EDUCATION FOR CITIZENSHIP - A CASE-STUDY OF DEMOCRACY DAY AT A COMPREHENSIVE SCHOOL

This article reports on a series of whole-school activities which took place on one day in a northern comprehensive school under the umbrell a heading of 'Democracy Day. activities for citizenship'. The activiti es of a school working party which had the task of planning the day ar e considered as well as the issues that arose from the management of t he exercises on the day itself An extensive database was used to provi de an evaluation of the day. Interview and questionnaire data,vas gath ered fr om three main communities. the members of staff at the school, the school pupils who became involved in the activities and the PGCE students who helped staff on the day of the event. The events of Democ racy Day were also observed by one of the authors The day had many pos itive outcomes. Issues ale discussed about the perceptions of the natu re of learning achieved by different sexes and differently aged pupils , of the reactions to different teaching and learning styles and of th e perceptions of the most appropriate structure for such an event as t his.