The Government has now formally announced its intention to bring legislation to Parliament that would extend voting rights to 16- and 17-year-olds for all UK elections. But how will this work?  Are these young people ready to vote? Can a more extensive citizenship curriculum help to provide them with the knowledge and skills to participate confidently in future elections?

In a research report recently published with the Association for Citizenship Teaching, we considered young people’s views and experiences of citizenship education. We found them to be keen supporters of the principles of democracy – despite considerable scepticism of how it operates.  In this blog, we look at whether studying for the General Certificate of Secondary Education in Citizenship Studies (hereafter, the “GCSE CS”) has an impact or not on youth democratic engagement.

To do this, we conducted an online survey of 889 16- to 19-year-olds from across Britain, splitting our sample into two groups to compare their views of democratic politics.  The first group included a boosted sample of 157 young people who had completed or were currently enrolled on the GCSE CS, with the remaining 732 comprising the second group. Using the chi-square, we tested for any significant differences between the groups to assess the impact of studying for this qualification on their connection with democracy.

Figure 1 shows that nearly two thirds of the GCSE CS group are interested in politics (63.1%) and in the news (64.3%).  The data also tell us that the other group have much lower levels of interest in the news (53.6%) – and are slightly more likely to be disinterested (52.7%) than interested (47.3%) in politics.  These group differences are statistically significant, suggesting that taking the GCSE CS really matters when it comes to political engagement.

Our findings also point towards the existence of a clear link between this course and young people’s confidence in their own understanding of political issues. Interestingly, Figure 2 reveals that both groups display high levels of confidence, although this is much higher for those in the GCSE CS group (70.7%) than among their counterparts (63.5%).  Again, these findings suggest that this GCSE makes a significant difference in young people’s confidence in their understanding of political issues.

But how much confidence and trust do young people have in UK democratic institutions and players? This issue is of particular importance given the recent negative media coverage of many youth as active participants in the far-right racist riots in August 2024, as well the increasing attention given by commentators to data purportedly showing this generation’s increasing open-ness to authoritarian politics and strong leaders.

Our results suggest young people remain committed to democratic politics – although a noticeable minority feel discontented with how democracy works in practice. Figure 3 suggests that the GCSE CS group were more positive about UK democracy (63.1%) than their contemporaries (60%), but not (statistically) significantly so. We might ask why the GCSE CS does not seem to have such a dramatic effect here as it does for their confidence and interest in politics?  Possibly students develop more critical skills through this GCSE, and feel that UK democracy could be improved – although we don’t have data on this question.

Figure 4 demonstrates that although democratically-inclined, our young sample is also highly distrusting of the country’s democratic institutions and actors, reflecting findings from other studies. We created a democratic trust deficit (DTD) by subtracting the percentage levels of “Trust” from “Distrust”.  The DTD for our two groups of young people (GCSE CS : Other YP) are: the media (44.8%:60%), the UK Government (25.2%:45.2%), politicians in general (53.6%:78.2%), and respondents’ respective local councils (2%:21.6%).[1]  These differences between our two groups are all statistically significant, suggesting that the GCSE CS does have an important impact in reducing distrust in the workings of UK democracy, although it remains at a very high level for both groups.

Despite their skepticism of how UK democracy operates, and as a marker of their general commitment to UK democratic politics, our results point toward a considerable level of support for the UK Government’s recently confirmed intention to introduce legislation to extend voting rights to 16- and 17-year-olds for all elections.  Interestingly, Figure 5 demonstrates that although the non-GCSE group are more or less equally divided on this issue, support for the proposal was significantly higher for those taking the GCSE CS (62.4%) than for those who did not take it (44.4%). Perhaps having (critically) reflected on such issues in their studies, those in the GCSE CS group can more easily identify the potential value of political reforms as a necessary step to address what they see as a democratic deficit (as indicated above).  Again, our takeaway from this is that studying for the GCSE Citizenship Studies makes a difference.

Conclusion

Over the past few decades, democratic systems have been challenged by declining participation in elections, by political volatility, by an increase in populism and by the deliberate spreading of disinformation. In this context, youth participation in elections has fallen, despite their interest in politics. The existing literature identifies a strong connection between education and democracy – the greater knowledge people have of democracy and politics, the more likely we are to have sophisticated and active citizenry.

Are young people studying for the GCSE merely more interested and engaged than others before they start the course? We would answer “No”. An overwhelming 82% of those who had taken the GCSE CS confirmed that the additional study of Citizenship topics had increased their democratic literacy and confidence about political issues.

Our research suggests that effective Citizenship education, delivered hand-in-hand with the Government’s planned Votes at 16, is key. In light of the ongoing (at the time of writing, summer 2025) Curriculum Review, we would therefore argue that the Government should extend and deepen Citizenship education within the curriculum.

Matt Henn (Nottingham Trent University)

James Sloam (Royal Holloway, University of London)

Ana Nunes (Nottingham Trent University)