{"id":923,"date":"2016-05-28T14:58:22","date_gmt":"2016-05-28T13:58:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/copyright.lboro.ac.uk\/crcc\/?p=923"},"modified":"2016-10-21T15:02:03","modified_gmt":"2016-10-21T14:02:03","slug":"national-citizen-service","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.lboro.ac.uk\/crcc\/nations-citizenship\/national-citizen-service\/","title":{"rendered":"What is the National Citizen Service?"},"content":{"rendered":"

It describes itself as the fastest growing youth movement in the UK for a century. Launched in 2011, the National Citizen Service<\/a> (NCS) is a government funded voluntary youth programme for 15 to 17-year-olds.<\/p>\n

A further \u00a31.2 billion pound investment was announced in the 2016 Queen\u2019s Speech<\/a> as part of a new permanent statutory footing which will mean that all schools have a duty to promote NCS. But what is it, and what impact has it had on young people\u2019s lives?<\/p>\n

NCS is a two to four-week programme that has so far reached over 200,000 teenagers in England and Northern Ireland. It starts with an adventurous outdoor camping experience, followed by \u201cskillsbuilding\u201d activities and a social action volunteer project. NCS costs participants \u00a350 to complete, with bursaries available for those unable to meet the cost.<\/p>\n

These activities may sound familiar. The Duke of Edinburgh Award, Scout Association and other youth organisations have always focused on outdoor education and \u201cactive citizenship\u201d. In 1908, the original subtitle of Scouting for Boys<\/em> was \u201can instruction in good citizenship<\/a>\u201d.<\/p>\n

NCS marks a shift change. Its activities \u2013 as a form of youth work and informal education<\/a> \u2013 were once the traditional purview of the voluntary sector and local authority youth clubs. Yet NCS is not driven by the collective will of a voluntary base, but Whitehall.<\/p>\n

The Conservative party presented and piloted early ideas for a \u201cschool leaver programme<\/a>\u201d in opposition. The NCS further developed during 2010, alongside David Cameron\u2019s vision for a \u201cBig Society<\/a>\u201d and was showcased in the coalition\u2019s 2011 Giving White Paper<\/a> to foster a new culture of philanthropic values. This seems to be working. The National Council for Voluntary Organisations recently reported a dramatic rise in volunteering among 16 to 25-year-olds<\/a>, naming NCS as one of the likely \u201cpushes\u201d.<\/p>\n

Impact on young people<\/h2>\n

In 2011, the House of Commons Education Select Committee<\/a> asked if NCS was a \u201cgood principle\u201d but had \u201cbad timing\u201d. Its growth has occurred in austere times of public sector cuts to local youth services. The youth worker union UNITE \u2013 understandably bruised \u2013 states that \u201cyoung people are not just citizens in the summer<\/a>\u201d.<\/p>\n

A series of Ipsos MORI evaluations<\/a> show the positive impacts NCS has in young people\u2019s lives: nine out of ten of its graduates in 2014<\/a> felt they have developed useful skills for the future.<\/p>\n

https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=YcQnzwVNslg<\/a><\/p>\n

<\/figure>\n

My own research<\/a> with my colleague Catherine Waite has also explored young people\u2019s experiences. Interviews with NCS participants who graduated in different years were full of testimonials about the scheme\u2019s impact in boosting confidence and inspiring futures. One 17-year-old said:<\/p>\n

It\u2019s been the best year of my life \u2026 I think it will be difficult to beat, whatever I go through!<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

We have also interviewed former and current delivery providers who do NCS on the ground. These are a complete mix of private sector partnerships, social enterprises and voluntary sector charities who bid for fixed-term contracts from the Cabinet Office. While the majority of people interviewed spoke about the benefits of collaborative working, several smaller organisations faced challenges. One manager said:<\/p>\n

The actual programme is fantastic, it\u2019s exactly akin to what we do \u2026 What\u2019s been challenging is \u2026 probably the bureaucracy and structure we\u2019ve had to work with.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

It\u2019s also clear that this competitive model has created tensions \u2013 and winner and losers \u2013 in the wider voluntary youth sector. The recent merger of NCVYS and Ambition<\/a> as a representative \u201cumbrella\u201d body for the sector in England is a sign that there is demand for a united \u201cvoice\u201d that supports both young people and organisations in this shifting landscape.<\/p>\n

The government\u2019s newly announced National Citizen Service Bill<\/a> means that all state secondary schools, academies, private schools and councils will be required to promote NCS. This is a significant moment in re-shaping the \u201cboundaries\u201d of formal and informal education<\/a>.<\/p>\n

There will now be a duty for schools to champion NCS as part of pupils\u2019 holiday time \u2013 with volunteering opportunities for trainee teachers<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Which nation?<\/h2>\n

The UK prime minister, David Cameron, stated<\/a> that the government is \u201cmaking NCS a permanent feature of British life\u201d. This raises an interesting question about NCS, devolution and \u201cBritishness\u201d and which nation is the focus of a \u201cnational\u201d citizen service.<\/p>\n

