Schools leadership programme scrapped by DfE
Kat Baldwyn
Monday, September 27, 2010
The schools strand of the Youth of Today programme has been cut by the Department for Education (DfE), following months of discussions.
This means the Citizenship Foundation’s work as part of the Youth of Today consortium will end.
The Youth of Today, which began in February 2009 and is due to be completed in March 2011, aims to improve the quality and quantity of youth leadership opportunities for 13- to 19-year-olds.
Other organisations involved in the consortium are the National Youth Agency, Changemakers, the Young Foundation, UK Youth Parliament, British Youth Council and the Prince's Trust.
Nicola Harwood, education officer at the Youth of Today, said: "This is a real disappointment for the Citizenship Foundation and follows 17 months of hard work. We achieved 220 schools engaging with the programme – they shared best practice around youth leadership and used our interactive leadership and active citizenship educational resources.
"What is particularly disconcerting with regards to many of the recent cuts is the impact they are having on the school environment as well as on individual children and young people. In getting rid of programmes like this, schools could become solely focused on academic achievement, and neglect to equip pupils with the skills needed for all aspects of their future."
The citizenship resources that the Citizenship Foundation produced for the Youth of Today scheme are available online until the end of October, at which point the foundation will no longer be offering specific support to schools and teachers about youth leadership.
