Launch of Citizenship Education in Wales

Senedd, Wales Assembly, Cardiff Bay: Tuesday, 15 November, 1230

“Thank the Lord I’m Welsh!”, sings Cerys Matthews. But what does it now mean to be Welsh? What should it feel like to be a citizen of Wales? Has the development of the Assembly helped to mould and enhance that feeling?

Do we have particular responsibilities as Welsh citizens? How do we square that with our responsibilities as citizens of the world?

Should our schools help pupils face such questions? Do they also have a wider responsibility to help those children who come to Wales from all corners of the globe to come to terms with what being a citizen of Wales means?

 These are some of the questions confronted in a new publication Citizenship Education in Wales published by academics at Bangor University in collaboration with colleagues at the University of Wales, Newport.

“There has been a significant difference between the Welsh approach to citizenship education from that taken in England”, explains Dr David Sullivan from Bangor University, who has coordinated the publication, “This reflects the distinctive policy developed by the Assembly. The most notable of these differences is that, in Wales, citizenship education puts more emphasis on global and environmental issues. It prepares pupils to take a wide view of their roles and responsibilities as citizens.”

 The book is being launched at the Assembly – the focal point of the democratic process in Wales – by the President of Bangor University, Lord Dafydd Elis-Thomas, AM.

Publication date: 15 November 2011