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Michael Grimes: We're talking at the moment about the secondary
curriculum. Would you go as far as to say actually it should be even earlier than that?
I know the government maybe would say that the National Citizen Service would cover some
of that, but would you that actually citizenship ought to be there right from the start?
David Blunkett: Well I think there are four steps. I thank
that at primary level youngsters really do need to understand what's happening around
them. They do need to start appreciating their role in the community; not heavily, not prescriptive,
not actually boring tuition in a way that would turn them off, but just an understanding
of how decisions are made: the interaction within their own family and the wider community,
decisions in the school, responsibility, understanding of other people's points of view; literally
the way in which we learn to rub along together, to make decisions, to be appreciative that
sometimes we have to give a little. And then move on to the secondary curriculum, where
it's really important that there is a proper programme of study, that there are powerful
bodies of knowledge that we need to draw down on, that we do have social values that we
need to transmit and to ensure that people understand together; because that develops
a common identity, develops a common sense of belonging, and therefore it avoids the
syndrome of people feeling alienated and separated out, which we saw regrettably in August 2011
in the disturbances. And then we move on to the National Citizen Service, where people
get a taster of commitment and volunteering and work around them. And finally that we
encourage young people to become volunteers at times in their life. I'm in favour of a
full-time volunteer programme sometime between 16 and 25, where young people would have six
to nine months of literally giving and receiving by being part of a volunteer programme, but
above all that people learn that the more they participate - the more they give, the
more they're part of a vibrant democracy - the more they'll get out of it and the more influence
they'll have over what's happening to their lives.