Running a mock election in your school
Mock elections are one of the most effective civic education activities a school can run. Research cited by the Hansard Society finds that participating in citizenship-related activities at school, such as mock elections, makes young people more likely to engage in political activity as adults — even when controlling for other factors like later educational attainment. They are also, when done well, genuinely enjoyable.
There are two good ways to run one, and which fits depends on your timing.
Option 1: Aligned with a real general election
If a real UK general election is coming up, the best resource by far is the Hansard Society's free nationwide programme. The Hansard Society has run mock elections in UK schools at every general election for over fifty years, and produces a comprehensive toolkit each time, with students standing as candidates for the real parties contesting your constituency. It gives students a genuine connection to a real democratic event, and a real national result to compare their own against.
Register and download their toolkit at hansardsociety.org.uk.
Option 2: Any time of year
General elections don't come round often, and there's no reason civic education should wait for one. For a ready-to-run mock election you can deliver in form time, at any point in the school year, we've built our own toolkit — with three separate versions tailored to primary, secondary and sixth form students.
Read the full classroom mock election toolkit →
Whichever route you choose: the non-partisan ground rules
These apply regardless of which model you run:
- Equal time for every party or group. Same speaking time, same poster space, same access to materials.
- Teachers don't signal their own views. The classroom is one of the few public spaces where students can encounter all sides of an argument without being told which to take.
- Discuss policies, not people. Debate the idea, not the people who hold it.
- Plan for contentious topics in advance rather than reacting in the moment.
Sources: Hansard Society (Mock Elections programme and research on civic activities and adult political engagement).