Socioeconomic differences lead to inequalities within political engagement. Does Education tackle this or encourage it?
Education is seen as an equaliser, encouraging change and engagement in society for all people regardless of our backgrounds. In England, schools are placed at the center of research and policies for enhancing socioeconomic mobility (Hoskins, B, et al. 2017). However, very little attention has been placed on the importance of socioeconomic inequalities in political engagement and education’s ability to create political mobility (Hoskins, B, et al. 2017). ‘Political mobility’ is the opportunity given to young people, from non-engaged families, to become political (Hoskins, B et al. 2017). Schools should encourage this, especially as citizenship education is compulsory for 11-16 year olds in England, although low value is placed on citizenship education by teachers, students and parents (Hoskins, B & Janmaat, JG. 2019). Without importance placed on growing political engagement, can schools ever be seen as an enhancer of socioeconomic mobility? Can they actually encourage change? Or as Marxists would argue, is the education system a state apparatus teaching children their role in a capitalist system (Hoskins, B & Janmaat, JG. 2019:50).
Photo by Zainul Yasni.
Schools in England do have compulsory citizenship education, and studies have shown that courses in citizenship do increase political knowledge (Ben-Porath, S. 2013), however the way this education is presented can drastically change how effective it is. A few lessons that mention the importance of political engagement and voting is not enough to involve all children from all backgrounds. There is little pressure for these children to actively engage with their citizenship education (Hoskins, B, et al. 2017), and although studies show that taking a government course raised students political knowledge by 3% (Gimpel, J, et al. 2003), there needs to be more opportunities to express and engage in politics during this time of compulsory education, to allow for a higher percentage, of all students, to see an increase in their political knowledge.
Effective ways to encourage engagement would be having an inspiring open classroom set up, a class where students can share how they feel and have open discussions with a teacher who respects their opinions (Hoskins, B, et al. 2017). As well as activities like debates and school council opportunities becoming compulsory, not voluntary. As whilst these activities are great for encouraging engagement it is mostly middle class students, who have a politically engaged home, that want to participate as they have the knowledge prior to discuss and debate such issues (Hoskins, B, & Janmaat, JG. 2019). These changes can allow schools to tackle these socioeconomic inequalities that lead to poor political engagement, and allow for a once classist environment to encourage discussion amongst all children and remove the alienating environment for working class children, who wish to be involved but are not accepted due to their differences in expression.
Earlier I mentioned ‘political mobility’ (Hoskins, B, et al. 2017) and without these opportunities allowing for non-engaged families to become political, we see a large decline in statistics of young people voting once they turn of legal voting age, 18 years old in the UK. In the 2010 UK general election there was about a 30% difference in voter turnouts between 18-24 year olds and 55-64 year olds (Ipsos MORI, 2010). With the youth voter turnout declining by about 30% since the 1970’s (Hoskins, B & Janmaat, JG. 2015), the decline in the youth vote means that the UK has large inequalities amongst its voting. This is projected even more with the votes from those in the lowest socioeconomic groups decreasing by 20% and those in the highest groups only decreasing by 7% (Hoskins,B & Janmaat, JG. 2015). Meaning that the inequality within voting is coming from all areas, those in lower socioeconomic groups are not voting and especially the young working class.
percentage of people said they voted in their last national election, categorised by income. You can see that many countries have an issue with those in the bottom quintile not voting as much as wealthier citizens.
IPPR, 2015.
With voters in lower socioeconomic groups declining by 20% (Hoskins, B& Janmaat, JG. 2015) the inequalities in political engagement is clear, here is where the education system and compulsory citizenship education should come in to help those in politically disengaged families. However citizenship education is only compulsory until 16, and studies have shown that mid to late adolescence has been identified as the key period for engaging politically, as younger people become engaged in societal affairs (Hoskins, B & Janmaat, JG. 2015). With this in mind, having citizenship education compulsory for younger ages only, does not allow for full effect in helping political engagement, and those who are not already politically engaged in their homes are still disinterested. I say citizenship education should be compulsory until 18, to allow for guidance and to ensure that education can support people from disadvantaged backgrounds to find their political voice! (Hoskins, B & Janmaat, JG. 2015).