NCS is active in England and now Northern Ireland, but the Welsh government\u2019s report on a recent pilot<\/a> was lukewarm, citing \u201coverlaps\u201d with existing opportunities. There is also no NCS presence in Scotland.<\/p>\n

NCS has an ambitious goal to reach a million graduates by 2020. To achieve this, it will need to build bridges with smaller charities, youth workers and demonstrate flexibility with devolved administrations. The impassioned call from NCS\u2019s chief executive<\/a> to \u201csupport the next generations of citizens to be more confident and capable, connected and compassionate\u201d is easy to support. The wider state infrastructure, funding and delivery model of NCS is more difficult to champion.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

Sarah Mills<\/a>, Senior Lecturer in Human Geography, Loughborough University<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

This article was originally published on The Conversation<\/a>. Read the original article<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It describes itself as the fastest growing youth movement in the UK for a century. Launched in 2011, the National Citizen Service (NCS) is a government funded voluntary youth programme for 15 to 17-year-olds.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":412,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[41],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-923","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-nations-citizenship"],"yoast_head":"\nWhat is the National Citizen Service? - Centre for Research in Communication and Culture<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"It describes itself as the fastest growing youth movement in the UK for a century.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/blog.lboro.ac.uk\/crcc\/nations-citizenship\/national-citizen-service\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"What is the National Citizen Service? - Centre for Research in Communication and Culture\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"It describes itself as the fastest growing youth movement in the UK for a century.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/blog.lboro.ac.uk\/crcc\/nations-citizenship\/national-citizen-service\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Centre for Research in Communication and Culture\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2016-05-28T13:58:22+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2016-10-21T14:02:03+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/counter.theconversation.edu.au\/content\/59648\/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Rachel Mackenzie\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Rachel Mackenzie\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Estimated reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blog.lboro.ac.uk\\\/crcc\\\/nations-citizenship\\\/national-citizen-service\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blog.lboro.ac.uk\\\/crcc\\\/nations-citizenship\\\/national-citizen-service\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Rachel Mackenzie\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blog.lboro.ac.uk\\\/crcc\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/93f43993c1dcd7a27fd5ccef67178cb7\"},\"headline\":\"What is the National Citizen Service?\",\"datePublished\":\"2016-05-28T13:58:22+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2016-10-21T14:02:03+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blog.lboro.ac.uk\\\/crcc\\\/nations-citizenship\\\/national-citizen-service\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":842,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blog.lboro.ac.uk\\\/crcc\\\/nations-citizenship\\\/national-citizen-service\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/counter.theconversation.edu.au\\\/content\\\/59648\\\/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic\",\"articleSection\":[\"Nations, migration and citizenship\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blog.lboro.ac.uk\\\/crcc\\\/nations-citizenship\\\/national-citizen-service\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blog.lboro.ac.uk\\\/crcc\\\/nations-citizenship\\\/national-citizen-service\\\/\",\"name\":\"What is the National Citizen Service? - Centre for Research in Communication and Culture\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blog.lboro.ac.uk\\\/crcc\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blog.lboro.ac.uk\\\/crcc\\\/nations-citizenship\\\/national-citizen-service\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blog.lboro.ac.uk\\\/crcc\\\/nations-citizenship\\\/national-citizen-service\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/counter.theconversation.edu.au\\\/content\\\/59648\\\/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic\",\"datePublished\":\"2016-05-28T13:58:22+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2016-10-21T14:02:03+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blog.lboro.ac.uk\\\/crcc\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/93f43993c1dcd7a27fd5ccef67178cb7\"},\"description\":\"It describes itself as the fastest growing youth movement in the UK for a century.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blog.lboro.ac.uk\\\/crcc\\\/nations-citizenship\\\/national-citizen-service\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/blog.lboro.ac.uk\\\/crcc\\\/nations-citizenship\\\/national-citizen-service\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blog.lboro.ac.uk\\\/crcc\\\/nations-citizenship\\\/national-citizen-service\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/counter.theconversation.edu.au\\\/content\\\/59648\\\/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/counter.theconversation.edu.au\\\/content\\\/59648\\\/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blog.lboro.ac.uk\\\/crcc\\\/nations-citizenship\\\/national-citizen-service\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blog.lboro.ac.uk\\\/crcc\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"What is the National Citizen Service?\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blog.lboro.ac.uk\\\/crcc\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blog.lboro.ac.uk\\\/crcc\\\/\",\"name\":\"Centre for Research in Communication and Culture\",\"description\":\"World-leading media analysis from Loughborough University\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blog.lboro.ac.uk\\\/crcc\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blog.lboro.ac.uk\\\/crcc\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/93f43993c1dcd7a27fd5ccef67178cb7\",\"name\":\"Rachel Mackenzie\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/91173a437173f04c47d977ae26ebe30923163ba6ab943e2239b365aafb5f7fa7?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/91173a437173f04c47d977ae26ebe30923163ba6ab943e2239b365aafb5f7fa7?