Researchers from Kent have found that many teachers in England are concerned about the role of active civic engagement in primary schools due to the cost-of-living crisis and the Covid pandemic. The findings are part of a project which aimed to map active civic engagement activities across the country.
The research draws on data from over 2000 teachers. The report, which is the first phase of the ESRC funded research project ‘Education for Social Good’, uncovers important findings regarding active civic engagement, such as volunteering, social action, charity donations, fundraising and campaigning within primary schools.
The issues raised within the report highlight the impact of the socio-economic disadvantage on children’s civic learning opportunities, which have been exacerbated in recent times in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic and as the cost-of-living crisis takes hold. As a result, the researchers suggest that tension is arising in schools as they increasingly take on the role of welfare providers, whilst simultaneously trying to encourage children to support others less fortunate.
Dr Alison Body, Senior Lecturer in Philanthropic Studies and Social Policy at Kent, said: ‘Focusing on civic learning within schools means discussing issues of poverty, inequality, civic responsibility and social justice. In a context where significant numbers of children are directly and increasingly experiencing these issues in their home lives, our research has found that many teachers have raised concerns around the moral tensions of bringing these discussions into the learning space.’
The report also raised issues of equality, as it uncovered that children from the most privileged backgrounds are most likely to have early access to active civic engagement opportunities, and thus are most likely to be equipped with these skills pre-secondary school.
‘The potential implications of this,’ said Dr Body, ‘are that certain socio-economic groups are readied for participative civic engagement more than others, increasing the likelihood of these voices being more dominant as they grow, reproducing societal inequalities in citizenship engagement rather than seeking to redress them.’
From the research, Dr Body also stresses the importance of actively engaging children within the civic education process. ‘Engaging children and young people from all backgrounds in active civic decision-making should not simply be about developing a rhetoric about how to grow children as future participants, volunteers and donors. Instead, we should question how we can support and facilitate children and young people to critically question systems and structures which can reproduce inequality and consider different ways of being.
‘These findings suggest that we need to pay greater attention to participatory and justice orientated approaches to engaging children in civic activities within primary education. For example, if we encourage children to donate food to the foodbank, we should also encourage them to think critically about why food poverty exists and explore longer term solutions beyond charity.’
The report found that teachers are a relatively well engaged group of citizens, who are passionate about supporting children’s active civic engagement – and this proves crucial for instilling civic responsibility within children. The research established a positive relationship between teachers own engagement, and how they approach such topics within the classroom – in short the more civically engaged a teacher is the more likely they are to engage children in participatory and justice oriented civic learning in the classroom. This, coupled with support from external civil organisations could be the key to overcoming some of the civic learning challenges faced by schools, as data from the report shows that external organisations, specifically charities working in the civic learning arena, have the potential to make a positive impact on children’s civic learning journeys.
The full report ‘Educating for Social Good: Part 1’, is available to download via the Educating for Public Good webpage.
Dr Alison Body is a Senior Lecturer in the School of Social Policy, Sociology and Social Research, and a member of the Centre for Philanthropy. Dr Body has written numerous research articles and reports exploring philanthropy and the third sector, particularly in relation to children, young people and education. Interested in the intersection between the third sector and state, publications cover topics such as youth participation, voluntary action in primary education, fundraising in schools, co-production of public services and most recently children’s perceptions and experiences of charity and charitable giving.