‘I know what you are about to enter’: lived experiences as the curricular foundation for teaching citizenship

ABSTRACT

This qualitative multiple case study documents how two African American women social studies teachers utilise their lived experiences as the curricular foundation for teaching differing notions of citizenship to African-American students. Particular events, experiences, and relationships helped shape their perception of their roles as teachers and how they approached crafting a curriculum that was representative of their lived experiences as well as those of their students and community. This study hopes to shed light on how experiences may be used as valuable sources of knowledge in creating a more inclusive curriculum that mirrors the diversity seen in classrooms.     

Learning in politics: Teachers’ political experiences as a pedagogical resource

The suggestion that teaching is a political act has been a divisive issue among educators. However, there has been little analysis of the ways that teachers draw on their political experiences as pedagogical resources. Using a case study of seven teachers in Porto Alegre, Brazil who were involved in politics, this article explores the relationship between political experiences and teaching citizenship. The data consisted of interviews with the teachers, observations of their teaching, and classroom materials. This research shows that politics played an important role in their efforts to teach democratic citizenship. Through the teachers’ diverse political experiences and ideologies, they developed different understandings of the relationship of politics with citizenship education that promote democratization and social change.     

Pedagogies for active citizenship: Learning through affective and cognitive domains for deeper democratic engagement

This paper reports on a two-year study that explored teachers' pedagogical approaches when implementing an active citizenship curriculum initiative in New Zealand. Our aim was to identify pedagogies which afforded potential for critical and transformative citizenship learning. We define critical and transformative social action through a fusion of critical pedagogy and Dewey's notion of democratic education. Data included teachers' classroom-based research as well as classroom observations and interviews with students. Our study suggested that citizenship learning through both affective and cognitive domains can provide for deeper opportunities for students to experience critical and transformative democratic engagement.     

英国公民课程建构路径的向度分析

在西方文化的思想语境下,分析英国公民教育课程建构的直接动因、价值基础和理论争鸣,廓清其发展路径的基本脉络,揭示英国公民课程发展的内在规律,有助于我们更深入地了解英国公民教育。价值观合法性危机是英国公民课程构建的基本前提,民主社会目标是公民课程构建的价值基础。从课程目标价值作为其实施效果的考量依据看,目前英国学界对学校是否应当设置公民课仍存在较大分歧。同时,缺少公民课教师的充分培训成为影响实施效果的主要原因。     

Is the European (Active) Citizenship Ideal Fostering Inclusion within the Union? A Critical Review

This article reviews 1) the establishment and functioning of EU citizenship, 2) the resulting perception of education for European active citizenship and 3) the question of its adequacy for enhancing democratic values and practices within the Union. Key policy documents produced by the EU help to unfold the basic assumptions on which democratic principles and values are being promoted through education; while the literature produced primarily in political and social science challenges these assumptions.
By doing so, the author argues that citizenship of the Union is creating new mechanisms of exclusion rather than promoting social equality and a strong sense of belonging to a bonding multicultural community, which are at the very core of democratic participation processes. Thus, the rhetoric embedded in the integrative process of the Union — based on the recognition of equal opportunities, access and democratic participation of all EU citizens — is founded on a limited interpretation of democratic citizenship rather than its concretisation as a multiple citizenship.
As a result, the mechanisms in place at European level are creating specific patterns of social exclusion supported by educational reforms. Most citizens are therefore being excluded, due to the distinction between active and non-active citizens, which results from institutional demand on individual's conduct, whereas little, if any, attention is paid to actual institutional practices. On the contrary, this shift in paradigm — i.e. from the institutional demand on citizens to the recognition of citizens as performing subjects — challenges the 'activism' embedded in recent debate on citizenship. Therefore it needs to be properly addressed, from a multicultural perspective, if education and learning processes are to sustain full democratic participation of all citizens and the construction of a multicultural Europe.     

European Citizenship and Study Abroad: student teachers’ experiences and identities

Member states of the Council of Europe have acknowledged the importance of education for citizenship and have passed a number of resolutions concerning European citizenship and the need to promote democratic values, social justice and human rights. Yet there remains a degree of ambivalence over citizenship education and its relationship to the development of various identities, including personal and national identities. This paper examines the experiences of student teachers from a variety of European countries and the impact of a period of study abroad in another European country on their development of intercultural awareness, national identities and perceptions of how we might best educate young people for participation in democratic life. It considers the implications for teacher education.     

