ACT : Association of Citizenship Teaching

The 2009 Nuffield-ACT seminar on Citizenship education has been published online. The seminar, looking at the contribution to schools, communities and individuals by Citizenship education includes commentary from the Lib Dem and Tory House of Lords spokespersons-both of who took part in the seminar.

The aim of Spring Day for Europe 2010 is to “organise activities that help students think about Europe and express their views. The Spring Day web portal provides teachers with a rich package of supporting material that can easily be adapted to lessons. Schools can organise one or more Spring Day events and share their experiences through the portal.

Democracy in Action is a series of programmes made for BBC Learning, which aims to bring politics to life for younger audiences and explain complex issues in an engaging way. The programmes use teenage contributors wherever possible and much of the content has been filmed in the style of a "fly on the wall" documentary.

The Association for Citizenship Teaching with DCSF have developed 30 free downloadable CPD modules. There are designed to be used by Local Authorities to support their teachers. The modules cover a range of topics highlighted by local authorities as areas where teachers need further CPD. They have been authored by experts in the field of citizenship and have also been evaluated by local authorities and regional subject advisors.

These will be launched online in May and we are having two launch events to correspond with this -

24th May at the British Library, London

26th May at New Century House, Manchester

The launch events will feature workshops on key areas within citizenship right now including Community Cohesion (including PVE), assessment, the new Primary Curriculum and Post-16 citizenship. The events will run from 9.30am (registration) to 4pm at each venue.

If you think you would like to attend one of these events please email Will Ross and he can send you further details.

Educational Research, the journal of the NFER, will publish a special issue on Intercultural, Citizenship and Human Rights Education in 2011. They are looking for articles on a range of topics...

The Qualifications & Curriculum Development Agency (QCDA) took a step closer to bringing the new primary curriculum to life with the launch of its new National Curriculum website.

ACT Professional Officer Chris Waller said 'This is a very significant step in aligning the phases of teaching and learning from early Primary to the age of 16. The New Primary Curriculum is a very positive step in bringing real curriculum innovation to life, matching that of the revised Secondary curriculum. The central role of Citizenship education in both further enhances the vision of the late Prof Sir Bernard Crick and those teachers and schools that aspire to Citizenship richness'.

The site contains the new primary curriculum framework as well as guidance and a range of tools and case studies to support schools in designing a curriculum that meets the needs of all their learners. You can view the New Primary Curriculum here