From the classroom to the public sector: The difference civics education can make
Writer Claire Finlayson explores the current state of affairs with civics education in Aotearoa New Zealand and asks how students, public servants, and all citizens can benefit from strengthening their knowledge on this subject.
The prospect of 16-year-old New Zealanders learning about civics at school and being able to vote does not thrill ACT Party leader David Seymour. In January, he said, “Combine voting at 16 with civics delivered by left-wing teacher unionists and you’ve got a recipe for cultural revolution, pitting indoctrinated socialist youth against the parents and taxpayers who pay their bills.”
Comments like this show the fault lines lurking beneath the seemingly benign topic of civics education in this country. That a strong civics education begets a robust democracy is a no-brainer. It’s the matter of how civics is delivered that seems to cause the most debate.
Civics advocacy: the Bronwyns
It’s worth noting here that what some refer to as ‘civics’ (and we’ll do so too for readerly ease) has two strands within the New Zealand Curriculum: ‘civics education’ covers civic processes (such as voting) and a citizen’s rights and duties; ‘citizenship education’ focuses on developing ‘active citizens’ who participate in society and understand how to effect change democratically.
Among those who have called for civics education to be better supported in this country are two distinguished Bronwyns: Dr Bronwyn Wood and Professor Bronwyn Hayward. Bronwyn Hayward is based in the Department of Political Science and International Relations, University of Canterbury. She’s also Convenor of the Civics, Citizenship & Political Literacy Working Group – an impressive cross-disciplinary range of thinkers gathered under the umbrella of the New Zealand Political Studies Association.
This working group seeks to support civics education for all students, find ways for political scientists to help the professional development of educators, and inform national conversations around these ideas. The discussion paper they presented to Parliament in 2018 (called Our Civic Future) helped galvanise the development of a new Civics and Citizenship Education resource, launched in 2021 within the Ministry of Education’s School Leavers’ Toolkit.
The other Bronwyn, Dr Wood, is Associate Professor of the School of Education, Te Herenga Waka –Victoria University of Wellington. She has spent many years researching best practice for teaching civics, is an adviser on the aforementioned working group, contributed to the School Leavers’ Toolkit resource, and was involved in the re-write of the Social Sciences Curriculum. These Bronywns know their civic onions.
Formal vs informal civics
Some believe civics ought to be a compulsory subject in New Zealand schools. Bronwyn Wood says it’s not that it’s been absent from our curriculum – more that it’s dispersed and not neon-signposted. “In countries that do a formal civics curriculum, like Singapore and America, it’s easier to itemise. But what we do here within Social Studies is actually quite comparable; there’s also a bit in P.E., Health, and Science – the citizen science stuff – so it’s kind of scattered.”
Whether or not that content finds leverage within a given school or class is a moot point. “That’s the risk – it relies on the inspired teacher. We have one of the most open, unprescribed curriculums in the world, alongside countries like Scotland, Wales, Israel, and the Netherlands. We don’t know exactly what’s being taught because teachers have so much autonomy.”
A compulsory model is no guarantee of civics excellence, though. Bronwyn Wood says, “The countries which have a civics curriculum tend to do it in a deadly boring way that doesn’t engage kids.” She cites Singapore where students have to do 40 hours of community participation and volunteering. “That can become very tokenistic rather than something holistic that’s embedded within the schooling experience.”
Our New Zealand model, says Bronwyn Wood, is more aspirational. “What we have is the potential to do civics in a really exciting way that’s highly engaging and memorable and might last a whole lifetime.”
Bronwyn Hayward has witnessed this sort of deep learning through a research project (funded by The Deep South) that she and others are conducting in Canterbury. Called Mana Rangatahi, it’s focused on growing indigenous youth participation in climate change decision-making. “When you work with students from a position of the strengths they bring from their communities you can really accelerate effective civic engagement.”
The problem with opt-in civics education is that some students fall through the gaps. This was evident the last time New Zealand took part in the International Citizenship and Civics Study in 2009. As well as achieving some of the highest scores for civics knowledge, many of our students also scored some of the lowest. No other country had such a wide distribution of results. Some call this the ‘civic empowerment gap’. Bronwyn Hayward explains: “This gap happens when wealthy students learn to take advantage of all the democratic levers citizens have to make changes, while low income students are left further and further behind.”
