Consumer Focus Scotland support Holyrood Petition’s moves to bring justice, legal & consumer rights teaching into Scots secondary school curriculum

Scots consumer champion backs calls to educate school pupils on legal & consumer rights. CONSUMER FOCUS SCOTLAND have added their full support to a Holyrood petition launched by a Perth based law reform campaigner, calling for Scots secondary school pupils to be taught about the Scots justice system, their legal & consumer rights as has been the case in schools throughout the rest of the UK for some years. In England & Wales, schoolchildren have for some time, received “Citizenship Education” as a compulsory course, which covers similar issues contained in the petition such as democracy & justice, along with civil rights & responsibilities.

Petition 1354 calls for the education of justice, legal & consumer rights to Scots children. With secondary school children in England & Wales already ahead of their Scots counterparts in receiving education of legal & consumer rights, Mr MacKenzie’s petition to Holyrood calls “on the Scottish Parliament to urge the Scottish Government to introduce ‘citizenship’ as a compulsory element of the secondary school curriculum and which covers knowledge and an understanding of consumers' rights, the roles, duties and responsibilities of the legal profession and the different courts systems in relation to civil justice and also human rights legislation”.

Consumer Focus Scotland & other agencies have been quick to support the idea of bringing the issues contained in the petition into focus at the Scottish Parliament for action. The full list of submissions received by the Scottish Parliament regarding Petition 1354 can be found here : Written submissions for Petition 1354

The submission from Consumer Focus Scotland (pdf) states : “The issues raised in the petition are crucial. Young people make decisions and take actions that have a legal consequence on a daily basis. Even simple, everyday activities, such as buying something in a shop, are interactions that bring them in contact with the civil law. As young people near adulthood, these interactions become increasingly complex; they take out contracts for mobile phones, they have one (or several) part-time jobs, they leave home and take out a tenancy agreement. We are increasingly concerned that young people, and consumers in general, are unaware of many of the consequences of their actions, and have a lack of knowledge of their rights and responsibilities. We believe helping people to become more assertive, confident citizens who know their rights (and responsibilities) will also encourage businesses and employers to improve standards. We therefore support the intention behind this petition.”

Asking why is knowledge of rights, responsibilities and means of redress so important, Consumer Focus Scotland states : “Approximately a quarter of the Scottish population has suffered from an everyday problem that they found difficult to resolve, that had a possible remedy in civil law. We believe that equipping all consumers with appropriate knowledge, skills and confidence will enable them to better make active, informed decisions which have legal consequences. Providing such tools can help them to avoid problems by making better choices, but also help to ensure that if problems do arise, that they have sufficient knowledge of their rights, responsibilities and means of redress to allow them to take appropriate action at the appropriate time.”

“Evidence from Paths to Justice Scotland (which reported the findings of a large-scale survey of consumers’ experiences of a wide range of everyday problems) suggests, however, that a widespread lack of knowledge amongst most social groups means that these stages are very difficult for consumers to navigate. In particular, there was some suggestion that people in Scotland may have more difficulty identifying when they have a problem than their counterparts in England and Wales. A clear message to come from the survey was the need for much greater knowledge on rights, remedies and procedures for resolving disputes.”

Scotland’s Lord Justice Clerk, Lord Gill recommended public legal education be developed in Scotland. Consumer Focus Scotland continued on the theme of legal education : “We believe the evidence illustrates an urgent need for more investment to improve consumers’ knowledge of their rights, remedies and means of redress in order to ensure they can anticipate and avoid problems, or seek help at an early stage to resolve them should they arise. Ensuring early resolution of disputes has the potential to save money and reduce stress, as well as preventing or minimising the wider social impacts of these problems. Consumer Focus Scotland firmly believes that a public legal education strategy is required to address this problem and is crucial to improving access to justice for consumers. Public legal education is a tool to improve consumers’ knowledge of their rights, remedies and means of redress, but also to build their skills and confidence to be able to act upon this knowledge. Building consumers’ ‘legal capability’ will equip them to better cope with law-related issues. Lord Gill’s recent Civil Courts Review recommended that public legal education form an aspect of any access to justice strategy taken forward.”

The submission from Consumer Focus Scotland then went onto debate what the particular challenges facing young people in law-related situations are : “As consumers in their own right, young people require to have sufficient knowledge, skills and confidence to make informed, responsible decisions. As highlighted in the petition, however, there is evidence from Citizens Advice Scotland (CAS) about the level and types of problems experienced by young people who visited citizens’ advice bureaux.6 We would emphasise of course, that this provides information only on those people who accessed advice from a bureau. As outlined above, many people are unaware that they have a problem or that there are agencies such as CABx that are there to help them, and we would therefore expect the situation to be even worse than that reported by CAS. Indeed, there is evidence from England and Wales that each year 16-24 year olds will experience 2.3 million rights-related problems which will require them to seek advice.”

