Given the unprecedented challenges facing young New Zealanders, including a pandemic, climate crisis, economic hardship and volatile politics, is the country failing to give younger generations the skills to navigate them?
Ben Tangaroa and Sione Sione (both 17) work on their CV’s during Taita College’s life skills course. Photo: Louis Collins
In a corner of the Taita College library, students Ben Tangoroa and Sione Sione are putting finishing touches on their CVs.
They're on a weekly civics and life-skills course for senior students at the school, which is tucked into the Hutt Valley’s eastern hills. The course covers citizens' rights, work readiness, financial literacy, and politics.
“Even if they take just a little bit out of it, it can be life-changing,” the course's coordinator and assistant principal Angela Von Dadelszen says, adding that the school has tailor-made the course for its students.
“We do teach how politics works, but we find life skills, especially with the cost of living going up, is really useful.”
The Ministry of Education is in the process of refreshing civics education within the social sciences curriculum, but it will continue to be on a buffet basis, competing with core subjects.
Victoria University of Wellington Senior Education lecturer Dr Bronwyn Wood has been in classrooms researching civics education - or the lack of it.
“What I realised is that right across New Zealand schools, many students leave with a very patchy knowledge of how things work,” she says.
“While written into the social studies curriculum, not all teachers teach it or teach it well.”
Four years ago, the Ministry of Education introduced the School Leavers Toolkit, a practical citizenship guide. However, it remains an under-utilised resource.
“At no time were teachers briefed about how to use it. Likewise, was there any pressure put on them to use it,” Dr Wood says.
Victoria University of Wellington's Dr Bronwyn Wood Photo: Victoria University of Wellington
As it stands, the chances of students emerging from school with civics knowledge and agency, remains a lottery.
The ‘Make it 16’ campaign to lower the voting age was given a boost in May when Green Party MP Golriz Ghahraman’s Electoral Strengthening Democracy Amendment Bill was drawn from the members’ bill ballot (a means for non-Government MPs to make legislative change). This bill makes several changes including lowering the voting age to 16. But should the vote age come down by two years as a result of electoral reform, will rangatahi be equipped to make an informed decision?
Blindspot
Back at Taita College, 16 year old Elek Egyed says if the voting age was 16 and there was an election right now, he wouldn’t vote.
“I’m not ready, I don’t know enough about it,” he says.
His classmate Daemen Iti-Adam, also 16, agrees.
“I don’t pay attention to politics but if the voting age was lowered to 16, I definitely would.”
Egyed and Iti-Adam’s takes are representative of many 16-year-olds in New Zealand, according to Dr Janine Hayward, a political scientist from University of Otago who says civics needs to be taught earlier.
“Part of the reason we’re facing obstacles with the Make it 16 campaign is that the study of politics usually starts around 18.
“The challenge is to appreciate and value that at any age, people are able to talk about how they want the world to be and what is fair. If we discuss all that much earlier, then by the time they are sixteen, they should have the confidence to engage in politics.”
University of Otago Politics lecturer Dr Janine Hayward Photo: University of Otago
Civics has been largely ignored and, much like the protagonist of the fairy-tale Cinderella, it deserves more attention. But the word ‘civics’ is a hard sell to those under the age of 21. Dr. Hayward says the word ‘civics’ is a right turn-off for young people.
“Find a name that gives young people some agency. That’s really important,” she says.
Youth are prepared to fully engage on an issue when they feel it truly affects them. This was on full display in both the ‘School Strike 4 Climate’, and the ‘Black Lives Matter’ protests in 2019 and 2020.
In the course of Dr Woods’ recent research, where 400 school students were heard from, there wasn’t a single one who struggled to name an issue important to them.
She advises teachers to guide students into civics education through the issues they care about.
“We ask what they could do about that issue and what they can all do about it together. That’s citizenship. Suddenly you’re on the way with civics education.”
Urgency
Social media and platforms like Tik-Tok have increased access to political ideas and while it can be a place to market socio-political issues to rangatahi in an attractive way, there is also the risk it can mislead those without the tools to critically assess the information being shared. This risk further underlines the urgency for deliver good civics programmes in New Zealand’s schools.
Dr Wood trains social studies teachers to be citizenship educators. She says Covid-19 and the related protest and occupation at Parliament’s grounds earlier this year has informed some of what she now teaches. In an increasingly polarised electorate, there's a real knack to ensuring people aren’t pushed into the political fringes.
“This last year I put more emphasis on fake news, the need to critically interrogate ideas rather than just shut them down,” she says.
“We need to teach students how to deal with disagreement. How to deal with different opinions.”
A protestor, draped in the United Tribes flag, walks past the gates of Parliament during the 2022 Anti-Vaccine Mandate protest / occupation. Photo: Louis Collins
Increased polarisation in Aotearoa was a big driver for Taita College running a unit on digital citizenship last year.
“Covid-19 helped our students realise how important politics is; the day to day impacts of government decisions,” Von Dadelszen says.
“Many young people don’t see politics in everyday life but with Covid-19 and being locked down, suddenly there was this realisation. It was an opportunity to talk about what, say National may have done, ACT’s position or the Greens.”
Dr Wood agrees there are ongoing concerns about teaching values, especially around biases. She says it’s important to “encourage students and teachers to take a ‘devil's advocate’ approach or argue the other side”.
“It’s essential to ensure teachers make students feel comfortable to air their ideas or else it just goes underground.”
She hopes teachers are inspired to seize the new curriculum. But does it need more than hope? There’s a consensus out there that there needs to be some mechanism whereby civics is formalised.
“I do think that at such an enormously political time that we’ve lived through, we’ve never had as much political influence as we’ve had in the last few years,” Dr Hayward explains.
“How will that impact young people? I don’t know what that will look like, but I have no doubt it will be significant. A good civics programme is long overdue. There is an appetite for it.”
Taita College, a high school nestled in the eastern Hutt hills. Photo: Louis Collins
Sione and Tangaroa have finished their CVs and join the rest of the group in a wrap-up discussion with a visiting reporter.
“What’s the point in activism?” Egyed asks.
“The Government will go ahead and do what they want anyway,” Iti-Adam says.
Both say they’re keen to learn more about how government works. They’ll get that chance next year when the civics course focuses more on the election process. It’s helpful that the school Marae is used as a polling booth centre.
A group of year-12s in the library add that they’re not that interested in politics because they have plans to go to Australia to join family members and mates.
Regardless of whether the Make-it-16 campaign is successful, there is no doubt that the need for a strong civics curriculum is paramount. Civics must no longer be ‘the Cinderella subject’.
*Louis Collins is a member of the Youth Press Gallery which takes the role of independent media reporting on Youth MPs and Youth Parliament 2022. This article can be republished freely on your platform subject to the following conditions:
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