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4 December 2025

By Hans Svennevig, UCL Institute of Education, with Sera Shortland, Mackenzie Dawson-Hunt and Tania Malik

Votes at 16, a manifesto commitment of the current Labour government, brings in an increase in voter franchise in England. Campaigns to increase the franchise to 16- and 17-year-olds have been around for some time, and this policy brings England in line with Scotland, which has had the right since 2015 and Wales since 2017 (in each case with voter registration starting at age 14). Northern Ireland looks set to follow in 2027.

As educators, we believe the best way to make this reform meaningful is to have high quality Citizenship education. Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer agrees, as does the recently announced Curriculum and Assessment Review report and the government’s response to it. These reforms and the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill, requiring academies to follow the National Curriculum, will help improve Citizenship education. Research from a range of academics, including Germ Janmaat at the IOE, or colleagues at the Association for Citizenship Teaching, Middlesex University, Nottingham Trent University and the Royal Holloway University highlight the value of this provision. (more…)

14 November 2019

By Alex Standish

Increasingly, children and young people are stepping into political arenas that have been considered the realm of adults. In an insecure world, they are campaigning for their own lives and futures.

In the UK this year, students joined school ‘strikes’, taking to the streets to demand that more be done to tackle climate change. In the USA children and young people took a lead in the March For Our Lives protests in response to gun violence and school shootings.

More children are being invited to contribute their opinions on television and radio programmes. Greta Thunberg’s addresses to Westminster and the UN are a case in point. And, of course, social media has made it easier for young people to join in debate and to organise.

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