It is hard to avoid news of the forthcoming general election with the electoral machine in full flow. It is also hard to believe that it is only since 1970 that all adults over the age of 18 gained the right to vote. This fact alone emphases what a remarkable and fragile achievement democracy is and in an age of social media and mass misinformation, perhaps more fragile now than before.

Despite hearing all the news chatter, children often come across concepts of voting and democracy for the first time at school, often through school councils and this is where they can start to make sense of the society around them. When the term British Values was introduced to the education landscape in 2014, there was a period when schools were quickly putting up displays of past and present Prime Ministers to satisfy potential Ofsted curiosity over their commitment to teaching children about democracy. In the best schools this learning was already an embedded part of the curriculum and school councils an active part of everyday school life.

There is a distinct difference in the learning attitudes of pupils who are empowered to be leaders in a school, and those where school councils are a tokenistic gesture, mostly led by adults. School councils are often made up of pupils who are already actively engaged in school activities, or who have the strongest communication skills and for the most part led by adults. This has the potential to limit both genuine engagement and representation. Whilst children will often sway towards discussions over the quality of school meals or toilets, once they are empowered to lead their own meetings and see impact from their actions, the dialogue can quickly become something that informs a wide range of school activities and attitudes beyond the school gates.

Amongst 18-19 year-olds across Great Britain, only 60% are registered to vote. By contrast, amongst 65+ year-olds, that figure is 96%. VotesforSchools and iVote have recorded a video to encourage as many schools and colleges as possible to reach out to their Year 13 students to urge them to vote but the earlier children are encouraged to see voting as a hard won right through groups such as the Chartists and the Suffragettes, the better. There is a persistent risk of apathy unless young people can experience first-hand how democratic values can be used to amplify opinion and make a difference and schools have a big part to play in this.

Thank you for everything you continue to do, enjoy the weekend!

Stephen Hall

Chief Executive Officer, Camden Learning