Budmouth Sixth Form Democracy Day
Election fever hit Budmouth College recently when 6th Form students took part in a “Democracy Day.” The students took part in elections for a new team of executive officers for their Student Union, as well as listening to, and questioning, General Election candidates from the five main political parties.
The day started with election hustings for the student union candidates. Each candidate made a speech and took questions from their peers. The five executive posts are President, Secretary, Finance Officer, Welfare Officer and Entertainments Officer. The student union provides students with a chance to have a say in the management of the Sixth Form as well as arranging a variety of social activities. In a hotly contested Presidential election with five candidates, Connor Hansford emerged victorious. The other roles went to Jacob Fry, Jack Dunne, Rachel Dumbrell and Jonathan Young respectively.
Issues of national and global politics were covered when students were able to closely question candidates from the five main English political parties. In an activity dubbed “Political Speed Dating” each candidate had five minutes with small groups of students to try and explain the main principles of their party and to encourage the students to vote for them. The candidates then moved from group to group until they had spoken to all the Year 13 students. Students were asked to vote before and after hearing the candidates on how they might vote. In the preliminary vote only 7% said they probably wouldn’t vote at all if they were able to, but 44% saying they would like to vote but weren’t sure who to vote for. Of those who expressed a reference 25% chose the Green Party,11% Labour and 8% Conservative leaving UKIP and the Liberal Democrats with lots of persuading to do.
Having heard each of the guests the number of potential non-voters halved, and those who were unsure which way to vote fell by two-thirds to just 15%. The main beneficiary was Jane Burnet from the Green Party who more than doubled her support to almost 54%, with Simon Bowkett coming in second for Labour with 18%. It would appear that perhaps young people are not yet ready to forgive the Liberal Democrats over tuition fees and that perceptions about UKIP’s stance on issues such as same-sex marriage are not endearing them to young voters.
There then followed a traditional “Question Time” session with the political panel dealing with a variety of questions from the student audience. The topics covered ranged from definitions of what “British Values” might mean to whether 16 and 17 year olds should be allowed to vote, and whether politics was now dominated more by style than substance.
Speaking afterwards Assistant Director of 6th Form Andy Blackwood said “We’ve had a lively and energetic day of debate and argument. Anyone who thinks young people are not interested in politics is gravely mistaken. They may feel there are things they don’t understand but there is no doubt they are keen to become more aware. Another pleasing feature of the day is that some of our guests said that they too had learned things from the students, and perhaps we need to encourage more of our politicians to engage openly with young people and hear what they have to say.”
Students clearly agreed with this. Rebecca Shoulders said “I thought I would be bored, but it was a really interesting day. There needs to be a lot more of this.” And Becky Ross added “I wasn’t going to vote because I didn’t feel well enough informed, but I understand many of the issues more clearly now and I’m definitely going to vote when I get the opportunity.”
Andy Blackwood
