Citizenship tests and ceremonies fail to increase shared values and build common bonds among newcomers to Britain, research from Keele University has found.
In one of the few studies of its kind to date, Dr Sherilyn MacGregor, Professor Andrew Dobson and doctoral candidate Gavin Bailey of Keele’s Research Institute for Law, Politics and Justice conducted a pilot study funded by the British Academy to investigate the citizenship test and ceremony that have been in place in the UK since 2004.
Using Stoke-on-Trent as a local case study, they conducted interviews and focus groups with key people involved in all aspects of the process. They spoke to people who deliver the ceremonies, such as councillors and registrars; teachers of English for speakers of other languages (ESOL), who run citizenship-embedded English classes; and migrant support workers who help newcomers to settle in the area. They also spoke to 20 newcomers from non-EU countries who have taken ESOL with citizenship classes, sat the ‘Life in the UK’ test and attended citizenship ceremonies.
Throughout the project, Dr MacGregor, who emigrated from Canada in 2004, went through the citizenship process herself. A blog of her experiences and reflections forms part of the data on which the research draws. The blog, titled ‘My Journey to British Citizenship’ can be accessed from the project website: http://www.keele.ac.uk/research/lpj/newbritishcitizen/
The findings of the research suggest that the citizenship process helps newcomers to achieve a basic level integration, particularly by requiring them to learn English. However, there is insufficient support for ESOL teachers and community workers who have become the overworked frontline workers in the process. In addition, most immigrants feel the process is too complicated, time-consuming and expensive to make them feel welcomed as new citizens.
Dr MacGregor says: “We found, and I have personally found, that the process is exclusionary: it serves to reinforce an “us and them” atmosphere rather than creating a climate where citizenship can flourish.”
The general conclusion of the study is that the process is failing to create the ‘British citizens’ with the ‘shared values’ that the Government claims will enable greater social cohesion.
Two final project workshops were held at Keele on June 30 to disseminate and get feedback on the research findings. The first involved the local research participants from Stoke and the second involved a small group of academics and policy-makers working on citizenship issues. Both events provided an excellent opportunity for networking and developing ideas for future research. The team heard that this project has broken new ground on an important and rapidly changing policy issue.
