Policy · Civic Education Proposal

Embedding political literacy in PSHE and citizenship

A policy proposal from More Political Education — about an 8-minute read

This document sets out what we think a meaningful improvement to political and civic education in UK schools should look like. It is non-partisan: nothing in it depends on supporting any particular political party, and nothing in it argues for telling students what to think. Our position is simpler — that every young person should leave school understanding how their democracy works and how to take part in it, regardless of whether they choose to.

The starting point: what the law already says

One thing worth being honest about up front: citizenship is already a statutory subject in the national curriculum for secondary schools in England. It has been since 2002. The current programme of study, last updated in 2013, requires that students aged 11–16 are taught — among other things — the operation of Parliament, voting and elections, the role of political parties, the different roles of the executive, legislature and judiciary, and the role of a free press.

So the campaign is not really arguing for something new to be added. It is arguing that what is already required should actually be delivered — consistently, accurately, and to a standard that matches its importance. (There has been a welcome development on this front since we first wrote this proposal — see "Why now," below.)

Why the gap exists in practice

The Constitution Society, a non-partisan research body, set out the problem clearly in a 2025 report: many young people's experience of citizenship education in school is "a series of sporadic and disparate episodes encountered across PSHE lessons, assemblies, drop-down days and tutor times, often delivered by hard-pressed non-specialist teachers who haven't had training in teaching about the technicalities of the UK's political institutions, systems and uncodified constitution." The result is that a statutory entitlement on paper becomes, in practice, a postcode lottery.

None of this is the fault of teachers — it is a structural problem. Citizenship as a discrete subject has fewer specialist teachers than most other curriculum areas, less dedicated curriculum time, and limited inspection priority. PSHE, where much political-literacy content actually lands, is non-statutory in itself, which means it competes for time with everything else schools are asked to deliver.

What we are proposing

Our proposal has five parts. They are designed to work together, and they are designed to be practical — none of them requires new legislation in order to begin.

1. A clear minimum entitlement

Every secondary school in England should be expected to deliver a clearly defined minimum amount of discrete civic and political education across key stages 3 and 4 — covering at minimum: how Parliament works, the difference between local and national government, how elections function, how laws are made, how to evaluate political information, and how to participate as a citizen. The exact hours can be debated; the principle that there is a minimum cannot be optional.

2. Better teacher support

Most teachers delivering this content are not citizenship specialists. They are doing their best with limited training and limited time. Schools should have access to high-quality, free, non-partisan teaching resources — produced by independent bodies such as the Hansard Society, the Electoral Commission, the House of Commons Library and the Parliament Education Service — and ideally to short CPD modules that build confidence in handling political topics fairly in the classroom.

3. Media literacy as part of the offer

It is no longer possible to teach about elections, parties or political institutions without also teaching about how political information reaches young people — through social media, algorithmically-ranked feeds, and sources whose origins are often unclear. Media literacy is not a separate subject; it is part of what political literacy now has to mean.

4. Practical, experiential opportunities

Mock elections, debates, deliberation exercises and visits to councils or Parliament have a long track record of building democratic confidence. The Hansard Society has run nationwide mock elections in UK schools at every general election for over fifty years. These activities should not be optional add-ons available only to keen schools — they should be normal, expected parts of the secondary experience.

5. Genuine non-partisanship as a discipline

The biggest risk to civic education in schools — and the one that worries teachers most — is that it slips into telling students what to think rather than how to think. Any strengthening of this provision must come with clear, practical guidance for teachers on handling political topics fairly: presenting multiple sides, using evidence, and protecting the principle that the classroom is a place to learn how to argue, not what to argue. This is not a constraint on good civic education. It is what makes good civic education possible.

Why now

The UK government's Representation of the People Bill would lower the voting age to 16 for all elections. According to the House of Commons Library and the Electoral Commission, this would enfranchise approximately 1.7 million young people. The change is significant — but it only works well if those young people enter the electorate informed and prepared. Extending the franchise without strengthening the education that underpins it would be a missed opportunity.

There has also been real, welcome movement on the curriculum itself. The independent Curriculum and Assessment Review, led by Professor Becky Francis CBE, published its final report in November 2025, and the government has accepted its recommendation to make citizenship a statutory subject in primary schools for the first time — covering democracy and government, media literacy, and law and rights, alongside the existing secondary provision. This is genuinely good news, and it reflects exactly the direction this proposal argues for.

It also means the harder part of the job is still ahead. The new curriculum takes effect from September 2028, which leaves a real gap to plan for: teachers need training and resources well before then, primary schools already describe their timetables as "full to bursting" and will need support fitting citizenship in, and secondary provision — statutory since 2002 but inconsistently delivered — still needs the same attention as this new primary entitlement is getting. A statutory requirement on paper is a strong foundation. Whether it becomes a strong subject in practice depends on what happens between now and 2028, and after.

What we are not proposing

To be specific about what this is not:

• We are not proposing that schools teach students which party to support, which views to hold, or which side of any political question is correct. The opposite — we are proposing that schools equip students to evaluate political claims and reach their own conclusions.
• We are not proposing that political education become an additional pressure on already-stretched teachers without support. The proposal centres on resources, training and a clear entitlement — not on extra unfunded duties.
• We are not proposing that this replaces other valuable subjects. Civic education sits alongside, not instead of, the existing curriculum.

The principle behind the proposal

A democracy works better when its citizens understand how it functions. That is not a partisan claim. It is the starting point that every party in Parliament accepts, in principle, even where they disagree about the detail. Our proposal is an attempt to translate that shared principle into something practical — a clear, deliverable improvement to how UK schools prepare young people for democratic life.

We welcome engagement from teachers, schools, parents, policymakers, charities and elected representatives of any party. Civic education is a cross-party issue. We want to keep it that way.

Sources used in this proposal: Department for Education (national curriculum for citizenship, 2013); Curriculum and Assessment Review Final Report and Government Response (November 2025); House of Lords Library (Teaching citizenship and life skills in schools, 2023; Votes at 16, 2025); House of Commons Library (Representation of the People Bill 2024–26 briefing); Electoral Commission (Understanding the Representation of the People Bill); The Constitution Society (Why we need more teaching and learning about UK democracy in English secondary schools, 2025); Hansard Society (Mock Elections programme and Citizenship Education resources).