James Nichols, Director of Political Education For Students
I am an optimist. If there is anything that my seventeen years as a Politics teacher and school leader have taught me, it is that young people are enormously capable, passionate, empathetic and care about the world they live in. We can also see this in numerous studies. Young Citizens recently reported that 74% of surveyed young people aged 14-18 said they would have voted in the 2024 election had they had the chance. The 2025 John Smith Youth Poll UK, the most extensive survey and interview project of young people and politics, concludes that “despite fierce headwinds, young people are still positive and willing to get engaged in the UK’s future”. This is, obviously, all great news.
But there is a disconnect between this inherent desire and reality. We now seem to be in a position where young people are not participating in elections, our democratic process, and yet are taking up more polarised and extreme political views and activities. Two recent and concerning examples of this that I have encountered personally were witnessing children cheering for the murder of Charlie Kirk, lambasting him as a “fascist” who “deserved” his assassination, and young people chanting hateful and openly racist language – with, I assume, their parents – at an asylum hotel protest. In both cases, young people were not engaging in constructive debate but were shouting down their opponents. Their views, primarily driven by social media, parents and/or a lack of expert discussion in school, were not about constructive ideas or solutions to political issues, but about the politics of anger, identity and rage.
We can also see this in the two aforementioned studies. In both, they signpost how young people are turning away from the ideas of mainstream democracy and political participation in government. In Young Citizens, despite young people saying they would vote, only 52% said voting was the best way to solve political problems, and only 5% said they trusted politicians. 36% – over one-third – of students who said they would not vote cited feeling uninformed about politics, elections, and democracy. In the John Smith Youth Poll, 63% of young people said that democracy is ‘in trouble’, 38% believed that politics was ‘not relevant’ to their lives, and 27% said that they would rather live in a dictatorship, not a democracy. Whilst there are many factors to explain this, including the politicians and political system themselves, this is undoubtedly concerning.
When I speak to teachers and leaders in schools of all types, they also express increasing and consistent concern. Whether it is polarisation, disinformation, disengagement or extremism, young people are turning their backs on nuanced political discourse in favour of simple soundbites and stereotypes found in their AI- or algorithm-generated echo chambers. Many parents, who themselves have never received decent political education, are ill-equipped to take the lead and either indulge in it or ignore it.
Schools are trying their best to counter these challenges, but they face considerable obstacles. Whilst many schools are doing great work to develop political literacy consistently, others are struggling. Hamstrung by rules over impartiality, a lack of curriculum priority that leads to the majority of young people who do not take Citizenship GCSE or A Level politics not to receive expertly delivered politics education, ad-hoc resourcing and funding of politics provisions, a lack of staff confidence to tackle controversial issues, parental expectations and a lack of detailed awareness of the politics young people are accessing online, all make this a minefield for schools. This is not to blame school leaders and teachers who face multiple, complicated and competing demands, but it is still a real shame. Still, I don’t think it has to be like this.
It is why, after departing Headship, I set up Political Education For Students. It is because I believe that we can make a real difference to the prevailing narratives of politics and democracy. We can work with students, even if it is one school at a time, to create enthused, engaged and educated voters and citizens of tomorrow. We enable students to see the enormous political power and agency they have when it is channelled positively and effectively. We can inspire the next generation of political leaders, campaigners, activists, and influencers to see democracy and government as the vehicle for positive change. We can get the politics and political system that we deserve.
It is genuinely humbling to see the impact of the work that we have done and continue to do in schools. Students whose perceptions have been celebrated, challenged, nuanced, and shaped through expert and experienced discussions; students who have come away with a greater critical and academic awareness of current debates; and students who now understand how government and politics work, how they are relevant to them, and how an educated citizenry can access them. Teachers have praised how this has all been delivered through interactive workshops, seminars, and lectures that are enjoyable and engaging, without making students or teachers feel as though they have been ‘preached’ at or scolded for not being able to do it themselves. Leaders we have worked with comment that they feel more in control, empowered to take greater control of political discourse in their school environments and to define policies and procedures to navigate controversial politics confidently and clearly. Parents, many of whom have attended workshops in schools themselves, feel they can discuss politics and current affairs, as well as challenge the prevailing views on social media, at home. A significant number have also moved away from their entrenched positions, changed their views, and come to understand the need for more open, constructive, and informed debates.
We currently have an opportunity, with sixteen-year-olds being expected to be given the right to vote in the next election, to reframe and take control of political education in schools. We have the motivation and need to provide neutral, confident and expert teaching. If we don’t, we will not be equipping our students, serving our democracy or creating the political future that we deserve.
