Citizenship Education in Wales
Since 2022 Wales has had a ‘Purpose Led Curriculum’. One of the four overarching purposes of the Curriculum is ‘Ethical, informed citizens who are ready to be citizens of Wales and the world.’ The inclusion of citizenship has served to raise its visibility and importance in Wales.
As citizenship sits as a purpose of the curriculum as a whole, all areas of learning and experience should contribute towards the knowledge, skills and understandings of citizenship education. Practically however, much of the content related to citizenship sits within the ‘Humanities Area of Learning and Experience’, and the subject of Social Studies in particular.
The curriculum guidance for social studies includes:
A new ‘made for Wales’ social studies GCSE qualification is currently in development, based on the Curriculum for Wales, and will be first awarded in 2028. In addition a suite of non-GCSE ‘skills’ qualifications are being developed to include specific units on politics and citizenship.
Until the new curriculum and qualifications are rolled out to ages 14-16, the existing level 2 ‘Skills Challenge Certificate’ and the level 3 ‘Advanced Baccalaureate Wales’ qualifications include significant focus on aspects of citizenship.
In Wales there is significant focus on political literacy, as voting at 16 is already in place for Senedd and Local elections, and Wales also has a Youth Parliament. A range of different organisations and groups are supporting schools with resources and information related to citizenship.
Useful information:
As citizenship sits as a purpose of the curriculum as a whole, all areas of learning and experience should contribute towards the knowledge, skills and understandings of citizenship education. Practically however, much of the content related to citizenship sits within the ‘Humanities Area of Learning and Experience’, and the subject of Social Studies in particular.
The curriculum guidance for social studies includes:
- social issues, identity, rights and responsibilities, and social organisation
- encourage active participation and engagement with social issues through social enquiry, discussions and social action
- develop an understanding of how systems of government in Wales operate and affect people’s lives, and how they compare with other systems
- explore the concepts of governance, rights, equality, inequality, ethnicity, gender and poverty
A new ‘made for Wales’ social studies GCSE qualification is currently in development, based on the Curriculum for Wales, and will be first awarded in 2028. In addition a suite of non-GCSE ‘skills’ qualifications are being developed to include specific units on politics and citizenship.
Until the new curriculum and qualifications are rolled out to ages 14-16, the existing level 2 ‘Skills Challenge Certificate’ and the level 3 ‘Advanced Baccalaureate Wales’ qualifications include significant focus on aspects of citizenship.
In Wales there is significant focus on political literacy, as voting at 16 is already in place for Senedd and Local elections, and Wales also has a Youth Parliament. A range of different organisations and groups are supporting schools with resources and information related to citizenship.
Useful information:
- Curriculum for Wales: Humanities
- Welsh Centre for International Affairs (WCIA)
- Senedd: Education
- Electoral Commission of Wales
- Guidance for teaching citizenship and how practitioners should remain impartial when teaching political issues has been developed by the Association for Citizenship Teaching for Welsh Government