“Consumer Focus Scotland believes that citizenship education in schools has a key role to play in building such ‘foundation level’ legal capability amongst young people. The petition suggests that citizenship education become a ‘compulsory’ element of the school curriculum as in England and Wales. We support the flexible and personalised approach taken to the curriculum as introduced by Curriculum for Excellence. Nevertheless we firmly believe that there is a critical need for much more to be done to build young people’s legal capability to ensure they are able to make active, informed decisions as they move through life. We believe that using citizenship to build ‘foundation level’ legal capability would contribute towards the achievement of the four capacities of Curriculum for Excellence, particularly ‘confident individuals’ and ‘responsible citizens.”

Referring to the Scottish Government’s plans for the Curriculum for Excellence, Consumer Focus Scotland concluded its letter to Holryood’s Petitions Committee, stating : “The ‘Responsibilities for All’ theme of Curriculum for Excellence identifies key areas where all staff have a responsibility to develop, reinforce and extend learning. We are pleased that money issues, including debt, are included within the ‘numeracy across learning’ strand of Responsibilities for All. We believe there is potential to extend consideration of money and debt issues to include elements of legal capability such as agencies that can help. We do, however, believe that citizenship, and particularly issues of that relating to civil justice.”

Scottish Government’s Curriculum for Excellence should include education of civil justice, rights & responsibilities, says Consumer Focus Scotland.“We are concerned that the focus of law related work on rights and responsibilities has the potential to relate principally to matters of criminal law. However, young people come into contact with the civil law in a variety of ways, and will be beginning to make decisions where it is critical that they understand the consequences of their actions. and legal capability, play such a fundamental role in developing the four capacities identified by Curriculum for Excellence that citizenship should be formally considered for inclusion as a ‘Responsibility for All’. We believe this could better integrate such issues, including consideration of civil justice structures, rights, responsibilities, and means of redress, across the curriculum with focused outcomes which would not only include issues of knowledge, but of skills, confidence and exploration of attitudes. We believe this is the best way to ensure that all young people are given sufficient opportunity to build the necessary legal capability to make informed, effective decisions”

More detail regarding Petition 1354 can be found in my earlier report in September, here : Holyrood Petition launched to promote education of justice, legal & consumer rights in Scots secondary school curriculum.

Lord Gill’s Civil Courts Review recommended that public legal education form an aspect of any access to justice strategy taken forward. My earlier coverage of the Civil Courts Review can be found here : Civil Courts Review - The story so far

Holyrood Petition launched to promote education of justice, legal & consumer rights in Scots secondary school curriculum

Scottish Parliament’s Public Petitions Committee to consider education of legal & consumer rights in schools. A PUBLIC PETITION promoting education of justice, legal & consumer rights in Scotland’s secondary schools has been lodged at the Scottish Parliament by Perth based law reform campaigner Mr Stewart MacKenzie, whose successful McKenzie Friends Petition 1247 brought forward the system of lay assistance used in courts around the world since 1970 to our very own Scots legal system this year after a year long campaign at Holyrood, which I reported on in more detail HERE.

Petition 1354 calls for the education of justice, legal & consumer rights to Scots children. With children in England & Wales already ahead of their Scots counterparts in receiving education of legal & consumer rights, Mr MacKenzie’s petition calls “on the Scottish Parliament to urge the Scottish Government to introduce ‘citizenship’ as a compulsory element of the secondary school curriculum and which covers knowledge and an understanding of consumers' rights, the roles, duties and responsibilities of the legal profession and the different courts systems in relation to civil justice and also human rights legislation”.

Mr MacKenzie commented further in his petition on the apparent lack of will in the current Scottish Government’s education plans to follow the English education system in teaching legal & consumer rights to secondary school pupils, saying : “I have contacted the Learning Directorate, Curriculum Division, of the Scottish Government and received the details of what is currently provided in the Scottish education system. They have confirmed that although the matter of citizenship ‘may’ be touched upon in secondary schools, it is not a compulsory element of the Scottish curriculum and, if it is covered by individual schools, it is very basic and does not cover the topics recommended by the petitioner.”

