Youths Should Co-Design School Based Civic Curriculum
Many self-governing nations around the world are in distress, what is being called the fear of politics or democracy deficit. This is a result of deterioration in traditional systems of political commitment, membership to the political parties and voter turnout that keeps falling. One theme that is central to these problems is the issue of the young people being disengaged politically. This cannot really be described to be a new issue; there have been arguments all over the globe about the need for more civic education for the young people. The main argument in regard to the need for more civic education is that people are no longer capable enough to be citizens or to even participate in politics (Chou & Gagnon, 2017). Schools, families and community based organizations that are key institutions have failed greatly in the refinement of basic civic dispositions and skills by not involving the youths in civic decision making process. The society fails to understand that young people are the leaders of tomorrow and they understand issues affecting the society much better because these are things that are affecting them. This exclusion is wrong, it is what brings about the issue of youth political disengagement and is an insufficient policy making practice.
Many young people today feel like they are poorly represented when it comes to matters of important decision making most especially on matters that directly affect their lives. Whether it is at the regional or the national levels, the young people convey a sense of exclusion from community debates and this is because young people are not respected and trusted to help create policies that are beneficial to them (Bovill et al., 2009). If democratic citizenship is to be revitalized and sustained, levels if civic education and information need to be increased and this can only be done by experts in the education sector. It is not easy for people to comprehend political happenings or to even integrate new data in to a prevailing frame work if they do not possess the elementary level of civic knowledge (Chou & Gagnon, 2017). Civic knowledge is significant, and it can help residents to understand their benefits in political procedures and the way that they can promote their interests more successfully.
In Australia for instance, most of the young people have no interest in political matters. A study conducted in the years 2018 showed that students between the ages of 6 to 10 years do not understand Australian politics and their main interests were on overseas political structures (Zyngier, 2019). In Australia, the traditional approach to civic education is isolated to only learning about the formal political structures (Briggs, 2011, Zyngier, 2019). This is a single unit that is studies in both the primary and secondary education, meaning that students do not have an opportunity to clearly understand politics and their importance to the society. The range, complexity and eminence of educational constituents that are available in educational institutions are lacking greatly (Briggs, 2011). This has led to a non-critical appreciation and valuation of what democracy is all about and how it should be for the students.
School based civic education can greatly aid to construct a classroom setting that inspires respectful debates of civic and political matters in ways that help to nurture civic awareness and commitment. A categorical focus on learning about polling and votes increases the possibility that a young person will take part in political actions like the elections once they reach the voting age (Bessant, et al., 2016). There are those that argue that schools are not significant players in development of civic engagement. The argument is that schools are structured in such a manner that they replicate social economic settings that shape political morals and outlooks (Healey et al., 2014). This argument is however wrong, an innovative tactic to designing of the curriculum can be assumed including co-designing a democratic curriculum that can help to improve policy maker experts
The practice of what they call ‘co-design’ as a section of what is known as citizen centred revolution in public administration is becoming increasingly popular among many government agencies (Chou & Gagnon, 2017). The main aim of this is to try and improve customer service and relations between the providers and the clients. The element that supports this policy shift is the perception that the people that are most affected by a policy are the ones that should be given the greatest say in its implementation. Policies that are made in matters to do with education affects children and the young people, this then means that these are the people that should participate greatly in their implementation (Bessant, et al., 2016). By giving the young people a chance to participate in the policy making of educational policies; it helps to ensure that the programs and the services within the policies are organized around the needs and priorities of these people rather than the needs of the government. Co-design is an effective structure in that it is interactive in nature; it is based on a mutually dependent partnership between the citizens and the government (Healey et al., 2014). These two parties are expected to show respect, trust, openness and responsibility.
One feature that is still prevalent in the educational practices is the fact that curriculums are largely drafted by the adult specialists. In most of the countries, the curriculum is normally devised by the state run education organizations that are stereotypically controlled by multifaceted administrative and responsibility necessities (Bessant, et al., 2016). Such situations render the students to have very marginal review roles. The students are subordinated to the teachers and the curriculum experts who do not understand the students’ civic interests as young people (Bessant, et al., 2016).. There are many obstacles that face any move that is made to try and change to co-design a civic curriculum.
Co-design is a significant policy revolution that has the prospective to profit both the young persons and the high-ranking programme, and syllabus expert who work in partnership with them on issues affecting the youths (Bessant, et al., 2016). Co-design is directly capable of influencing the societies and the lived experiences of the young people. This has a positive impact on the way these young people engage in civic education that they receive. It is mostly motivated by the fact that they contributed in its design and implementation. The young people appreciate a co-designed school based civic curriculum because they perceive it to be their own (Hartung, 2017). Young people about political contribution and concepts of equality much better when they are given an opportunity to put it into practice within their communities and also in their schools. Young people are only understand what a responsible citizen is all about when they are empowered to exercise control over their own lives by making decisions about concerns affecting them (Bovill et al., 2012).
A school can be defined to be a transformative institution in that it can either help or hinder the process of a young person becoming a responsible citizen. A school can emphasize on the principles from the practice of co-design in order to encourage students into school wide governance boards and committees, all which offer civic education (Bovill et al., 2009). Though schools cannot be democratic, they can create opportunities that permit the students to take part in decision making especially on matters regarding school budgets, the curriculum and other important policies.
It is important to note that a school is a setting that can help the young people to practice and develop abilities while experiencing the values that are necessary in sustaining a democratic society. Many higher education institutions have openly stated the graduate qualities that they wish their students to cultivate and devotion to this attributes is repeatedly paid (Bovill et al., 2012). The institutions try to provide the opportunities as well as the experiences that can help enable the students to develop global citizenship. However, many scholars all around the world continue to struggle, unable to identify opportunities that can help the students to learn about egalitarianism by practising egalitarian values (Hartung, 2017). The best way this can be achieved is by promoting the contribution of the students in processes of making decisions about their school affairs for instance promotion of student motivation and participation.
One problem that is noted in student participation and inclusion in co-designing of the curriculum is that it is restricted to a selected group of students. This is a limiting factor because only the students that are given an opportunity to participate recognize the benefits of participation. Participation chances in a school situation with all the students engaged is more efficient than that one that only considers the student councils, who are a group of selected individuals (Head, 2011). Students develop citizenship qualities when they reflect on knowledge and experiences that were previously acquired. The process of developing and negotiating learning questions with their teachers as well as their peers help them to develop democratic interests and it motivates them to get to understand much better and to also participate in political matters more often (Head, 2011).
The young people are defined to be the leaders of tomorrow, leaders that need to mentored and shaped right from when they are young so that they can understand every concept in democracy. Co-design of school based civic curriculum is the best model in that it gathers and constructs on the knowledge and abilities in techniques that help to uphold the eminence of the youths as ethical political proxies. Co-design offers educators an opportunity to understand the political world of their scholars, and to collaboratively work with them in techniques that are in favour of the growth of more democratic civilizations and performances. Co-designing can similarly help to create a curriculum that will superiorly enlighten the policy developers about the genuine dogmatic profile and undertakings of the young people. This will greatly help to counter the assumptions that young people are apolitical, self-absorbed and lack interest in civil undertakings.
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