When the curriculum and assessment review set out a raft of changes for schools in November, one recommendation largely went under the radar - yet it could mark a profound shift in the work of primary schools.

Citizenship should become a statutory requirement for primaries, according to the chair of the review, Professor Becky Francis. This ambitious idea, unlike some of the review’s other recommendations, was fully backed by the government.

Yet primary schools could struggle to fit mandatory citizenship teaching into the “overcrowded” curriculum, leaders have warned Tes.

And, with only two in five schools currently following non-statutory guidelines for the subject, many could be left with much to do before the fully revised curriculum emerges in autumn 2028.

So how easily can primary schools fit these new expectations into an already “bursting” curriculum? What more do they need to make it happen? And, crucially, will the potential gains from a greater focus on citizenship make all the effort worthwhile?

Mandatory citizenship education

The government’s recent decision to introduce voting from age 16 helped to shine a spotlight on citizenship, with the Francis review seeing it as a vehicle to prepare pupils for the ballot box.

The review proposed a statutory requirement in key stage 1 and KS2 and a strengthened approach in secondary school, where citizenship is already statutory at KS3 and KS4.

Citizenship education aims, fundamentally, to help pupils become “active and informed citizens”, according to the Association for Citizenship Teaching (ACT). But since it is not mandatory in primary schools, the Francis review found that early progress towards this lofty goal was “uneven and inconsistent”.

Francis’ broad and detailed definition of citizenship - a subject sometimes reduced to woolly, hands-across-the-world cliches - reiterates five wide-ranging priority areas, which will now become mandatory: financial literacy, democracy and government, law and rights, media literacy and climate education.

The University of Stirling’s Nuzhat Uthmani, a citizenship expert and former primary teacher, describes the plans for citizenship teaching as a “significant advancement”.

“It extends far beyond traditional ‘civics’ to encompass applied knowledge and skills children need for modern life, with explicit sequencing across subjects, such as percentages taught in maths before compound interest,” she tells Tes.

Yet this could leave some primary schools with long roads to travel to satisfy statutory requirements, since some appear, currently, to have at best a patchy approach to citizenship.

How many schools already teach it?

Teacher Tapp polling for the Francis review showed that, while 80 per cent of primary headteachers said their school provided citizenship education, only 41 per cent followed the non-statutory programmes of study, which have not been updated since 2001.

“There is a missing gap in the curriculum evidence base, now Ofsted has stopped producing thematic subject reports,” warns Liz Moorse, chief executive of the ACT.

Ofsted scrapped its curriculum unit, which produced in-depth subject reports, at the end of 2023. As a result, Moorse explains, “it is hard to say with accuracy how well citizenship is taught across the country”.

She adds: “Evidence is scant, but I agree that teaching of the subject is patchy. Some schools will teach aspects of citizenship already, but some will teach very little - it’s hard to guess.”

This aligns with research from the University of Kent showing that children at greater socioeconomic disadvantage have fewer opportunities to develop civic skills.

So there are already potentially large gaps between schools - but now the Francis review wants citizenship to drive improvement in several key areas where parents and pupils feel education is lacking.

The review, for example, conceives of citizenship as an appropriate home for strengthened teaching of media literacy, after Francis found students desperate for help amid online “proliferation of misinformation and disinformation”.

Moorse echoes this view. “Children could be taught about data rights, understanding the impact of what they post online and how to influence for positive change via social media,” she says.

The Francis review also highlights families’ “strong appetite” for better financial education and a “better grounding” in democracy and government - the latter made more pressing by a lower voting age.

The review, then, envisages a subject that ranges from “how to manage, spend and save money” to understanding “fundamental British values of democracy” around law, liberty and tolerance.

It all sounds potentially daunting in scope for primary schools.

What challenges do primaries face?

Although the government has committed to introducing statutory citizenship teaching in primary at the “earliest possible opportunity”, finding room may not be easy.

“The primary school curriculum is extremely overcrowded in its current state, as there is so much to fit in,” warns Tom Cafferky, principal at Landau Forte Academy Moorhead in Derby.