Mr MacKenzie continued : “All Scottish school pupils, within their secondary education, would greatly benefit from, for example, knowledge and an understanding of consumers’ rights, the role, duties and responsibilities of the legal profession in Scotland, the purpose and role of the different courts systems in relation to civil justice in Scotland and also human rights legislation, all of which would install this much needed knowledge and give confidence to young people, so that they are ready to face issues which they will incur in everyday life after leaving school and avoid many of the pitfalls of modern, everyday life.”

“In the English education system a learning course covering these issues has been statutory since 2002. The ‘citizenship’ element of the National Curriculum in England gives teaching and learning of the key areas which the petitioner describes but which are lacking in the Scottish education system and whilst within the Scottish education system citizenship is covered to a very limited degree, it is not a compulsory element of the curriculum and does not cover the areas which are described in this petition and which Citizens Advice Scotland describes as being desperately needed by all Scottish secondary school leavers.”

In England & Wales, schoolchildren have for some time, received “Citizenship Education” as a compulsory course, which covers issues such as democracy & justice, & rights & responsibilities, described on the TeacherNet website as follows :

Democracy and justice — This focuses on the role that citizens can take within the political and justice systems in the UK. It includes: freedom as part of a democracy; fairness and the rule of law as part of justice; power and authority; and accountability. Pupils learn that accountability happens at many levels ranging from a responsible opposition in parliament challenging, testing and scrutinising what Government is doing, to citizens in local communities challenging decisions that affect them.

Rights and responsibilities — There are different kinds of rights, obligations and responsibilities — political, legal, human, social, civic and moral. Pupils explore contested areas surrounding rights and responsibilities, for the checks and balances needed in relation to freedom of speech in the context of threats from extremism and terrorism.

The Scottish Government introduced the recent Curriculum for Excellence in Scotland, although omitted legal & consumer rights. The Scottish Government’s recent “Curriculum for Excellence”, more about which can be viewed at the Engage for Education website apparently does not include anywhere near the same level of education on justice, legal & consumer affairs for Scots schoolchildren, leaving the feeling Scots kids are being left in the dark while their English counterparts receive a much wider, more responsible view of the world around them.

The move by legal campaigner Mr MacKenzie to ensure Scots secondary school pupils receive equivalent or even better education on legal & consumer affairs, which already received by pupils in England & Wales, is backed by consumer organisations such as Which?, and Consumer Focus Scotland who have long held views on the subject of a public legal education strategy, featured in their recent report : Making Civil Justice Work for Consumers

Consumer Focus Scotland also advocate a public legal education strategy. Consumer Focus Scotland said in their report “If consumers are to be able to access legal services, and make informed choices about which services best meet their needs, they need to be able to a) recognise they have a problem, b) recognise the problem has a potential legal remedy, & c) identify a course of action to pursue that remedy, be it taking action themselves, or seeking help from an appropriate source” – issues which could be greatly helped by a compulsory course in Scottish schools for pupils on justice, legal & consumer rights subjects.

The Consumer Focus Scotland report went onto state : “In other jurisdictions, public legal education (PLE) is seen as an important tool to help consumers navigate these stages. It is a tool not only to improve consumers’ knowledge of their rights, remedies and means of redress, but also to build their skills and confidence so that they possess sufficient ‘legal capability’ to act upon this knowledge. This could be about giving them the knowledge and confidence to reach the appropriate adviser at the appropriate time to help them resolve their problem(s), or it could be equipping them with the necessary skills to take action themselves.”

The report goes onto state Consumer Focus Scotland “believe the development of a Scotland-wide public legal education strategy to be fundamental to efforts to improve access to justice for consumers.”

Sarah O’Neill, Head of Policy for Consumer Focus Scotland commented on the moves at Holyrood saying : “While we have not seen the detail of the petition, and cannot comment on this at this stage, we would be supportive in principle of any initiative to include coverage of some of these issues in the school curriculum.”

Ms Neil continued : “We have long been supportive of the concept of public legal education, and have a particular interest in looking at ways of developing people’s legal capability, by increasing their skills and confidence, allowing them to recognise when they have a legal problem, any legal rights they may have in relation to that problem, and identifying a course of action to resolve that problem. This is set out in more detail in our recent publication making Civil Justice Work for Consumers.”

Educating our children on issues of justice, legal & consumer rights is obviously an essential part of growing up, and since the rest of the UK has long recognised this, it is surely time for Scotland to follow suit. After all, we have regular announcements of Scottish Government Ministers attempting to cut crime & break the cycle of crime many people find themselves trapped in by providing offenders with more of the skills they need to live positive lives, so why not go a step further and teach Scots schoolchildren about justice, the legal system & consumer rights at school level .. it may do a lot more good for our nation’s future ….