All the students who come to our community college are foreign immigrants. They came from different parts of the world and have different culture, education background. The age gap is wide and religion differences are huge. However, one thing is common for all; they all want to learn English and be part of the society and a member of active citizen in a modern democracy. The citizenship material is designed by NIACE (The National Institute of Adult Continuing Education), London Southbank University, Department for Education and Skills and Home Office. It contains six categories which are British national institutions, Britain as a diverse society, Knowing the law, Employment, Sources of help and information and Everyday needs. It closely embedded with current ESOL curriculum at all levels. Materials were developed to suit for teaching English Language skills and all referenced to national curriculum for ESOL. Therefore it made less difficult for teacher to insert in their ESOL scheme of work and easy for students to learn. “Teachers are also encouraged to use them as a basis to develop learning materials that have a very local focus and reflect the specific concerns of each group of learners.” (Sunderland, S and Taylor, C 2005) Teacher were given extra time to familiarise themselves with the materials and adapt for different group of learners. Visiting and inviting outsider speaker are also be encouraged. I remember in one occasion, my group of Entry level 2 students wanted to visit Houses of Parliament after they learnt about UK politic system. Together, they wrote a letter to Tooting MP Sadiq Khan, asked for help to arrange a tour inside the Houses of Parliament. Students not only received the response promptly, they were also companied by one of MP Sadiq Khan’s assistant when they arrived at Houses of Parliament. It was a joyful experience for all the students who attended the event. With the help from MP’s office, they have not only learnt about British national institutions, they also wanted to be an active citizen to vote once they became British citizen. Quite a lot of my students in that group are refugees from Iraq and Somalia. They have never had any opportunities to vote for anything. A visit to Houses of Parliament can help them to have a more meaningful understanding towards to citizenship. Followed by Sir Bernard Crick’s recommendation:” public bodies, at local and national level, consider how best to meet their responsibility to citizenship education….to improve or establish arrangements which assist pupils in their citizenship learning, particularly in providing facilities for visits. (Crick, 1998) It was very fortunate that we have never had any difficulties to visit any public venues.
I have encountered few elderly Hong Kong immigrants in my second year of teaching. They came to the UK 30 years ago and already hold UK passport. When they were young, they worked and lived in China Town. There is Chinese doctor, solicitors, supermarket, bookshop, community centre, etc. You do not need to speak English if you do not want. They never thought they need to learn English, because there is interpreter service every where. Until one day, they became grandparents; their grandchildren only speak English to them. They came to our centre wanted to improve English so they can communicate with their grandchildren. They were not interested in learning citizenship to pass life in the UK test at the beginning. However, when they learnt about UK history and geography, they have something to tell their grandchildren. When they learnt how to help in your child’s school, they wanted to be school volunteer. When they learnt about community engagement, they wanted to go to their local community to help others. They have achieved so much that they could not believe themselves they have done so well. It is never to late to become an active citizen, just like Sir Bernard Crick stated in his recommendation:” The Secretary of State should consider how the proposed entitlement to citizenship education should continue for all students involved in post 16 education and training regardless of their course of study, vocational or academic.” (Crick, 1998)
In general, both learners and teachers are satisfied with their learning process in this combined English Language and citizenship course. Sir Bernard Crick’s recommendations did make a great contribution on equipping future citizen with their rights and duties. However, in Crick’s report it failed to address issue such as gender equality. It does not mention any specificity of female citizenship and any involvement of women in all economic, political and cultural decision making.I had an Arab couple in my class. I was aware of their culture difference, however, sometimes it was very difficult to tolerant the husband’s behaviour of disrespecting women. After few reminding, he learnt not to talk over other female students. But he was very disruptive when his wife talks in class. He often disagree whatever she said and gave her looks to stop her talk. I spent tutorial time with him to address the problem. He told me that women should always obey to their husband; it is their citizenship and their religious rights. It was big wake up call to me that in Professor Crick’s report, citizenship only means UK citizenship. It has a territory boundary. If we are going to live in Arab world, we have to change our values, follow their rules and take different responsibilities. I always avoided talking about war in Iraq and Afghanistan in classes because I was worried about to upset some students. By force, we are implanting our values and vision of citizenship into other countries. Not to think the civilians do not even have the basic human right to live. Everyday there are bomb attacks, there are people dying. With the incitement from extremist, It is not surprised that there are home grow terrorists. On one hand we are implant citizenship, peace and morality in education, in society. On the other hand, we are tearing other country apart by implanting our values and believe. Politicians always contradict themselves. It will be ideal to have a global citizenship described in Audrey Osler and Hugh Starkey’s book Changing Citizenship, Democracy and Inclusion in Education. “Cosmopolitan citizenship implies recognition of our common humanity and a sense of solidarity with others. “It also brings criticism towards to Crick’s Report which it did not tackle multiculturalism and diversity in their book. “Schools who do provide a polycultural curriculum are those schools in regions affected significantly by immigrations. It is worrying that more schools nation wide are not providing education covering different religions and cultures.” (Osler, A and Starkey, H 2005) Because of its flexibility of choosing material, there is no fixed topic for teacher to teach. They can choose the most suitable material and resources for their group of learners. I would choose the most likely to be examined subjects to teach in term to help ESOL learner to pass on their life in the UK test. Controversial issues such as religions, faith and homosexuality are most likely to be avoided if I can. All the sensitive material is removed, so what is left for learners? Probably not much.
Sir Bernard Crick was commissioned to write report on Education for citizenship. It has all the best possible intentions to help our future citizens to understand their roles and responsibilities. It answers many moral and social questions and produce a set of good example of active citizen. From my personal experience, I think it did achieve most of its targets. It also gives immigrants a chance to learn British culture and value in class rather than hard lesson in life. There is not perfect policy or legislation in the world and there will always be criticism. Osler and Starkey’s criticism on Crick’s report opened our eyes to an international level. A global citizenship based on common humanity is not impossible.
Bibliography
Crick, B (1998) Education for Citizenship and the Teaching of Democracy in School DfES, London
Sunderland, S and Taylor, C (2005) Citizenship Materials for ESOL Learners in the UK, Southbank University, London
Osler, A and Starkey, H (2005) Changing Citizenship, Democracy and Inclusion in Education, New York, Open University Press
Life in UK Test (2005) UK Board Agency [online] Available from:
[Accessed: 7th May 2009]
