Active citizenship has been an integral part of citizenship education since the statutory introduction of the subject for 11-16 year olds in England in August 2002. There is not however, a singular understanding of what active citizenship means or constitutes. As Lawson (2001: 166) reminds us ‘the fact that there does not exist one, universally held, definition of citizenship has meant that beliefs about what active citizenship entails differ greatly’. In a recent INCA (International Review of Curriculum and Assessment Frameworks Internet Archive) review of understandings and practices in a number of countries, Nelson and Kerr (2006: 6) found that ‘the term ‘active citizenship’ is not yet clearly understood or defined’.