Austin MacDonald – a 17-year-old student from Woodford Green – has launched a campaign calling for the introduction of law as an official GCSE subject in England and Wales
Law shapes almost every aspect of society, and yet young students like me rarely get an opportunity to study it. We can change that, but I need your help!
For the majority of young people in the UK, the opportunity for legal education is available only at university, and by then, it is often too late. Undoubtedly, the introduction of law as a GCSE subject would be a crucial step towards improving legal literacy, widening access to the profession and helping to enhance our collective knowledge, understanding and respect for the laws that govern our society.
Currently, students are leaving school with little to no understanding of their rights and responsibilities. Terms such as contracts, employment rights, criminal liability and the justice system are all abstract concepts and continue to remain entirely unfamiliar to them.
This lack of understanding helps to explain the current ambivalence and disengagement which a GCSE law course would hope to resolve, allowing students to better understand how the law works and, specifically, how it affects their lives.
Most importantly, the provision of a law GCSE would also help to facilitate social mobility. The legal profession is still dominated by individuals from affluent backgrounds who are often introduced to the legal profession from an early age through family ties or independent education. The implementation of a law GCSE would help to fix this, providing structured, accessible exposure to law and allowing students from all backgrounds to make informed decisions about pursuing legal careers, demystifying the profession and challenging the perception that law is only for a select few.
One might argue the study of law is too complex for a GCSE discipline, but I would argue this is a misconception not only of the abilities of students but of the entire point of secondary education. A GCSE law course would not just be about immediately fostering lawyers but would cover core legal concepts, reasoning and critical thinking skills, aptitudes already acknowledged in other subjects like History, English Literature and Politics.
In today’s world, an era of social change, technological advancement and development in rights, legal knowledge is no longer a choice, it is a necessity.
The question is no longer whether our students are able to study law at this level, but whether we can afford to leave them without it.
To view Austin’s petition to introduce law as a GCSE subject, visit swvg.co.uk/law
