Graham Fish was in the right place when his school started to look at its citizenship provision. The PSHE co-ordinator at Thorpe St Andrew, an 11-18 comprehensive in Norwich, had just started a dissertation on citizenship for a masters degree. So his headteacher added the subject to his brief, making him responsible for its audit.

Mr Fish is clear about one thing. When other schools begin citizenship audits - which they must do ahead of September 2002, when it becomes compulsory for all secondary pupils and a “guidance” subject in primaries - he believes they will find a lot is already being delivered. At Thorpe St Andrew the audit was carried out by a team of 12, two from each department.

“Many people don’t understand what citizenship means,” says Mr Fish. “We go on courses and see people tearing their hair out. But good teaching already includes a lot of citizenship.” In maths, for instance, a teacher might include interest rates and what amounts to finance education because “you try to make lessons relevant to life”.

The Department for Education and Skills defines citizenship as a “light touch” subject - compulsory and inspected by Ofsted but not necessarily tested - which can be taught across the curriculum or as a separate subject in secondaries. Pupils will be able to choose an optional half-course GCSE.

Many schools with a citizenship co-ordinator have, like Thorpe St Andrew, added citizenship to a PSHE brief, indicating its likely timetable slot. The underlying purpose, as defined by David Blunkett, who was education secretary when the citizenship order was laid, is to revitalise democracy. Following the 1998 report by Professor Sir Bernard Crick, which recommended the introduction of the subject, he said: “Citizenship education should give pupils the chance to exercise real responsibility and to make an impact on their school and community.” They should then leave school as active citizens, more ready to vote than the current cohort of 18 to 24-year-olds, only 39 per cent of whom voted in the 2001 general election - the lowest turnout of any age group.

The DfES recommends that schools create student councils where they don’t already exist, so pupils can experience democracy in practice. It also wants a measurable amount of teaching, either dedicated or cross-curricular.

The Crick report suggested it should be allocated 5 per cent of teaching time, but nothing has been set in stone; Ofsted inspectors will judge whether a school is doing enough.

Where the GCSE is offered, it can be twinned with another half-course, perhaps RE. But some experts say linking it with RE or key skills is not a great way to start; unless citizenship can be shown to be relevant, neither teachers nor pupils will take it any more seriously than many currently take PSHE. In primary schools citizenship is expected to be offered across the curriculum.

Mr Fish is confident that his school, a 1,500-pupil comprehensive with a catchment area including wealthy villages, is ahead of the game. It will teach citizenship across the curriculum but will not offer the GCSE.

All departments are matching their schemes of work to the citizenship learning outcomes, he says, and are canvassing parents’ views. “Our audit identified a few gaps. Politics was being covered in history, rights in PSHE; racism issues were covered in English. We have a good debating group and a long-standing performing arts exchange with a German school.”

Bringing young people together to work in groups is among other requirements of the subject, as are research and class discussion. Mr Fish found these things happening in most lessons. But interviews with students showed they thought there was room for more discussion on finance.

The school council has now been reinvented with 54 student representatives to be trained by the local council youth and community team. One area that concerns Mr Fish is assessment. “But if you look at it as getting the students on board, assessing themselves, it will work,” he says.

Sixth-formers from Thorpe St Andrew visited the House of Lords earlier this month for the launch of a new edition of the Young Citizen’s Passport - a winner of a TES Books and Resources award in 1996. It is published by Hodder amp; Stoughton with the Citizenship Foundation, one of the groups that lobbied for citizenship education to be part of the national curriculum. Last month, each secondary school in England and Wales received 30 copies, funded by the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award scheme.

For 10 years the Citizenship Foundation has worked away at the subject, running three competitions involving a bar trial, a magistrates’ trial and a parliament. Every first Friday of the month during term time, the foundation brings together a group of teachers, advisers, members of charities and DfES advisers to discuss how citizenship can be made to work in all schools. Next month the meeting will include 80 teachers responsible for co-ordinating citizenship studies.

One function is to fill the gaps uncovered in school audits. Sara Davies, citizenship co-ordinator for a year at St Michael’s Catholic secondary school, Billingham, Stockton-on-Tees, will be one of the teachers attending. Her formal audit of pastoral delivery showed that St Michael’s already had a school council. Year 11 recently ran a race awareness night and Year 9, which runs an eco-group, is setting up a paper recycling scheme. Some pupils are involved with local residents’ groups and have fed information back to school.

The school runs at an out-of-hours RE club and an Amnesty International group. Much of this work meets the social responsibility and teamwork aspects of citizenship. An audit of the curriculum is under way, with citizenship requirements being checked at key stages 3 and 4.

Ms Davies says most key stages deliver some citizenship; geography includes sustainable development, for example. And for those who drop geography, RE covers Christian responsibility, which includes sustainability.

Many organisations, national and local, are offering printed and website material for schools less prepared than St Michael’s. The Bar Council and the Law Society have long been involved through the Citizen Foundation competitions; the Lord Chief Justice, Lord Woolf, supervised this year’s finals of the mock bar trial at the Old Bailey. The TUC, and employers’ and City organisations, see citizenship as a useful shop front, and have created material - as have museums.

The Commonwealth War Graves Commission is encouraging schools to use war graves to look at history and civic responsibility. Schools planning visits to war sites can visit the commission’s Berkshire headquarters to use its casualties database. It is, says publicity director Peter Francis, “a way of getting history and civil responsibility back into the curriculum”. Citizenship co-ordinators such as Graham Fish and Sara Davies welcome all offers.

Citizenship Foundation, tel: 020 7367 0500; www.citfou.org.ukElectoral Reform Society, tel: 020 7928 1622; www.electoral-reform. org.ukThe Trades Union Congress publishes ‘A Better Way to Work’ (free to schools), tel: 020 7636 4030; www.tuc.org.ukGalleries of Justice, tel: 0115 952 0555; www.galleriesofjustice.org.ukIndustry and Parliament Trust, tel: 020 7630 3700; www.ipt.org.ukCommonwealth War Graves Commission, tel: 01628 634221; www.cwgc.org.ukImperial War Museum, tel: 020 7416 5000; www.iwm.org.uk’The Young Citizen’s Passport’ costs pound;3.99 and contains legal advice on sex education, drugs, general health, driving and work regulations. Queries to Hodder amp; Stoughton or the Citizenship Foundation Personal Finance Education Group. Helps teachers to develop financial awareness in young people. Tel: 020 7220 1735; www.pfeg.orgHodder amp; Stoughton, www.hodderheadline.co.uk