OUR BELIEF

1.Active citizens have a strong sense of their place and responsibility in the society and nation and are driven by a sense of commitment to other people, rooted in notions of justice and care.

2. Active citizens engage with the state when they wish to do so and on their own terms. They are driven by personal ethical values and many are resistant to the competitive cultures of traditional political processes and parties.

3. Active citizens learn their citizenship skills through trying to solve a problem to fulfil a mission, rather than setting out to ‘learn to be good citizens”. Learning, and citizenship emerge as a consequence of this primary motivation. As such, learning has to be embedded in those processes.

4. Active citizens are notably energetic people and typically are active in several spheres. The skills and knowledge that active citizens develop in one area (political, work, civil society or private) are frequently transferred into the other areas.

5. Active citizens acknowledge that in a democratic society all individuals and groups have the right to engage in the creation and re-creation o that democratic society; have the right to participate in all of the democratic practices and institutions within that society; have the responsibility to ensure that no groups or individuals are excluded form these practices and institutions; have the responsibility to ensure a broad definition of the political includes all relationships and structures throughout the social arrangement.

6. Formal education in citizenship seems to have played little part in the formation of individuals. However, extra-curricular activity during formal education does appear to be important, as do structures which give students a voice in the running of their educational institutions.