News Insight: Battle to persuade the young to vote

Brooke House Sixth Form College in Clapton, Hackney, is located in precisely the type of deprived area where youth voter apathy remains rife. Only a stone's throw from Hackney's notorious "murder mile", the school has faced an uphill struggle trying to get young people registered to vote for this year's elections.

A visit to the college shows young people do care about politics. During break time, a young black student from the Young Socialist Party talks about the issues facing our country today while young people listen intently. But despite this grassroots level interest in politics, a disappointing 60 per cent of young people did not vote in the general election.

Student president Rojin Tasman, 17, says: "Young people just aren't aware of how politics can affect us. We don't know enough about it and so it puts people off."

Political education lacking

Politics student Shirley Tetteh believes much of the fault lies with the education system. Embedding politics into the curriculum from year three onwards would improve young people's understanding, she believes. "We aren't engaged in politics because we aren't told how it affects us," she says.

Stephen Dyitt, extended learning co-ordinator for Brooke House, agrees that schools and colleges have a part to play. "It's about showing young people that they have a chance to make a difference. Being educated about this from a younger age could really help," he says.

In 2002, lessons on democracy became compulsory in secondary schools as part of citizenship education. But, in its 2010 report Citizenship established?, Ofsted found that some schools had a limited understanding of what constitutes effective citizenship education, which had led to gaps in students' political knowledge.

James Pearce, 18, says that citizenship lessons need to improve: "It didn't give us all the information that I think we need to understand the government."

He also believes that voting needs to be made more accessible to young people. "Voting at school would definitely be helpful," he explains. "Some people don't really know how to vote so doing it through your school would help those people."

Alex Davis, 19, turned up to vote but was turned away by polling staff. "I registered online but when I got to the polling station they told me I wasn't on the list. I was supposed to print out the form I filled in and send it off. They said lots of people had experienced the same problem - they didn't make it clear enough."

UK Youth Parliament chief executive Andy Hamflett is critical of the outdated registration system. "We need a thorough investigation into the accessibility of the voting system for young people," he says. "It should be much easier to vote than it is. The current system of printing out the registration form and sending it off isn't as easy as it should be."

Change the political landscape

Students at Brooke also believe politicians need to show they take young people's views seriously. They cite the Iraq war and top-up fees as examples of the government ignoring popular youth opinion. "I don't trust politicians because they fail to deliver on the policies they promise and they aren't accountable for their actions," argues Alex.

He wants to see radical reform of the electoral system. "We need a wider range of political ideologies to appeal to more people," he says. "We either vote for blue cats, red cats or yellow cats but at the end of the day we will still get cats. What about the interests of mice?"

STUDENTS AND VOTING: Why young people in Hackney chose not to vote

Uber Uddin, 18 "They make it so difficult for us to vote in the first place and then complain afterwards when we don't."

Evin Dinch, 18 "Your background and family can really influence if and how you vote. My parents are Turkish and are more interested in Turkish politics so I don't know anywhere near as much about British politics that someone from a different family might."

Vivien Kintu, 18 "Politics is out of reach for most young people and just seems like it is full of old men sat in a room debating."

Alex Davis, 19 "My mum voted once in 1979 for Margaret Thatcher. She was so disappointed that she hasn't voted since. I have definitely been influenced by that because I'm anti-Tory now."

James Pearce, 18 "I turned 18 a couple of days after the general election so it will be five years until I can vote. I'm not too bothered, I don't think my vote would have counted anyway - especially in this election."

VOTER TURNOUT: UK population versus 18- to 24-year-olds at general elections

2001

Total UK population 59.4%
18- to 24-year-olds 39%

2005

Total UK population 61.4%
18- to 24-year-olds 37%

2010

Total UK population 65.1%
18- to 24-year-olds 40%