‘No Shame, No Blame’ – Let’s Start With Democratic Education

Is our democracy broken?

Perhaps.

Is democratic education in Wales and the UK either non-existent or so boring it makes people disengage from a very young age? Yes.

Is there a frustration from large numbers of the population that this is the case? Yes.

Is there a desire for democratic education in schools and beyond? Yes.

Is there widespread distrust and disillusionment surrounding our UK politics, politicians, media, sources of information and democratic institutions, systems and processes? Absolutely yes.

We must address as a matter of urgency the unacceptable situation of large swathes of the population currently feeling unheard, unrepresented and uninterested – and address the current alarming levels of disengagement, disempowerment, disinformation, disenchantment, disassociation and distrust. 

All the young people I have interviewed, surveyed, involved in focus groups and contracted as young co-creators have all, without exception, been keen to understand our democracy and frustrated that they didn’t.

There is an urgent need to signpost all citizens to trusted and credible sources of information. To join up all the good work that is already happening into one coherent package of democratic information, education and signposting.

The basic feature of democracy is the capacity of all voters to participate freely and fully in the life of their society and that means more than simply turning out to vote. However even that most basic and blunt tool of evaluation – voter turnout – shows that democratic participation is at all time low and persistently declining, in Wales and the UK. It is clearly evident that we have a long way to go before we can claim to have a fully functioning and healthy democracy.

The Talking Shop and The Democracy Box

Since 2017 I have spoken with, worked with, workshopped and surveyed hundreds of young people from all over Wales and engaged over 4,500 Talking Shop visitors of all ages – to understand why they are not registered or going to vote and how they feel about our Welsh and UK democracy. This research has led me to create The Talking Shop and The Democracy Box prototypes with investment and support from Clwstwr and partnerships including the Future Generations Commissioner and the Electoral Commission. 

I now know that we will only begin to address the historically low levels of basic knowledge and understanding of our UK democracy if we transform basic democratic education and information (both within and beyond formal education). 

We need to co-create easy to access, welcoming, creative and inspiring information points (both in the digital and real world).

If we do, we may have a fighting chance of beginning to reverse the steady decline in democratic participation, voter registration and voter turnout with a degree of lasting impact.

Together with all those young people – and leading academics, partners, collaborators, stakeholders and professional creatives – I have researched, developed and tested The Talking Shop and The Democracy Box prototypes as models for comprehensive democratic education and a ‘Conversation With The Nation’.

I believe The Talking Shop and The Democracy Box can be used to:

1. Provide all citizens across the UK with the basic information that we all need to take part in our democratic society through both public and in-school democratic education campaigns. 
2. Create a groundbreaking ‘Conversation with the Nation’ across Wales (and potentially the UK)
3. Research and increase cultural and democratic participation in Wales and the UK
4. Provide safe and creative live and digital spaces where unexpected, informed and open conversations can begin. Spaces which also have the potential to help tackle our epidemic of loneliness and isolation. Conversations which might just help us to make the change we want to see in society or at least how we see and experience it. 

All the young people I have interviewed, surveyed, involved in focus groups and contracted as young co-creators have all, without exception, been keen to understand our democracy and frustrated that they didn’t.

The current emphasis on registering to vote and voting is at best ineffective and at worst is actually a major contributing cause of the record levels of disengagement and disenfranchisement. 

‘Why weren’t we taught this at school?’ is the constant refrain.

There is a shame accompanying not knowing this stuff which moves with us through into adulthood and gets harder and harder to admit to.

Many Welsh and UK citizens, including teachers and educators, do not have a sound basic understanding of the UK democracy, for example how local, devolved and Westminster Governments all fit together and why.

If you have not had the privilege of growing up in a household where it is explained to you and discussed and debated around the kitchen or dining room table, or have not pursued it through A Levels or college or university or work, how do you learn this stuff?

My research clearly shows that the majority of those who do currently understand our democracy and feel like they have a voice learnt about it at home around the kitchen or dining room table. 

We must actively create the circumstances to ensure that the kitchen table information sharing is a common experience for the many, rather than a privileged and diminishing situation for the few.  

We need #NoShameNoBlame surrounding our UK democracy story as two of the young co-creators from phase one titled their initial podcast idea.

If you are a teacher, it is hard enough to stand in front of a class and teach your own subject. To teach something you do not understand yourself and to do it creatively and thereby engage and inspire young people is a tall order.

Teachers may sidestep it all together or resort to the passive practice of putting on a video or handing out a workbook, resulting in low level or zero understanding and engagement.

The cycle of poor story sharing thereby continues and low democratic engagement and participation with it.

The Democracy Box can change that.

Democratic education

Stories are how we understand and make sense of the world. Creative and interesting stories engage and inspire us. 

We are currently stuck in a broken cycle of poor collective story-telling about our UK democracy but we can change that situation quickly, sustainably and creatively – and at a low cost through transformational and creative democratic education where the very people we are seeking to reach and engage are paid to be co-creators. 

My research also evidences that the current emphasis on registering to vote and voting is at best ineffective and at worst is actually a major contributing cause of the record levels of disengagement and disenfranchisement. 

A frenzied focus on elections is not helping. We need non-partisan, non-election specific information about our UK democracy all year round every year and not just in the run up to an election. 

