.2 Victoria College

2.3 Beaulieu Convent School

2.4 Hautlieu School

2.5 Mr Vincent

2.6 Anonymous

2.7 Mr Crocker

Public Hearings 16th April 2010:

Minister for Education, Sport and Culture, accompanied by Mr C Chipperfield, Mr J Renouf and at a separate hearing, Ms S Costigan

5th May 2010:

Deputy T Pitman

Ms E Southern

Jersey Student Debating Society (SiDes)

19th May 2010:

Deputy J Maçon and Deputy T A Vallois

Mr C Chipperfield accompanied by Ms N Walls, Head of PSHE for Le Rocquier School and Ms S Le Miere, Head of PSHE for Jersey College for Girls.

[1] The Minister for Education, Sport and Culture, Transcript 16th April 2010, p2

[2] Connecting Young People with the Community, John Renouf , p3.

[3] Letter from Mr C Chipperfield 22nd February 2010.

[4] Letter from Mr C Chipperfield 22nd February 2010.

[5] The Minister for Education, Sport and Culture, Transcript 16th April 2010, p2

[6] Business Manager, Schools and colleges, Transcript 19th May 2010, p3

[7] Business Manager, Schools and colleges, Transcript 19th May 2010, p16

[8] C.Beirne, Headmaster Beaulieu Convent School, Submission 2.3

[9] Business Manager, Schools and Colleges, Transcript 19th May 2010, p16

[10] Ms E Southern , Transcript 5th May, p4

[11] Deputy Treasurer SiDes, Transcript 5th May, p7/8

[12] Ms E Southern , transcript 5th May, p5/6

[13] Head of Personal, Social and Health Education Careers, Le Rocquier School, transcript 19th May, p8

[14] Confidential Report provided by Minister for Education, Sport and Culture, p5

[15] President of SiDes, Transcript 5th May, p18

[16] Deputy Treasurer of SiDes, Transcript 5th May p14)

[17] Head of Personal, Social and Health Education, Jersey College for Girls, transcript 19th May, p9

[18] Business Manager of the Schools and Colleges, transcript 16th April, p19

[19] House of Commons Education and Skills Committee, Citizenship Education, Second Report of Session 2006-07, p19

[20] Ms E Southern , transcript 5th May, p5

[21] The Minister for Education, Sport and Culture, Transcript 16th April, p6/7

[22] Business Manager, Schools and Colleges, Transcript 16th April, p6/7

[23] Mr J Renouf , Transcript 16th April 2010, p9

[24] Business Manager, Schools and Colleges, Transcript 16th April 2010, p8

[25] Business Manager, Schools and Colleges, Transcript 16th April 2010, p10

[26] Head of PSHE, Le Rocquier School, Transcript 19th May 2010, p10

[27] Minister for Education, Sport and Culture, Transcript 16th April 2010, p20

[28] Business Manager for Schools and Colleges, Transcript 16th April 2010, p20

[29] Head of PSHE, Les Quennevais School, Transcript 16th April 2010, p17

[30] Business Manager Schools and Colleges, Transcript 16th April 2010, p17

[31] Head of PSHE, Le Rocquier School, Transcipt 19th May 2010, p22/23

[32] Deputy R Le Hérissier and Ms E Southern , transcript 5th May, p8/9

[33] Confidential Report provided by Minister for Education, Sport and Culture, p5

[34] Head of PSHE, Le Rocquier School, Transcript 19th May 2010, p22/23

[35] President SiDes, Transcript 5th May 2010, p20

[36] Head of PSHE, Jersey College for Girls, Transcript 19th May 2010, p25

[37] Head of PSHE, Le Rocquier School, Transcript 19th May 2010, p12

[38] Deputy M Tadier , Transcript 19th May 2010, p12/13

[39] Head of PSHE, Jersey College for Girls, Transcript 19th May 2010, p12

[40] Head of PSHE, Le Rocquier School, Transcript 19th May 2010, p12

[41] Head of PSHE, Jersey College for Girls, Transcript 19th May 2010, p13

[42] Minister for Education, Sport and Culture, Transcript 16th April 2010, p3/4

[43] Deputy Treasurer of SiDes, Transcript 5th May 2010, p21/22

[44] Business Manager Schools and Colleges, Transcript 19th May 2010, p3/4

[45] Business Manager Schools and Colleges and Minister for Education, Sport and Culture, Transcript 16th April 2010, p11

