Citizenship: Critical thinking, not propaganda

Social and moral responsibility is one of the three themes at the heart of citizenship. Potentially it is the most controversial. In the minds of some it is an opportunity for teachers to preach on behalf of themselves or the Government. But it is arguably the most important, informing both "political literacy" and "community activity", the other two strands.

The Citizenship Foundation lobbied hard for a moral dimension. "If you strip out morality from political life, what are you left with? A dry discussion of the constitutional framework without any issues," says the foundation's Don Rowe. "Any account of public policy will have a moral element to it."

The Crick committee, which established the official citizenship guidelines, was partly motivated by the young people's lack of interest in formal politics. But the members also recognised that a return to the dry "civics" approach to constitutional understanding favoured in the Fifties was unlikely to arouse much enthusiasm.

"Social and moral responsibility is not about preaching," says Rowe. "It's helping kids use moral language and moral ideas – about the reasons why we might want certain situations to change and what directions we could take them."

According to guidance from the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority, the aim is that students should "learn, from the beginning, self-confidence and socially and morally responsible behaviour, both in and beyond the classroom".

A wide brief, of course, and schools have taken a correspondingly wide range of approaches. One of the most popular is the school council, a chance for pupils to discuss the way their school works. National competitions also provide a framework: last week saw the launch of the Anne Frank Trust award for moral courage.

Moral debate should be a chance to go well beyond the time-worn injunctions that have often passed for citizenship – respect school property, pick up litter, and so on. A recent schools citizenship conference held at the Stoke City football ground featured a moving presentation by pupils complaining about mindless discrimination. Picked on because they attend a school for learning difficulties, the teenagers explained to their peers just what it was like to be bullied on the city's streets.

Far from preaching, says Don Rowe, social and moral responsibility is about critical thinking – the opposite of the state-sponsored propaganda that some fear.