Leadership in democratic citizenship education: politics and praxis

Globalization and neoliberal practices have influenced leadership in education in various ways, including through curricula. One of the most vital sections in curricula is citizenship education. Supranational and international organizations, as well as governments, have advanced interest in elementary school, particularly kindergarten, curricula. This article sheds light on how leadership in democratic citizenship education influences kindergarten curricula in Ontario (Canada) and Hellas (Greece) as well as within a global context. The kindergarten education curricula of Ontario and Hellas are compared and supplementary reports published by supranational and international organizations are analysed in terms of democratic citizenship education, utilizing a critical pedagogic perspective through critical discourse analysis. Recommendations for future citizenship education and practices are provided.     

Power Plays: Children's constructions of gender and power in role plays

ABSTRACT This paper examines the way in which children's constructions of gender via discourse impact upon their interactive power positions. Discourse analysis is utilised in a feminist endeavour to investigate the social effects of gender discourse. Analysing the discussions of primary school children in group role plays, I conclude that although power is discursively produced (meaning that the myriads of different factors contributing to discursive power positioning cannot be analysed independently), children's constructions of gender appear potentially to empower boys and disempower girls in interaction. Foucault has been criticised by feminists such as Soper and Davis for failing to provide an adequate explanation of social power differences: my findings suggest that discourse analysis can reveal trends in power inequality.     

The values and virtues promoted in the proposed seventh course of study in civic education: implications for democratic citizenship and democratic citizenship education in Korea

Citizenship education in South Korea has entered a new era in terms of the course of study. The seventh course of study in civic education introduces the conception of civic virtue for school education. The identification of the ten civic virtues is a remarkable first attempt in the history of the course of study. This study, which assumes that civic virtue must be a key concept in civic education, welcomes the idea of civic virtue, since it can act as a solvent on the citizen knowledge-oriented approach of citizenship education. Nevertheless, there are some problems with the identification of the civic values and virtues, and this study argues that those civic virtues selected for the school curriculum are mostly not civic, nor clearly vital to a liberal democracy.     

Health in school: stress,individual responsibility and democratic politics

Cultural Studies of Science Education - According to previous research, in contemporary western societies health is seen as an increasingly non-political issue. Rather than being at the centre of...     

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.     

Islamic education and the challenge of democratic citizenship: a critical perspective

This article analyzes how concepts of liberal and progressive Islam, which have been developed in the political and theological academic literature, may inform the curriculum of Islamic education and the practice of religious educators in Islamic schools in the US. We investigate the meaning of in-faith Islamic education and how it can conform to the life in a democratic, multicultural, and multi-faith society. Liberal Islam challenges the transmission-oriented and rigid interpretations of Islam and seeks to appreciate and to contextualize the religious claims which are compatible with ideals of reflective education, rational thinking, mutual respect, and equal citizenship. It suggests that students become critical ‘consumers’ of Islam, its moral and civic purposes, and the cultural politics of religious interrogations.     

Visions,Provisions and Reality: Political changes and education for democratic citizenship in Croatia

This paper is an attempt to describe and critically analyse the emergence and development of education that is directed at promoting citizens' empowerment and responsibility in the framework of political changes and democratic challenges that Croatia faces as a post-Communist and post-war country within a prospect of European integration. In the beginning, a short reference to a politically unstable, economically extremely unfavourable and culturally complex context of education for democratic citizenship is given. Following the vision/provision/implementation/evaluation rationale for achieving the expected results, the author addresses three main issues: the changes in the government's priorities for the period 1991-2001, with special emphasis on education; the implementation measures that support educational changes pertinent to the quest for citizens' empowerment; and their actual outcomes. The gap that exists between the visions and reality is explained as resulting from number of structural and psychological barriers that may be resolved through a more pronounced, coherent and co-ordinated development-oriented policy and implementation strategy based on consensus and commitment.     

Civic education in Lesotho: implications for teaching of democratic citizenship

This paper investigates the extent to which civic education is achieving its goals of teaching democracy and producing responsible democratic citizenship in Lesotho. This is done by analysing the conceptions of civic education, democracy, public participation, human rights, freedoms and responsibilities that appear in Lesotho’s documents that are used to teach people about democracy through formal, non-formal and informal education. I therefore argue that in the current Lesotho’s political history, these conceptions do not provide enough conditions for the cultivation of active democratic citizenship. Instead the materials dwell too much on teaching citizens about the systems and structures of government, preoccupied with inconsistent definitions and characteristics of democracy and with informing citizens of the importance of knowing how to vote and abide by the laws of the country; without showing how democracy should operate in a democratic country. The findings reveal that civic education for adults in Lesotho is offered informally, through the civil society organisations and politicians that are largely based in urban parts of Lesotho. This suggest that civic education should be tailored for the rural and urban citizens in a context of democratic transition in a country that still embraces strong traditional ties to communitarian living.     

