Rejected petition Make Political Education a compulsory part of the National Curriculum

In order to prepare young people for the lowering of the voting age, we deem it necessary to provide compulsory classes on politics to help people make informed choices on election days, increase voter participation, and help young people understand how political systems work and affect them.

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Although the notion to lower the voting age to 16 is great, it would be irresponsible to give younger people the right to vote without providing them with sufficient education and information on politics in order to help them make an informed decision on election day. Furthermore, there has been an increase in political disillusionment as well as more populist ideas amongst the youth, and this could be counteracted by giving them lessons from a young age on how politics works in the UK.

This petition was rejected

Why was this petition rejected?

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Schools are already required to teach citizenship as part of the secondary national curriculum.

The citizenship curriculum includes content on how the United Kingdom is governed, its political system and how citizens participate actively in its democratic systems of government.

You can read the citizenship programmes of study for secondary school here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/national-curriculum-in-england-citizenship-programmes-of-study/national-curriculum-in-england-citizenship-programmes-of-study-for-key-stages-3-and-4

If you would like to make a change to the current arrangements, you can start a petition setting out clearly what you would like to change, such as submitting a petition about making politics a core specific subject.

We only reject petitions that don’t meet the petition standards.

Date submitted 9 July 2025
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