Stuart Mutch engages students in the classroom and on the field. The London, Ontario, high school teacher came to his career 21 years ago through a path of coaching kids in sports. “In a lot of ways, teaching is coaching. And coaching is teaching,” he says. “I got interested in it that way.”
Today Mutch teaches primarily Canadian History, Civics, and Politics, and he still coaches football and baseball, which he says creates a different kind of dynamic with students.
“The great part about the coaching is you get to see kids and build a relationship with them in a different way. Sometimes there are some tough learners in the classroom, but then you can see them on the football field and it’s a whole different thing.”
In the classroom, Mutch favours an approach to citizenship education that is participatory, which is what initially drew him to Student Vote. Remarkably, he and his students participated in the very first iteration of the parallel election program 20 years ago.
“When I started in 2003, even then, everything was there for you,” he says of the Student Vote resources. “And now when I speak to new teachers about doing it, one of the selling features is, this is easy. The other one is that it’s authentic. You can engage kids in the process by doing it, versus by telling them about it.”
The stakes are significant. “Citizenship is a habit and the earlier we build that habit, the greater likelihood kids will go on to be engaged,” he says, “not just voting, but engaged in civic issues as they become adults.”
Since that first year, Mutch has really grown the Student Vote program at Saunders Secondary School, though with 2,100 students, he prefers to take a ‘quality over quantity’ approach when it comes to the vote.
“My grade 12 students put together short presentations, where they go to different classrooms, and they talk about the candidates and the issues, and the election,” he explains. “We start with trying to reach every grade 10, because they all take history and civics. Then we can reach out to senior classes. We’ve really prioritized an informed vote over a mass vote.”
Over the years, Mutch has become one of CIVIX’s most trusted advisors. He has helped to consult on resources across programs and uses all of CIVIX programs in his teaching. “Programs like Rep Day, Student Vote and CTRL-F are so important because they engage different learning styles in the room, which I think is really, really important.”
Citizenship is a habit and the earlier we build that habit, the greater likelihood kids will go on to be engaged, not just voting, but engaged in civic issues as they become adults.
Currently, the program he is most enthusiastic about is CTRL-F, which helps students learn to evaluate online information. “I find that so valuable with the social media environment that these kids live in today,” Mutch says. “The disinformation and misinformation is still a real threat and some of the things kids hear and repeat are really concerning.”
The CTRL-F skills are powerful, he says, because of their simplicity. “Checking sources is literally a 30 second trick. You can produce an answer just by taking a quick look at Wikipedia.”
And the impact of teaching these skills to students is evident. “It brings an awareness that we all have to be responsible for what we internalize,” says Mutch. “If we don’t identify disinformation, not only are we affected, but if we share it that perpetuates it. It comes back to being an accountable citizen to ourselves and to others.”
His students are engaged by the materials, and the learning is reflected on end-of-course surveys. “Many, if not the majority, cite CTRL-F as their favourite part of the course or the part they learned the most from,” he says. “I think some are genuinely shocked at how much disinformation is out there and how easy it is to accept it as truth versus thinking critically for a second and doing a quick fact-check.”
Informed citizenship is a key part of overall citizenship, and Mutch believes it’s crucial to introduce students to a broad range of themes and perspectives to support their democratic participation.
“As teachers, we feel an opportunity to help kids become engaged, learn, and get involved in the process,” he says. “Even though it might be a small part, we can help improve civic engagement in our community or in our country by exposing kids to a whole lot of different activities and ideas.”
At a Glance
Name: Stuart Mutch
Location: London, Ontario
Grades Taught: 10-12
Subjects Taught: Canadian History, Civics, Politics, Law
Years Teaching: 21
Years Involved with CIVIX: 20
CIVIX programs used: Student Vote, Budget Consultation, Rep Day, CTRL-F, PoliTalks
Key Motivation: “The opportunity to help kids become engaged, help kids learn, and help kids become involved in the process. There are so many ways to engage them and give them skills that they take with them after they leave.”