To incorporate political education into the secondary education curriculum

How does your campaign have an impact on all young people?

‘Value the Vote’ recognises that there is huge voter apathy, disengagement and lack of understanding for the political spheres. Yet at the same time, we realise that we are one of the most democratic countries of the world. We believe that much of this ‘apathy’ and lack of trust in political representatives is based considerably on lack of understanding of how Government works, who the political parties are, what they stand for and even going as simple as saying, how to vote in the ballots boxes.

‘Value the Vote’ aims to teach young people everything from the importance of their vote, how they can get involved in the democratic process, to how Government passes legislation and what that legislation means to them!

It aims ultimately to make political engagement a way of life and to break down barriers to the political field caused by lack of understanding.

What would be the ultimate goal of this campaign?

Within one year we hope to;

have substantial data to establish the averages of young people’s knowledge of ‘politics’;

have consulted MPs, Councilors and Educational depts. to ascertain what political knowledge they believe young people have and what they think should be on the curriculum;

have worked on our own aims of what should be on the political education curriculum;

spoken about practicalities of encompassing a lesson dedicated to politics within the school timetable with relevant bodies;

What challenges do you expect to face if this was to become a national campaign?

Strengths/Opportunities:

Government is already keen to encourage more young people to participate in political issues, stand for election and vote.  (and therefore);

Funding should be easily accessible.

We have huge support regionally and across the West Midlands.

We have clear aims;

Previous and similar campaigns, such as SRE, have been successfully lobbied.

Weaknesses/Threats:

When it comes to implementing the programme, staff training will have to be considered.

There is a very broad range of issues that could be covered, it is important to remain focused [when writing the politics curriculum], on the who what where why and how’s that affect young people/adults directly.