A framework to explore lifelong learning: the case of the civic education of civics teachers

This study investigates learning about civics and citizenship throughout individuals' lives (lifelong) and across various pedagogical settings (lifewide). A basic hypothesis is that civics teachers, among all social actors, are particularly well positioned for engaging in this type of introspective exercise because they are both familiar with civics and politics and also with teaching and learning processes. The lifelong civic learning of civics teachers was examined in the different settings in which they acquire their knowledge, values, skills and ideological frameworks, and to understand the relative weight of each one in their overall learning process. This study also coincides with the implementation of a new provincial civics course for grade 10 students in Ontario, Canada during the 2000–1 school year. This case study consists of interviews with 15 social studies teachers who have taught the new civics course in Ontario. One of the clearest findings of the study is the powerful influence of the experience of teaching and of early family socialization on the acquisition of civic knowledge, skills and values, and on the development of political beliefs. Civic engagement and political participation were also considered an important source of civic learning, particularly in relation to the acquisition of civic and political skills. This is a finding that deserves further exploration, because our understanding of social movement learning remains limited. The findings suggest the promotion of lifelong citizenship learning entails the creation and nurturing of inclusive democratic spaces that have particularly high civic educational potential.     

从教书匠到燃灯者:教师公民教育自觉的蒙昧与唤醒

从课程角度来看,目前我国学校公民教育存在两个不充分:公民学科教育以公民认知代替完整的公民教育,路径开发不充分;其他各类课程协同的公民教育同向聚焦不足,路径拓展不充分。从教师角度思考其原因,是“教书匠”的职业定位蒙昧了其现代教育背景下职能的自觉,拘囿了其教育视域的拓展。教师要以公民教育自觉,为社会和谐与公民幸福而教,拓展公民教育的场域,结成学习共同体,向自然、向社会、向生活开发,搭建全景、多层交错衔接式育公民的大世界;拓展学科教学视域,在学科课程资源中发掘或显或隐的公民教育课程资源,构建全员、全课程育公民的大格局。     

Becoming “Effective” Citizens? Change-Oriented Service in a Teacher Education Program

The authors investigated the impact of 22 pre-service teachers’ participation in a change-oriented service-learning project on their conceptions of citizenship as civic actors and civic educators. The goal of this project was to push students toward adopting more critically conscious and activist conceptions of citizenship as aligned with the needs of a democratic society. Using Eyler and Giles’ (1999) typology of effective citizenship as an analytic framework, we describe how students’ participation in this project led to demonstrated growth along all five dimensions of effective citizenship. Yet, analysis revealed that, despite the project’s change-orientation, students’ conceptions of citizenship failed to move beyond personal responsibility to include enhanced social consciousness and the importance of collective action. Thus, we raise critical questions about what constitutes “effective citizenship” in a democratic society and the role of higher education in preparing teachers to embody and enact such a vision.     

Review of the effects of citizenship education

Based on the assumption that schools can play a significant role in the citizenship development of students, in most contemporary modern societies schools are obligated to provide citizenship education. However, the effectiveness of different forms of citizenship education is still unclear. From the empirical literature on citizenship over the period of 2003–2009 28 articles were selected on effects of citizenship education on students’ citizenship. Our review showed the political domain of citizenship to be emphasized more than the social domain. An open and democratic classroom climate in which discussion and dialogue takes place appears to effectively promote the development of citizenship among secondary school students. Moreover, a formal curriculum that includes citizenship projects and courses also appears to be an effective type of citizenship education. The effects of citizenship education are discussed in relation to the quality of the studies reviewed.     

“参与式”公民教育研究综述

公民教育在促进我国民主制度的发展和完善方面以及小学生成长成才方面发挥着不可忽视的作用,小学阶段是实施公民教育的关键时期。现有研究对小学公民教育的内涵、课程、教学和方法的发展重任已做了较为系统的探讨,当下积极探索小学＂参与式＂公民教育的实践模式,摸索公民教育师资培训的有效路径等是促使我国的小学公民教育走向科学化、常规化的重要保证。     

Democratic citizenship education in the information age: a comparative study of south korea and australia

Democratic citizenship education in the information age must concern itself with the goal of nurturing future generations with the capacity to make appropriate use of the changes driven by the advances of ICTs so as to activate political and social democracy. Using Australia and South Korea as case studies, this paper discusses the role that citizenship education can and/or should play in producing democratic citizens in the information age. This paper analyses and compares the recent curricula and educational policy developments in citizenship education in Australian and South Korea. More specifically, the paper attempts to identify what implications the advances of ICTs have and what future tasks they impose for the field of democratic citizenship education. Key Words: democratic citizenship education, information age, ICTs, South Korea, Australia, school curriculum, educational policy     

From “Boy-Government” and “Student-Government” to “Learner-Government”: The Best of Both Worlds?