It needs to be baked into our education system from age seven upwards so that no young person ever leaves school again without a basic understanding of our UK democracy and how they can take part and have their voices heard – all year round and not simply at the ballot box.

Instead of prioritising elections, registering to vote and voting, The Democracy Box is focusing on people getting involved in democracy every day by explaining stuff even when nothing ‘newsworthy’ or election specific is happening. 

Those who do currently understand our democracy and feel like they have a voice are often unconscious of the knowledge gap which exists for the majority of others

The main responsibility for democratic education within the media currently sits within news departments (with some responsibility and budget being given to education). There are three key problems with this. 

One is that our democratic education becomes wrapped around ‘flagpole’ and ‘newsworthy’ events (mainly elections) when year round democratic education is required. 

The second is that most news stories are told as episodic stories. Episodic stories make the individual responsible and therefore deflect the responsibility from society. We need thematic stories which encourage societal responsibility. We need to reframe the story from the individual to the collective.

The third is that news and news providers, in an ever increasingly saturated world of 24 hour rolling news, have become distrusted and difficult to distinguish for many from fake news and misinformation. 

‘Who can I trust?’ and ‘Where do I go for the truth?’ were regular themes and refrains throughout this research. All news providers were referenced by young people, including the BBC, as sources of information that they did not feel they could trust.

Ivory towers and managed democracies 

There are two things which I have identified through five years of research as the reason for the current status quo and which remain barriers to the change which is so needed: the ‘Ivory Tower problem’ and the ‘Managed Democracy problem’. 

Those who do currently understand our democracy and feel like they have a voice are often unconscious of the knowledge gap which exists for the majority of others and where the starting point for any democratic engagement work actually needs to be. 

In focus groups young people said to me: ‘you’re gonna need to row back because we don’t even know what the word democracy means’. Add to that terms such as ‘right and left’ constituency, ward, constitution, legislation before we even begin with phrases like First Past The Post, Proportional Representation and the Rule of Law. 

It is hard to admit you don’t understand something. Young people in the first co-creator Democracy Box cohort coined the tagline/hashtags ‘No Shame No Blame’. Together we decided to blast the lid off the shame of not knowing this stuff and not waste our time blaming anyone for not knowing. Little did we realise then that the key to unlocking real change was convincing not the majority who don’t know but want to know and understand this stuff but rather the minority (which includes all ages, professions and backgrounds), who already do know and don’t/can’t seem to comprehend or engage with the fact that millions of people do not. That is simply the Ivory Tower problem. 

I created the four levels of voter information to separate into categories for my own understanding all of the different kinds of voter information that was swirling around in many of the early meetings I attended. 

Level one is the focus of the Democracy Box. It is the foundation and, for the most part, the missing level. 

How is it that people can go through their whole school education and come out not understanding how the democracy they live in works and fits together?

It’s the basics of how our democracy works and fits together – which every citizen needs to know: The Story of Our UK Democracy That Every Citizen Should Know in 7 Short Chapters. 

Most time, money and energy is spent on how to vote and who to vote for (levels three and four which are election specific) . We need to shift the focus and time, energy and money to the basics – all-year-round non-election specific voter/citizen information – before we can possibly begin to tackle with any real impact voter registration, engagement and democratic participation generally, and therefore have informed and meaningful national conversations. Once we have done that, perhaps we can also address level two, which all the young people I speak to ask for and which is difficult for them to find: non-election related and factual information about all political parties, their histories, main policy ideas past and present and overall guiding stars.

The Ivory Tower problem and the Managed Democracy problem are blocking this from happening.  

The term ‘managed democracy’ was first mentioned to me in one of my early one-to-one interviews and we need to ask who is responsible for such a deficit of democratic education in Wales and the UK.  

How have we arrived at a situation where millions of citizens do not understand the basics of our democracy and that this basic knowledge is not routinely taught in both primary and secondary schools? How is it that people can go through their whole school education and come out not understanding how the democracy they live in works and fits together?

I would argue that this state of affairs, which is many, many decades in the making, is the responsibility of all past governments, all political parties, broadcasters, media, decision makers and policymakers for whom elections are newsworthy, exciting, interesting and core to their purpose. 

Basic democratic education (and by this I do not mean citizenship teaching) is at best unconsciously overlooked or seen as boring and unnecessary, or too big to tackle; at worst it is not invested in because it will challenge the interests and status quo of those who sit in positions of power and authority and who could make that investment.

Neither the Ivory Tower problem or the Managed Democracy problem have been created consciously or maliciously. Both can be addressed. No shame or blame is involved

My question and concern is whether they will actually be addressed with any of the sense of urgency that is required and in any meaningful way. It may not necessarily be in the interest of political parties, the media and those who currently hold power in many forms to ensure that all citizens are empowered. 

What is certain is that a vision and a strategy for widespread and creative, engaging and inspiring democratic education for the whole population is required along with an appetite to address both problems by the people who currently have access to power, influence, policy and human and financial resources. 

Without that, the answer to the question ‘Is our democracy broken?’ will soon change from ‘perhaps’ to ‘absolutely, yes’.

All articles published on the welsh agenda are subject to IWA’s disclaimer.