Citizens now and for the future? Leaders, learners, and 14-19 Reform in England. Messages from research.

How do researchers and practitioners understand and interrogate education reform when it is heralded as the solution to many problems, not all of which are educational? As importantly, how can applied educational researchers delve 'beneath the skin' of 'given' problems to solve or report, and suggest a range of explanations? In this article, the issue is leadership for 'citizenship' and the research project, conducted in 2007-2008, refers to participants' understandings about 14-19 Reforms to 'produce' confident and responsible citizens. From contested theoretical and policy as well as research perspectives, this paper explores how citizenship is being framed and understood. Specific attention is given to students' voices. Findings suggest that educating for citizenship is far from uppermost in the minds and reported activities of many who work or study in the organisations sampled. Implications for practitioner and academic communities are considered, not least the appropriate promotion of education for citizenship that is coherent, holistic, and feasible rather than peripheral or rhetorical. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]