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/91173a437173f04c47d977ae26ebe30923163ba6ab943e2239b365aafb5f7fa7?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Rachel Mackenzie\"},\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blog.lboro.ac.uk\\\/crcc\\\/author\\\/adrm12lboro-ac-uk\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"What is the National Citizen Service? - Centre for Research in Communication and Culture","description":"It describes itself as the fastest growing youth movement in the UK for a century.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/blog.lboro.ac.uk\/crcc\/nations-citizenship\/national-citizen-service\/","og_locale":"en_GB","og_type":"article","og_title":"What is the National Citizen Service? - Centre for Research in Communication and Culture","og_description":"It describes itself as the fastest growing youth movement in the UK for a century.","og_url":"https:\/\/blog.lboro.ac.uk\/crcc\/nations-citizenship\/national-citizen-service\/","og_site_name":"Centre for Research in Communication and Culture","article_published_time":"2016-05-28T13:58:22+00:00","article_modified_time":"2016-10-21T14:02:03+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"https:\/\/counter.theconversation.edu.au\/content\/59648\/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic","type":"","width":"","height":""}],"author":"Rachel Mackenzie","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Rachel Mackenzie","Estimated reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/blog.lboro.ac.uk\/crcc\/nations-citizenship\/national-citizen-service\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/blog.lboro.ac.uk\/crcc\/nations-citizenship\/national-citizen-service\/"},"author":{"name":"Rachel Mackenzie","@id":"https:\/\/blog.lboro.ac.uk\/crcc\/#\/schema\/person\/93f43993c1dcd7a27fd5ccef67178cb7"},"headline":"What is the National Citizen Service?","datePublished":"2016-05-28T13:58:22+00:00","dateModified":"2016-10-21T14:02:03+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/blog.lboro.ac.uk\/crcc\/nations-citizenship\/national-citizen-service\/"},"wordCount":842,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/blog.lboro.ac.uk\/crcc\/nations-citizenship\/national-citizen-service\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/counter.theconversation.edu.au\/content\/59648\/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic","articleSection":["Nations, migration and citizenship"],"inLanguage":"en-GB"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/blog.lboro.ac.uk\/crcc\/nations-citizenship\/national-citizen-service\/","url":"https:\/\/blog.lboro.ac.uk\/crcc\/nations-citizenship\/national-citizen-service\/","name":"What is the National Citizen Service? - Centre for Research in Communication and Culture","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/blog.lboro.ac.uk\/crcc\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/blog.lboro.ac.uk\/crcc\/nations-citizenship\/national-citizen-service\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/blog.lboro.ac.uk\/crcc\/nations-citizenship\/national-citizen-service\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/counter.theconversation.edu.au\/content\/59648\/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic","datePublished":"2016-05-28T13:58:22+00:00","dateModified":"2016-10-21T14:02:03+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/blog.lboro.ac.uk\/crcc\/#\/schema\/person\/93f43993c1dcd7a27fd5ccef67178cb7"},"description":"It describes itself as the fastest growing youth movement in the UK for a century.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/blog.lboro.ac.uk\/crcc\/nations-citizenship\/national-citizen-service\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-GB","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/blog.lboro.ac.uk\/crcc\/nations-citizenship\/national-citizen-service\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-GB","@id":"https:\/\/blog.lboro.ac.uk\/crcc\/nations-citizenship\/national-citizen-service\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/counter.theconversation.edu.au\/content\/59648\/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic","contentUrl":"https:\/\/counter.theconversation.edu.au\/content\/59648\/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/blog.lboro.ac.uk\/crcc\/nations-citizenship\/national-citizen-service\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/blog.lboro.ac.uk\/crcc\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"What is the National Citizen Service?"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/blog.lboro.ac.uk\/crcc\/#website","url":"https:\/\/blog.lboro.ac.uk\/crcc\/","name":"Centre for Research in Communication and Culture","description":"World-leading media analysis from Loughborough University","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/blog.lboro.ac.uk\/crcc\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-GB"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/blog.lboro.ac.uk\/crcc\/#\/schema\/person\/93f43993c1dcd7a27fd5ccef67178cb7","name":"Rachel Mackenzie","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-GB","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/91173a437173f04c47d977ae26ebe30923163ba6ab943e2239b365aafb5f7fa7?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/91173a437173f04c47d977ae26ebe30923163ba6ab943e2239b365aafb5f7fa7?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/91173a437173f04c47d977ae26ebe30923163ba6ab943e2239b365aafb5f7fa7?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Rachel Mackenzie"},"url":"https:\/\/blog.lboro.ac.uk\/crcc\/author\/adrm12lboro-ac-uk\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.lboro.ac.uk\/crcc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/923","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.lboro.ac.uk\/crcc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.lboro.ac.uk\/crcc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.lboro.ac.uk\/crcc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/412"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.lboro.ac.uk\/crcc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=923"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blog.lboro.ac.uk\/crcc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/923\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":924,"href":"https:\/\/blog.lboro.ac.uk\/crcc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/923\/revisions\/924"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.lboro.ac.uk\/crcc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=923"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.lboro.ac.uk\/crcc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=923"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.lboro.ac.uk\/crcc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=923"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}