“There will certainly need to be some trade-off in deciding which citizenship content should be statutory. A lot of the content could overlap into other curriculum areas, but much thought will need to go into ensuring that the curriculum doesn’t become more bloated than it is currently.”

Natalie Barrow, principal and Sendco at Martello Primary School in Kent, says weaving the subject through the curriculum may be the answer.

“To truly succeed, there must be a structural shift toward cross-curricular integration or a reduction in other content to ensure teachers have the time and training to deliver this content effectively,” she says.

The Francis review sought to address an “overload of content” in the curriculum - but some fear that the citizenship plans may add yet more to primary schools’ set of responsibilities.

Without a “deliberate and well-mapped strategy” joining the dots between finance, democracy, law, media and climate, Barrow warns, “there is a risk that these vital connections become diluted or lost entirely within a busy primary timetable”.

REAch2 Academy Trust already teaches climate change across its 60 primary schools.

“The task now is to make sure the wider citizenship content is just as clear and coherent as our climate work, so teachers feel confident bringing these big ideas to life,” says Andrew Rigby, the trust’s national director of education.

Laylee Pocock, director of school improvement at Aurora Academies Trust, which runs six primaries and one all-through school in the South East, says that fitting all citizenship content into already full school days will require “thoughtful planning”.

“For us, that means weaving citizenship concepts across subjects where it makes sense, while still protecting space for discrete teaching where needed,” she says.

While the trust is confident in some areas of citizenship teaching, other topics - including media literacy and aspects of financial education - may require “additional professional development to ensure staff feel fully equipped”, Pocock adds.

‘Full-to-bursting’ curriculum

Primary teachers already navigate a busy curriculum: they must teach English, maths, science, computing, history, geography, art and design, music, PE (plus swimming) and design and technology. From 2028, primary schools will also factor in a new oracy framework.

Meanwhile, Francis did not recommend cutting back on primary tests - something that unions called for - and instead encouraged take-up of optional KS1 assessments. Plus, a new core enrichment entitlement is on the horizon, requiring schools to give every child access to activities across five categories.

“The challenge will be for schools to find the time to teach citizenship when the existing national curriculum is already full-to-bursting,” says Sarah Hannafin, head of policy at the NAHT school leaders’ union.

Another challenge will be to ensure that primary teachers are adequately prepared for statutory citizenship.

Moorse and the ACT have, through their Make Space for Citizenship campaign, underlined the “urgent need for increased investment in training specialist citizenship teachers and ensuring that every school has one”, to ensure that schools have staff who can “effectively address controversial, complex and sensitive issues”.

Uthmani points to the approach to citizenship in Scotland as a valuable comparison, saying that the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development found “high levels of global citizenship knowledge and awareness” among learners there.

A “whole-school responsibility model” of citizenship is dependent on “sustained, specialist professional learning infrastructure [that is] building teacher confidence and capacity far more effectively than one-off training”, she adds.

Yet no further training is due to be set out for teachers in England, a spokesperson for the Department for Education tells Tes. Support in adapting teaching to new demands is instead embedded in the government’s existing core offer of training.

This may not assuage concerns about primary schools’ preparedness for increased demands around citizenship.

“Without investment in professional development and clear national guidance, schools may struggle to move beyond superficial coverage of these complex and important issues,” Barrow warns.

Get it right and statutory citizenship will be more than worth it for schools in England, according to Uthmani. She has been at the forefront of several citizenship projects across Scottish schools, but sees “England’s greater specificity in content and clearer progression frameworks” providing “structural advantages [that citizenship in] Scotland sometimes lacks”.

For Uthmani, regardless of any potential teething problems, the government’s acceptance that citizenship is, in her words, “a core entitlement, not an afterthought” marks a seminal moment.

And this, argues the ACT, could not be more timely. In an era of political and social upheaval, amid a torrent of misinformation and mounting climate anxiety, pupils “need structured opportunities to understand democracy, evaluate information - and find their voice”.

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