Election by Nick Youngson CC BY-SA 3.0 Pix4free
Have you ever seen a young baby explore the environment around them? Squeezing, tapping and tasting items that intrigue them. Exploring the world in this manner shows a young toddler’s level of interest in relating to and participating in the world. This form of exploration is also known as sensory play as it stimulates at least one of the toddler’s five senses. As the toddler progresses through childhood, sensory play evolves to hands-on activities, and cognitive skills such as problem-solving and abstract thinking are enhanced.
This encourages a child in becoming aware of their own strengthens, the valuable contributions they can make to the world and promotes a positive sense of self-identity. This understanding of children and childhood is one of the driving forces behind policy documents such as the United Nations Declaration of the Rights of the Child (2022), ‘respect for children’s views’ (Article 12), and in education policy documents such as Aistear (2009), the Early Childhood Curriculum Framework, under the principle of ‘children as citizens’. From this perspective, children are considered active participants in society rather than passive recipients of adult’s decisions and interventions.
A tension remains, however, between understandings of children as citizens, as described above, and understandings of children that adhere to a more traditional belief of age and stage readiness. The age and stage readiness approach understands children as young citizens but not as full citizens. It believes that children are emerging, incomplete and novice citizens that are unable to fully understand the true meaning of citizenship. Some commentators consider the suitability of extending human rights, developed through the lens of adults, to children. Others consider children’s rights as an encroachment on family autonomy and parental authority (Waldron and Oberman, 2016). A tension lies between social conformity and empowerment. Those in support of children’s rights focus on providing opportunities for children to assume social responsibility, and challenge perceptions of children as vulnerable and passive. As Professor Audrey Osler reminds us, children are ‘not citizens in waiting’, they are citizens in their own right and deserve space to explore their associated rights and responsibilities in this regard.
Taking children’s citizenship seriously means providing educational opportunities and environments in which teachers, educators and practitioners can model, explicitly teach, and provide opportunities for children to form and express their view(s); engage in active listening; respond to others’ viewpoints and create a space for difference and acceptance.
Teachers, parents and guardians can produce some of the conditions of citizenship and make it possible for children to experience the possibilities of active citizenship and become motivated to learn how power works.
Activity 1: Making Decisions
Included here is a sample way of integrating the topic of active citizenship into the classroom. This example can be adapted by parents/guardians. Being able to make informed decisions and choices allows children to identify and recognise the kinds of decisions they can and cannot make and the factors that may influence their choices. They learn how to: exercise judgement; weigh up different possibilities; examine the steps and choices that guide them towards considered decision making; begin to understand their own rights, the rights of others and associated responsibilities; explore the various factors that influence decision making and reflect on actions taken.
Please agree on the best three ideas for each of the following:
- Gift for a best friend
- Family/classroom/favourite sport rules
- Qualities of people we can rely on
Before you start, please agree on who will do each of the following:
- Record (write down) your ideas
- Report back
- Make sure everybody gets a say and all views are listened to
-
Remember: all views are valid, but all views are open to being challenged
Activity 2: Mock referendum or election
In recent times, we have seen two high-profile referenda in Ireland, as well as local elections and elections to the European parliament. Children are exposed to discourse around these political events through mainstream media, social media and conversations with family and peers. As educators, we are doing a disservice to children if we do not provide them with a safe space to unpack some of the complex issues that they might hear others discussing.
Modelling mock referendums or elections in the primary classroom is therefore a great way to scaffold the development of active citizenship in schools.
Tips for organising mock referendums or elections in the classroom: pre-teach relevant content and vocabulary related to the referendum or election and the voting process; assign different roles to different pupils; encourage children to make and bring ID with them to the ballot box; set up the voting station in a different part of the school; ensure that the ballot paper is designed and printed as it would be in the real context, and encourage the children to disseminate the results of their vote within the wider school community – for example visiting younger classes or involving the students union. There are great opportunities for maths integration as well, for example exploring Ireland’s unique PRSTV system and calculating the quota that would be needed in elections etc.
Citizenship activities for the classroom:
- Class debate. Possible topics for debate include representing both sides of
referendum, other voting related topics such as lowering the voting age to 16. - Class vote (mock referendum – for elections model PR-STV, which stands for
proportional representation single transferable vote.) PR-STV, or PR for short, is a candidate-based system. This means voters can choose to vote for as many, or as few candidates as they like, in order of their preference. It is a system used in the Republic of Ireland for general elections, local elections, European elections and Presidential elections. It is the system of voting used to elect Members of the Legislative Assembly (MLAs) to the Northern Ireland Assembly. - Election Scavenger hunt: track particular issues or campaigns through media (for example, relating to primary education, children’s rights, or a particular local issue which may resonate with the pupils)
- Election literacy – learn vocabulary associated with politics
- Write letters to candidates with particular questions at both a local and a global level (you could also use your school’s social media platforms to pose questions to candidates or share issues the class feels strongly about)
- Scaffold discussions at local and national level: ‘What do you think the government should do’ & ‘What can you do about it’?
- Map constituencies and election results
- Display candidates’ election materials on your classroom investigation table and see if pupils can identify commonalities and differences between the various positions
- Letters to the Editor (SPHE/ English: Media education, critical literacy)
- Drama (role play conversations a canvasser might have, conscience Alley, for
example, what would you do if you were the Taoiseach about (insert particular social issue)) - Philosophy with Children (Global citizenship). Possible stimulus questions:
- Should voting be compulsory for citizens? If you had to design an imaginary
country, what rights would your citizens have? What would a perfect society
look like? Is democracy the best form of government? What characteristics
does a good leader have?
Photo credit: The Museum of Childhood Ireland, Músaem Óige na hÉireann Children’s Advisory Team at work. https://museumofchildhood.ie/we-are-the-childrens-advisory-team/
Children as Active Citizens
Suzanne O’Keeffe Museum of Childhood Ireland, and Froebel Department of Primary and Early Childhood Education Maynooth University
Aoife Titley Froebel Department of Primary and Early Childhood Education
Maynooth University
