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Introduction
Growing concerns about immigration, community cohesion, and now, the future of the union (Blair, 2006; Kelly, 2006; Daily Telegraph , 16/1/07) have recently added to the disquiet about the civic attitudes of UK citizens that has been a defining feature of the New Labour governments (Marinetto, 2003). To address these issues, politicians and policy-makers have intensified their interest in promoting 'British' values, especially through citizenship education in schools (DfES, 2007). This discourse reflects a wider public debate about the meaning of 'Britishness' in the post-devolution era among historians, sociologists and political scientists (see, e.g., Robbins, 1998; Bradbury, 2006; Bryant, 2006). Indeed, the 'politics of Britishness' now presents a serious dilemma for the evolving political union in the UK for several reasons, especially the widely differing approaches to citizenship education within each home nation (Andrews and Mycock, 2007).
The intrinsic value of being able to understand political issues and to possess the skills and experience to participate effectively in democratic decision-making makes citizenship education an integral feature of equal educational opportunity (see Callan, 1997; Crick, 1999). Since devolution in 1997, such notions of entitlement have an added dimension in the United Kingdom, especially as the context in which education policy is formulated and implemented has changed. Indeed, in the education systems of England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales, arrangements for citizenship education are evolving along ever-more divergent trajectories, partly reflecting the emergence of differing policy-making approaches, but also as a product of attempts to (re)construct national identity within the devolved curricula. In this context, nationwide proposals for the promotion of British values and culture make citizenship education within and across the United Kingdom increasingly contentious.
The different approaches to citizenship education within England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales raise a number of important questions for politics scholars. What are the implications of this policy divergence for a common UK citizenship? Should citizenship education within the UK be founded on common principles and shared national values? Is the promotion of national identity a legitimate aspiration? Despite the existence of a small literature describing the different arrangements for citizenship education in place across the UK (see Phillips et al. , 2003; Andrews and Mycock, 2007), to date few studies have examined their association with national identity...