Education,citizenship and difference in the South African transition: policy,politics and practice

The article looks at three approaches to analysing the relationship between education, citizenship and difference that have been evident in the transition to democracy in South Africa. First, it examines the position that education moulds good citizens and overcomes discriminatory differences, which is evident in the South African Education Policy Act. (This position is similar to that expounded in the Crick Report.) Second, it looks at the view that education is an enactment of citizenship and a celebration of difference. This is articulated in the new South African Curriculum 2005, which celebrates the school as just one of a number of learning spaces, but which is only slowly being implemented with considerable difficulty in overcoming deeply entrenched and multifaceted discriminatory views. Third, it looks at the view, articulated in the South African Constitution of 1996, that education is a relatively autonomous space and that in this particular institutional space education, difference and citizenship are in tension. While there is potential for a creative dialogue to emerge in this historically formed space, preliminary research findings indicate how difficult and diffuse the process of transformation is likely to be.     

略论高等学校民主政治建设的途径和措施

高等学校要深入学习贯彻党的十六大精神,充分认识加强民主政治建设的重要性,不断探索民主政治建设实现途径和保证措施,努力建设政治文明,对社会起到辐射和带动作用。     

论民主政治与儒家文化的兼容性

儒家文化包含着民主政治的一些元素,就其精神实质而言,儒家的终极理想与民主政治并不矛盾.儒家参与政治和影响政治决策的作为近乎于公民社会的政治社团的功能,儒家对合理的社会秩序的追求在一定程度上符合现代民主社会的公正与和谐诉求.民主政治的发展可以儒家文化的开放性为切入口,以儒家文化所倡导的人格平等和参与平等为基础,"德治"与"法治"相辅相成、协调发展.只有以科学的态度对待传统文化,重新认识和发掘儒家文化的价值功能,才能更好地推进我国的民主政治建设.     

Gendered constructions of citizenship: young Kenyans' negotiations of rights discourses

This paper contributes to the study of citizenship by interrogating how young people in Nairobi (Chege and Arnot 2012) perceive their rights of citizenship. It builds on previous analyses of the connections between gender, education and poverty's poor urban settlements by focusing on the political dimensions of the young people's lives. The findings are based on in-depth interviews with 24 young men and women (mainly siblings aged 16–25) from 18 urban households which explored how they define their national identity and citizenship rights and their expectations of the Kenyan government. All youth felt a connection with the Kenyan nation and actively engaged with rights discourses, but secondary schooled youth demonstrated a noticeably more reflexive and challenging approach to the norms and responsibilities of citizenship. Young men focused on the public sphere, emphasising voting rights, political corruption and their role in leading community change, whilst secondary educated young women recognised the importance of ‘freedoms’ associated with national membership, their rights to choose within cultural traditions and the need to support their families. Gender is shown to play an important role in framing their understanding of themselves as citizens.     

论加强社会主义民主政治建设

分析了民主政治的一般特点和社会主义民主政治的本质，阐述了社会主义民主政治的五大目标要求，进而从理论和实践的结合上论述了社会主义民主政治建设的六大任务，即确立主体地位、制约公共权力、发扬党内民主、改进人大工作、加强政治协商和扩大民主自治。     

Civic education in Ethiopian schools: Adopted paradigms,instructional technology,and democratic citizenship in a multicultural context

After nearly two decades of military dictatorship, democratic civic education has been integrated into the Ethiopian school curriculum. This paper examines the policy–practice concordance in implementing the civic education curriculum based on empirical evidence generated on the philosophical underpinnings, curricular contents, pedagogical approaches, and the role of instructional technology. Data were gathered through a questionnaire survey on 179 randomly selected high school students, key informant teachers, and content analysis of students’ textbooks, teachers’ guides, and official policy documents. The findings reveal that the existing civic and ethical education curriculum is eclectic in its character blending the minimal interpretation of democratic civic education with the inclusive conception of ethno-cultural diversity relevant to multicultural societies. Nevertheless, the manner in which the TV-instruction is used in classrooms is found to hinder interactive learning that is instrumental to nurture democratic and active citizens.