In the history of South African education there have been three contrasting attempts to incorporate learners into the authority structures of schools, namely: “boy-government” (prefect system), “student-government” (Student Representative Councils (SRCs)) and “learner-government” (Representative Councils of Learners (RCLs)). This article traces the historical development of these traditions in governance in South African schools. Against this background, it proffers a historical analysis of these traditions to show that the phrase “learner representative council” is at a crossroads, that is, it is being stretched and pulled in different directions in post-apartheid South Africa. It points out that “student-government” was born out of the rejection of the unpopular “boy-government”. It also provides a critical analysis of the attempt of the national Guides for Representative Councils of Learners (Guides for RCLs) (DoE 1999) to blend the “prefect” and “SRC” traditions in order to strengthen democracy at school level. In doing so, it argues that the Guides for RCLs undermine democratic SRCs developed in the anti-apartheid education struggle. In the end, the article defends the “student-government” tradition because of its potential to educate for democratic citizenship in post-apartheid South African schools.     

Emerging relationships between religious education and citizenship education: teachers’ perceptions and political dilemmas in Cyprus

This article explores the ways in which a group of primary school teachers in Cyprus interprets the relationship between religious and citizenship education. The contextualisation of the meaning of religious education shows the extent to which social, historical and political elements shape teachers’ perceptions about the entanglements between religious and citizenship education. In particular, the present study reveals two important findings – one concerning the conceptualisation of each school subject and their perceived relationship and the other concerning the contextualisation of this relationship in the cultural and political contexts of Cyprus. The findings also reveal important constraints and political dilemmas for the possible trajectories of ‘religious citizenship education’ in Cyprus. The article discusses the implications for curriculum and policy deliberations, as well as further research on ‘religious citizenship education’ in specific cultural and political settings.     

Hopes and challenges for the new civic education in Mexico: toward a democratic citizen without adjectives

This paper presents the main goals and themes, as well as a critical analysis, of an ambitious new reform of Mexico’s secondary-level program for civic education. It begins with a brief historical review of the modern Mexican secondary school, as well as a thematic analysis of the new published curriculum and study program, which puts heavy emphasis on the development of democratic citizenship skills and habits. The paper then draws on interview research to highlight some of the challenges that national and local actors have identified for the program’s successful implementation. Because the new program espouses a progressive democratic pedagogy in the absence of a supportive democratic political culture, an appropriate structure of school governance, or adequate training for in-service teachers, many actors expressed skepticism about whether the reform could meaningfully take hold.     

‘Really useful ideas’: building users' powers of persuasion. A response to the discussion of the Learning Outcomes Theme Group from a practitioner in the post-compulsory sector

Taking as its starting point the murder of Stephen Lawrence and the failings which that case has demonstrated in justice and the judicial system in England, this article questions the extent to which current models of citizenship education address the reality of young people's lives. The critique focuses particularly on the proposed revisions to the English National Curriculum to be implemented in 2001. It is argued that unless citizenship education provides an opportunity to study the reality of contemporary experience, including the injustices and inequalities which continue to be features of that experience, it will be an ineffectual exercise. There are also severe dangers of the citizenship curriculum being overcrowded with factual knowledge at the expense of opportunities for experiencing democratic processes and playing a part in the formation of learners' identities. Some examples are given of effective work based on the principles outlined in the article. In conclusion, an agenda for research and curriculum development is described.     

Navigating competing conceptions of civic education: lessons from three Israeli civics classrooms

The concentration of this study was the documentation and analysis of ways in which competing conceptions of citizenship play out in actual classroom settings. Examining three cases in the context of the Israeli education system, its findings show that civics teachers’ views and beliefs influenced ways in which they interpreted the curriculum standards and reacted to schools policies and atmosphere, even in cases where these views contradicted. Nevertheless, when confronted with competing conceptions of citizenship as presented by their students, the teachers were less willing to open true democratic conversations, resulting in lessons that did not necessarily create a true democratic atmosphere.     

Learning for democracy: The politics and practice of citizenship education

It is now two decades since the Advisory Group on Citizenship, commissioned by the newly elected Labour government, recommended the introduction of statutory citizenship education. On the twentieth anniversary of the eponymously named ‘Crick Report’, this article presents the findings of a rigorous mixed‐methods study of citizenship educators in the UK. This research suggests that teachers continue to lack a shared understanding of citizenship, conceptually and pedagogically, and also reveals an emphasis amongst teachers upon individualistic notions of good citizenship that are reflective of national, and increasingly global, political discourse. The findings are analysed using a new conceptual framework—the declarative–procedural paradigm—which is developed here to understand the relationship between political and normatively driven visions of democratic citizenship and classroom pedagogy. In doing so the article adds, theoretically and substantively, to the specific research pool of citizenship studies and broader debates about political disengagement.