An American mayoral campaign can reach your social media feed faster than your own MP speaking in Parliament. Zohran Mamdani’s campaign videos attracted millions of views from all over the world, showing how a local mayoral race could command international attention. But recognising certain politicians’ faces is not the same as understanding the powers they hold.
As we move past the November midterm congressional elections and away from American politics, a broader question needs to be asked. Does England’s education system teach young people to understand the political content filling their feeds and enable them to connect it to the decisions made closer to home?
Recognition is Not Understanding
Politics becoming more visible can increase people’s curiosity, but it does not guarantee a higher level of understanding.
The influence of social media on political and cultural awareness is clear. Social media platforms play a significant role in the youth’s consumption of news. In early September, Ofcom reported that 78 per cent of people aged between 16 and 24 had encountered news through social media apps and video platforms within a single month. These findings also emphasised the tendency for news to reach people primarily through personalised feed algorithms and recommendations, rather than from active searches.
We know that social media creates abundant opportunities for capturing attention. A short clip can introduce someone to a public transport debate that they would never intentionally seek out themselves. Similarly, an engaging campaign post can pique a user’s interest regardless of their location.
But feeds are not gospel. They can get things wrong, misrepresent the truth, or only show one side of an argument. Consequently, people may be exposed to online confrontations and contradictory information within a short space of time without proper context to guide their understanding.
That’s why it may be tempting to assume that young Britons know more about Washington than Westminster, but recognising American politicians and parties is not direct evidence of a sound understanding of the American system of government.
A more useful question is whether political education for young people equips them with the knowledge to scrutinise domestic political decisions and enables them to create informed judgements about their country’s government.
A Good Starting Point
An interest in American politics should not be treated as problematic. Rather, it presents a good starting point to learn what politicians do, who challenges them, and how the American political system compares with institutions in the United Kingdom.
However, any criticism of political education in England must start with an important distinction. Choosing a qualification such as a degree or an A level in Political Science and receiving an education about democracy are two separate things. The current National Curriculum of study includes Citizenship Education with subject topics like Parliament, elections, political parties, and government roles. Having covered these areas, students are expected to be able to weigh evidence and use it to debate political questions from different political perspectives. Sounds promising so far.
But the National Curriculum is not applied equally across all schools in England. As explained by the House of Lords Library, lessons in Citizenship are compulsory at key stages 3 and 4 in schools maintained by local authorities, whilst free schools and private schools are not held up to the same national curriculum standards. This devolution in education standards means that Britain lacks a single comprehensive system that guarantees basic political education for all. And that’s the real problem.
Poor Learning Opportunities
The gap between expectations outlined in the national curriculum and the experiences reported by young people is noticeable. Research on 11- 25-year-olds published this year by the Electoral Commission reveals that 78 per cent want to learn more about democracy in school. This is paired with only 30 per cent of under-18s agreeing that they learned about political issues in a classroom.
Crucially, the above findings directly contradict the assumption that young people ‘simply do not want to learn.’ In this case, given the chance, the majority clearly do. So why are so many British schools reluctant to teach politics? One answer is that teachers fear creating strife and division. Another is that teachers need to be trained to present educational material in an impartial manner.
A large part of political teaching is about disagreement. Students should be able to examine and debate all manner of political topics without feeling pressure from their teacher to adopt a certain political identity or opinion. That’s easier said than done. After all, teachers are human beings and human beings often have private opinions, grievances, and even prejudices that sometimes slip through.
The Department of Education states that schools are explicitly allowed to teach about political issues and contested viewpoints so that students may develop a wider understanding of different perspectives. The Department also makes a distinction between teaching and promoting partisan views, clearly explaining that balanced teaching does not require giving every claim equal lesson time. As long as core British values of democracy and individual liberty are respected, most discussions can proceed without impediment. However, given the patchy delivery of political education across Britain, it’s clear that certain discussions are harder than others. Sometimes, bypassing politics altogether is easier than facing a room of debating youths.
Reform is Coming!
September 2028 is the planned year for educational reform. Political education in Britain will get a much-needed boost with a commitment from the government to make Citizenship learning mandatory at primary and secondary levels.
One can only hope that more schools will take up the challenge and focus on improving students’ understanding of democracy, government functions, and political theory. The fact that young people are responding to viral political news across the pond only shows that there is a rising demand for more political education.
When the next viral campaign reaches British youths, let’s hope their interest extends beyond the headline. After all, a sound understanding of politics is the first step to respecting that core value of democracy: individual liberty.
DISCLAIMER: The articles on our website are not endorsed by, or the opinions of Shout Out UK (SOUK), but exclusively the views of the author.
