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Bach Commission supports our call for better legal education for children and young people

Young Citizens is delighted that the Bach Commission has supported our call for every young person to receive high quality legal education. 

Its final report on The Right to Justice has included as one of its recommendations (pp40-42), that there should be a new responsibility on Ofsted to assess in greater depth how well schools prepare children for the opportunities, responsibilities and experiences of later life. It also calls for Government to better support and facilitate the development of relationships between schools and organisations who are working to improve legal capability.

Tom Franklin, CEO of Young Citizens, commented,

“We should no more think it acceptable for a young person to leave school without an understanding of the legal justice system than we should consider it ok for them to leave school without being competent in reading and writing or arithmetic. Basic understanding of our legal framework – our rights and responsibilities, and how to access justice when things go wrong – is a key life-skill for people in a democratic society.”

He commented that in many of our schools, children and young people don’t get the legal education they need. It’s not necessarily the school’s fault. And that schools are under incredible pressure to focus on a narrow band of subjects, and to obsess about exam results and Ofsted reports.

“We’ve long called for the need for the education system to take a more rounded approach – making sure that schools don’t neglect the key skills for life and work, including the knowledge, skills and confidence young people need to be active citizens.  We’re pleased this has been supported by the Bach Commission”

The Bach Commission, under the Chairmanship of Willie Bach, was set up to advise the Labour Party Front bench on policies to expand access to justice.