What kinds of citizen will the Big Society encourage?

I am currently involved in delivering an active citizenship learning programme for women. I participated in the course myself last year and am training to deliver it. The programme is based on the Take Part adult citizenship curriculum, and supports learners to explore their experiences of getting and being involved in community and public life. We begin the 12 days of learning with sessions on citizenship, rights and responsibilities and human rights.

Views on what ‘citizenship’ mean vary across the diverse group of women I am working with. I was interested to hear a participant express a feeling that it was a word we shouldn’t use because it was like being racist. Through discussion with others her feelings changed and she developed a new perspective on what citizenship means to others and to herself.

We use a great handout of a citizenship typology, drawn from work on citizenship education by Joel Westheimer and Joseph Kahne. It describes three ways that citizenship can be understood.

• The personally responsible citizen, for whom citizenship education increases their awareness of their individual rights and responsibilities; the citizen as voter, and volunteer. The core assumptions of a personally responsible citizen are that to solve social problems and improve society, citizens must have good character, be honest, responsible and law abiding members of the community.
• The participatory citizen, for whom citizenship education enhances their knowledge of participatory structures and rights; the citizen as an individual within a group(s), actively participating in existing structures, taking up opportunities for participation, including participation in the planning and delivery of services. The core assumptions of a participatory citizen are that to solve social problems and improve society, citizens must actively participate and take leadership positions within established systems and community structures.
• The justice-oriented citizen, for whom citizenship education adds a high level of awareness of collective rights and a high level of collective political and social responsibility. This includes responsibilities to engage with issues of social justice and equality; the citizen and critical friend to those in power, participating within group(s), actively challenging unequal relations of power, promoting social solidarity and social justice, both locally and beyond, taking account of the global context. The core assumptions of a justice-oriented citizen are that to solve social problems and improve society, citizens must question, debate and change established systems and structures that reproduce patterns of injustice over time.

Some participants on our learning programme locate themselves as being more than one of these types in different parts of their life or at different times. However all of them feel they are or want to become critical citizens, tackling injustice and inequality.

As has been discussed by a panel considering the future of Community Development, The Big Society appears to be focusing on an increase of personally responsible citizens and participatory citizens. And the government are opening up new spaces for participatory citizens to take up opportunities for involvement in – by running schools, , taking over public services, getting more involved in the planning of services.

I agree with Anna Coote, who wrote in a New Economics Foundation publication that:

The Big Society idea is strong on empowerment but weak on equality. By equality, we mean everyone having an equal chance in life so that, regardless of background or circumstance, they can contribute to society, fulfil their potential and live a satisfying life. This matters for ethical and practical reasons. On ethical grounds, which are hardly controversial, no-one should be held back by circumstances beyond their control, or suffer unfair discrimination. On practical grounds, there is a growing body of evidence that more equal societies are better for everyone, not just the poor, with lower levels of crime and disorder, and better health and well-being. Societies with strong traditions of social solidarity and low levels of inequality are better able to cope with shared risks such as climate change. So equality matters a great deal and the implications for the “Big Society‟ are profound. It is weak on equality because it is weak on the structural links between economy and society. If the aim is to tackle poverty and inequality, as the Prime Minister maintains, then success depends on how economic as well as social resources are distributed between groups and communities, enabling them to do what, for whom and how.

Our Take Part Learning Programmein the Black Country is designed to develop critical, justice-oriented citizens. I firmly believe that our learners, and other passionate people like them will help to create a society that I want to be a part of.


My thanks to Jill Bedford and Sue Gorbing for the amazing work they have done to develop and deliver critical citizenship learning programmes and translate a vast array of theories to create an accessible and rich learning experience.

What are libraries for?

Last week I attended a Birmingham Salon debate enticingly titled ‘what are libraries for?’ There were around 70 attendees, filling the room at the Studio on Cannon Street. We heard first from Brian Gambles, Assistant Director, Culture, Birmingham City Council. He talked about the new Birmingham Library and that the challenge was not about designing a building, but designing a service. He feels that libraries are a public space for reading and for learning. The new Birmingham Library service has a focus on partnership and personalised services. It is up to us as library users to shape the service, it won’t be dictated.

We then heard from Andy Killeen, a local author and library user. He reminisced about his library use, evoking memories for me in his talk of the smells and sounds of libraries which you remember from when you were young. He spoke of a library as being luxurious indulgence, and reminded us that libraries make writers as well as readers.

The debate then started, with a key area of difference seeming to arise between those who feel that libraries are places to read and learn, whether via the medium of books or something else, and those who seemed to want libraries to be warehouses for storing books.

Kate Millin from Dudley Libraries made a great point about the values on which libraries services are run, and that libraries are a local, national and international network – through them you can access materials from anywhere in the world! I love the idea of libraries as networks.

I can’t help feeling that libraries should be valued much more than they are. I heard a park keeper, Fredy Temalema speak at a Chamberlain Forum event on open spaces. Fredy had asked park users ‘what is a park?’ He told us that the answers were: A park is a hospital. A park is a school. A park is a gym. A park is a church. I feel that libraries are all these things and more. Our experience in Dudley of piloting a Human Library highlighted how important a neutral space is, which enables sharing and learning, even between people who may not be the greatest readers. Along with parks, libraries are one of few non-commercial places where we can rub shoulders with people living very different lives to us. That feels important.

The other fascinating element to the libraries debate was that it was my first experience of being at an event with an official tweeter, and not only that but I somehow ended up sitting on a table at which the vast majority of delegates were tweeting throughout the event. One of them, Jo Alcock, kindly explained to me where I could find an archive of the tweets, and I was quite amazed to discover the conversations which had been taken place at the same time as the debate but unsaid verbally in the room. Some tweets helped people who couldn’t attend the debate to join in remotely, others were more of a conversation between people in the room who had their iphones out. I'm slightly worried about the obsession of some tweeters about people who weren't tweeting, there seems to be a rather militant edge and lack of recognition that some people don't know what twitter is, let alone have the technology to access it. Nonetheless I am absolutely intrigued about how tweeting or similar might create alternative participatory spaces, and wonder how, if used well, it can add constructively to more participatory events.

Watch out Dudley – I’ll be by trying out hastags, tweeters and twitterfalls at Dosti events soon!

You can read more blogs on the libraries event via West Midlands CILIP site.