What do you think? Do you think better citizenship education would help the socioeconomic voter divide? and help schools become the equalisers they are meant to be?
Bibliography:
Ben-Porath, S. (2013) Deferring virtue: The new management of students and the civic role of schools. SAGE Journals. 11(2). Pp: 111-128. Doi: https://doi.org/10.1177%2F1477878513485172
Gimpel, J., James, G., Lay, C., Schuknecht, JE. (2003) Cultivating Democracy. Civic Environments and Political Socialization in America. Brookings Institution Press.
Hoskins, B., Janmaat, JG. (2015) Educational trajectories and inequalities of political engagement amongst adolescents in England. Elsevier. 56. Pp: 73-89. Doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ssresearch.2015.11.005
Hoskins, B., Janmaat, JG. (2019) Education, Democracy and Inequality: Political Engagement and Citizenship Education in Europe: Political Engagement and Citizenship Education in Europe. Palgrave Macmillan UK.
Hoskins, B., Janmaat, JG., Melis, G. (2017) Tackling inequalities in political socialisation: A systematic analysis of access to and mitigation effects of learning citizenship at school. Elsevier. 68. Pp: 88-101. Doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ssresearch.2017.09.001
Ipsos MORI. (2010) Political Monitor Archive. Available at: https://www.ipsos.com/ipsos-mori/en-uk/political-monitor-archive?oItemId=2613&view=wide (Accessed on: 03.03.21)
IPPR (2015) Political Inequality: Why British Democracy must be reformed and revitalised. Available at: https://ippr.org/read/political-inequality-why-british-democracy-must-be-reformed-and-revitalised#political-inequality-in-the-uk-causes-symptoms-and-routes-to-renewal (Accessed: 03.03.21)
Hi, Gemma! This was a really interesting and insightful piece.
This is such an important topic! It’s true that it’s assumed that education is supposed to create equal opportunities for everyone regardless your personal characteristics, such as what type of socioeconomic background you come from. As middle class children are more likely to have undergone a more ‘successful’ political socialisation in the home than working class children, children from different social backgrounds have different political starting points when they enter the school system. I think that citizenship education is such an important tool for both levelling these differences, as well as enhancing children’s political socialisation overall. Citizenship education is especially important for those children who lack a thorough political socialisation from the home, which sadly often tend to be children with a working class background. I find the fact that the quality of citizenship education is so varied depending on which school you’re in, is frustrating as it can potentially create accelerating effects of inequality between the social classes. This will only exacerbate the existing class inequalities, and why the government is not doing more is difficult to understand. The fact that citizenship education it’s not prioritised more is depressing, considering the positive effects it could have had.
I completely agree that political school activities should be made compulsories for all students – considering that middle class students are more likely to participate and do well in such actives. I think that encouraging, or ‘targeting’, working class children to participate in such activates would be beneficial as it would help bridge the knowledge gap between working class and middle class children. Feeling a sense of accomplishment by joining such political school activities can help encourage further political participation for working class children! I believe that this could have further positive outcomes for their political engagement later in life.
As your statistic shows, young people tend to vote less than their older counterparts. Ultimately, I think creating a stronger and better school curriculum for citizenship education is definitely a place to start as a way to enhance young people’s voter turnout.
Hi Johanne, thanks for your comment! I’m glad you found my post insightful.
I completely agree, it is distressing that citizenship education is not prioritised, so many children and young people would benefit from good citizenship education!
Exactly what I was putting across! Compulsory educational activities would really help that political knowledge, and interest, gap between working class and middle class children.
We are completely on the same page on this topic. Creating a stronger, better curriculum for citizenship education is a great place to start to increase voters from lower socio-economic groups. After all, if people are more aware of the importance of voting and using your political voice, they are more likely to vote!