How has UK Government policy towards citizenship and character education changed over time? How can a historical policy analysis of these topics contribute to developing a set of recommendations for improving these areas of education in the future?

This thesis considers the policy of the UK Government towards citizenship and character education, the ethics behind the role of schools providing them and policy changes in the early twenty-first century.
Citizenship and character education stem from ancient Greek times. Indeed, Aristotle’s influence is still felt today in the promotion of a traditional over a more progressive form which nearly replaced it from the 1960s. This thesis considers the context for these developments including an early version crafted by T H Marshall. It discusses two contrasting philosophies – progressive and neoliberal – in the emergence of comprehensive education in the 1970s amid fraught debate between Labour and right-wing politicians leading to the first national curriculum in 1988 - enshrining a non-statutory form of citizenship education, focusing on democracy, at national level for the first time whilst introducing elements of character education comprising civic virtues.
The thesis traces New Labour’s attempts to forge one model based on the Crick Report, 1998, and how political events over the succeeding two decades undermined progress resulting in a lesser role for citizenship education and a much-expanded agenda for character education by 2020.
With insight from three key philosophers, the thesis analyses the impact of major phases during the later twentieth century including the neoliberal 1970s and 1980s as a context for the development of citizenship and then character education in the twenty-first century.
It recounts interventions over this period, impacting education during the time of the Conservative-Liberal Democrat Coalition and Conservative Governments and suggests evaluation of the implementation of citizenship and character education.
In the absence of recent work at a national level, the thesis recommends research into application of a civic participatory model in the UK, with evidence of its successful operation elsewhere, and potential for engaging local communities in its administration.