In Northern Ireland, a social inclusion agenda has been a government priority since the signing of the Good Friday Agreement (1998). The development of citizenship education has been an important part of that agenda. As Wylie (2004) points out, continual political unrest has made citizenship education a necessity but difficult to implement. The latest development comes with the introduction of a New Curriculum in 2007. It included a new area of study for Key Stage 1 and Key Stage 2, Personal Development and Mutual Understanding (PDMU). Strand 2, Mutual Understanding in the Local and Wider Community contains many of the key concepts of citizenship education. Included amongst these core concepts under the heading “Rules Rights and Responsibilities” it states that “teachers should enable pupils to develop knowledge, understanding and skills in developing responsibility and respect, honesty and fairness” (CCEA, 2007, p.24). There are certain core concepts evident from Key Stage 1 to Key Stage 4 which seem to be constitutive of the area of study called Citizenship Education. These concepts include those of “rights, responsibility, respect, honesty, fairness, justice and democracy”. The introduction of elements of citizenship education raises important questions about the extent to which young children can have an understanding of its core moral concepts.Such concepts are not only complex but require the capacity to empathises with the feelings, motives and beliefs of others,what is commonly referred to as Emotional Intelligence.Some writers on moral development such as Lawrence Kohlberg (1971) have cast doubt on whether young children can have more than a restricted understanding of moral concepts. Kohlberg, for example describes the earliest Pre-conventional stage as characterised by obedience to authority and fear of punishment. Childrens’ sense of fairness might simply be obedience to classroom rules for fear of punishment. The theoretical basis of the research is informed by the work of developmental theorists such as Kohlberg, Fisher's work on developing children's thinking and the range of psychological studies of childrens' social and moral awareness using analysis of children's moral language, for example Eisenberg and Fabes(1998), Killen (1991), MacWhinney (2000). The research project will seek to analyse pupil responses to two stories used by final year students on teaching practice.The pupil responses will be analysed using specific criteria set out below but there will be a particular focus on evidence of sensitivity to or empathy with others in the situation.

A cohort of final year B.Ed students who have completed modules in Citizenship Education or Thinking Skills taught a lesson based on pupil reactions to two stories, during their School Based Work. A standardised series of questions was used by the students and the pupil responses recorded and transcribed. The following criteria, modified and adapted from Fisher (2006, p.9 )was used to analyse pupil responses Giving good reasons - (which go beyond the notion ‘if I do this I will be punished’); Empathy – Is there evidence that pupils are aware of the feelings of others in the situation? Imagination – Can pupils imagine how they would feel if someone did it to them? Anticipating Consequences – Can pupils think of a range of consequences of specific actions? Generalisation - Can the pupils transfer a rule or principle from a specific situation to other situations?

Some of the key concepts underpinning Personal Development and Citizenship Education, such as honesty, fairness, respect, rights, justice are potentially quite complex for young children to grasp. This research will provide some guidance on children's general level of awareness and understanding of such concepts. Many teachers still feel a little uncomfortable in dealing with such concepts partly due to reservations about how much sense young chilren will make of them. A clearer indication of children's capacities in this area would be of general benefit to those teachers charged with teaching Citizenship Education or Personal Development and Mutual Understanding and also to trainee teachers approaching these curricular areas for the first time.