'Heaven help the teachers!' Parents' perspectives on the introduction of education for citizenship

Abstract

Education for citizenship has the teaching of social and moral education, community involvement and political literacy at its core. Perhaps more than any other curriculum area, the influence of the home is significant, yet little is known of the extent to which parents support the teaching of citizenship. This paper presents the findings from a case study into the perspectives of thirty-six parents in two primary and one secondary school. Although there is diversity of opinion among the parents, the majority support the work of their child's school in social and moral education and want more information about what is done. There is less support for community involvement and for the teaching of political literacy, although this varies according to the age of the child and social class.