[46] President of SiDes, Transcript 5th May 2010, p9/10

[47] Members of SiDes, Transcript 5th May 2010, p9/10

[48] Member of SiDes, Transcript 5th May 2010, p13

[49] President of SiDes, Transcript 5th May 2010, p13

[50] Letter from Mr C Chipperfield 22nd February 2010.

[51] Business Manager Schools and Colleges, Transcript 19th May 2010, p6

[52] Business Manager Schools and Colleges, Transcript 16th April 2010, p6/7

[53] Principal Youth Officer, Transcript 16th April 2010, p2

[54] Minister for Education, Sport and Culture, Transcript 16th April 2010 (Youth Service), p7

[55] Principal Youth Officer, Transcript 16th April 2010, p4

[56] Minister for Education, Sport and Culture and Principal Youth Officer, Transcript 16th April 2010, p7

[57] Principal Youth Officer, Transcript 16th April 2010, p2/3

[58] Principal Youth Officer, Transcript 16th April 2010, p6

[59] Principal Youth Officer, Transcript 16th April 2010, p7

[60] Minister for Education, Sport and Culture and Principal Youth Officer, Transcript 16th April 2010, p14/15

[61] Minister for Education, Sport and Culture, Transcript 16th April 2010, p13

[62] Business Manager Schools and Colleges, Transcript 16th April 2010, p14

[63] Business Manager Schools and Colleges, Transcript 16th April 2010, p14

[64] Business Manager Schools and Colleges, Transcript 16th April 2010, p14

[65] Member of SiDes, Transcript 5th May 2010, p23

[66] Deputy S Pitman, Transcript 16th April 2010, p15

[67] Minister for Education, Sport and Culture, Transcript 16th April 2010, p15/16

[68] Minister for Education, Sport and Culture, Transcript 16th April 2010, p15/16

[69] Head of PSHE, Les Quennevais School, Transcript 16th April 2010, p15/16

[70] Minister for Education, Sport and Culture, Transcript 16th April 2010, p21

[71] Business Manager Schools and Colleges, Transcript 16th April 2010, p21/22

[72] Head of PSHE Jersey College for Girls, Transcript 19th May 2010, p27

[73] Head of PSHE Le Rocquier School, Transcript 19th May 2010, p28

[74] Heads of PSHE at Jersey College for Girls and Le Rocquier, Transcript 19th May 2010, p26/27

[75] Head of PSHE Le Rocquier School, Transcript 19th May 2010, p7

[76] Business Manager Schools and Colleges, Transcript 16th April 2010, p6

[77] Minister for Education, Sport and Culture, Transcript 16th April 2010, p18

[78] President of SiDes, Transcript 5th May 2010, p22

[79] Members of SiDes, Transcript 5th May 2010, p12

[80] House of Commons Education and Skills Committee – Citizenship Education. Second report of Session 2006-07

[81] Member of SiDes, Transcript 5th May 2010, p7

[82] Minister for Education, Sport and Culture, Transcript 16th April (Youth Service), p8

[83] Deputy Treasurer SiDes, Transcript 5th May 2010, p11

[84] Anonymous Submission

[85] Head of Personal, Social and Health Education Careers, Le Rocquier School, transcript 19th May, p21

[86] Mr J Fitzpatrick

[87] President SiDes, Transcript 5th May 2010, p21/22

[88] Members of SiDes, Transcript 5th May 2010, p21/22

[89] President SiDes, Transcript 5th May 2010, p16

[90] Deputy Treasurer SiDes, Transcript 5th May 2010, p17

[91] Deputy Treasurer SiDes, Transcript 5th May 2010, p11

[92] Northern Ireland Curriculum, Local and Global Citizenship, Guidance for Key Stage 4, p7

Political Education - Report - 26 November 2011