Curriculum crowding
The new Social Sciences Curriculum (Te Ao Tangata) only came out in full at the beginning of 2023 in draft form as part of Te Mātaiaho/the refreshed New Zealand Curriculum. There’s now a strong focus on social action and participation, structures of government, and comparisons with other countries. Bronwyn Wood says, “The new curriculum refresh is trying to provide more structured and intentional learning.” She adds that this refreshed curriculum has now gone back for review with the new government so, once again, there’s a period of flux.
The other issue is curriculum crowding. Bronwyn Wood says there’s so much good new history content that one of the unexpected casualties has been civics: “Teachers are scrambling to upskill on the new Aotearoa New Zealand histories and that’s meant that some of the civics learning has been dislodged. So now we have some schools only teaching the history and not the civics.”
Bronwyn Hayward hopes civics will get more traction once the history knowledge has bedded in. “I don’t think they’re either/ors. I think understanding the history of this place and its constitutional evolution is really essential for also understanding relationships between the Crown and Māori and the implications for all citizens of New Zealand.”
Political literacy
Bronwyn Wood thinks the call for more civics is generally concerned with political literacy. “It isn’t taught very well. That results in really patchy levels of knowledge. We see it in the students coming through university – some have no idea how MMP works or how you present a bill to Parliament.”
Add to this the fact that educators feel at risk talking about political issues in class and you have a perfect storm. “Teachers are often accused of lobbying for one particular party,” says Bronwyn Wood. “That’s when it gets a bit hairy. Those who aren’t particularly wired for teaching civics and citizenship will opt to teach something else.”
“Supporting teachers in how to have difficult conversations and scaffold the students’ learning is really important," says Bronwyn Hayward. “Finding ways to increase professional development for teachers is as much of a priority as providing opportunities for civics and citizenship education and resources in schools.”
Buttressing teachers
Bronwyn Wood says the Aotearoa Social Studies Educators’ Network has stepped up and done some of the work required to encourage teachers to put a bigger focus on citizenship. “But it’s asking a lot of teachers who primarily run that group to be the ones innovating.”
External groups have stepped into the breach to offer up some good teacher-buttressing. Bronwyn Hayward rates the efforts of the Electoral Commisson, which has put together an excellent resource called Your Voice, Your Choice to help teachers navigate the topic of voting and its associated terrain. “It reduces the risk for teachers because it gives them a neutral platform.”
Then there’s the likes of Generation Vote, a charitable trust founded by a group of University of Otago students in 2018. They say: “There is a growing recognition that civics needs to fit into the school curriculum. However, this means teachers are required to develop new specialty knowledge – alongside all the other pressures of modern teaching environments.” Their mission is to alleviate some of that pressure by offering a “high-quality, non-partisan, and engaging” programme of workshops that they deliver in schools.
Citizenship education as a lifelong learning process
In an increasingly polarised society with its social media echo chambers and rampant disinformation, civics and citizenship education is vital, and not just for school students. Bronwyn Hayward says, “It’s important that we provide citizens of all ages with opportunities to practise democratic skills for engagement, listening, and effecting change. Without citizenship education, the idea of a democratic government being of the people by the people and for the people just can’t be sustained.”
Bronwyn Wood thinks we could all do with levelling up on our civics. “I take my teachers in training to Parliament and we have a session learning about parliamentary processes from the education team. I learn something new every time. That kind of lesson could be pitched at new public servants without any shame.” (IPANZ is aware of this and offers a one-day Parliament in Practice course. This is aimed at people new to the public sector. In addition, IPANZ’s Public Sector 101 is an online self-directed learning course. Other webinars, seminars, networking opportunities and events on a range of topics relevant for public sector professionals are also available throughout the year. Visit the IPANZ website for more information on these.)
Efforts to nurture civics literacy both inside the classroom and beyond will safeguard and strengthen our democracy. “We can all keep learning here,” says Bronwyn Wood. “I think lifelong civics learning for all of us would be really good.”
Editor’s note: Representatives from The Ministry of Education were approached for inclusion in this article, but no response was gained.
This article was published in the Public Sector Journal - Autumn 2024, Issue 47.1.