Democratic attitudes among high-school pupils: The role played by perceptions of class climate

The present study shed light on the continuing debate among students of political socialisation regarding the effects of civic education on the upholding of democratic attitudes. Our major conclusion is that civic education, in and of itself, has only minor effects on democratic attitudes of pupils. Furthermore, among pupils who attended civic education classes, democratic class climate would have a crucial effect on the internalisation of democratic attitudes, and the association between sociodemographic characteristics and democratic attitudes is partially mediated by perception of democratic class climate. The findings offer a model which involves demographics and class climate for predicting the success of civic education in meeting its main goal—the absorption and internalisation of democratic attitudes. Thus, we hope to take the ongoing debate in the field at least one small step forward. 1 1. All authors had an equal contribution.      

美国公民教育的基本内涵

在美国,公民教育是指民主社会中关于自治政府的教育,旨在培养知情的、有效的和负责任的公民.美国人认为,民主社会中公民教育的基本组成包括三个方面:公民知识、公民技能和公民品性.美国作为现代公民教育理论研究的策源地,其公民教育不仅对美国本土,而且对世界许多国家的公民教育均产生了广泛而深刻的影响.本文分析介绍了美国公民教育的基本理念与内涵.     

中国公民教育:一个观念史的研究

公民教育对于我国来说属于非本源性事物,其发展始终受到外源性因素的影响。考察中国公民教育之流变,可以清晰地看到不同观念对于中国公民教育变革之深刻影响。这些观念大致可以概括为个人本位的公民教育观—国家本位的公民教育观—多元化的公民教育观三个阶段。从观念史的视角研究中国公民教育,可为我国当前建设中的公民社会提供理念支持。     

政治文化、民主文化、公民文化:概念及关系

政治文化指人们的政治取向、政治行为和政治效能的总和。民主文化指人们的民主取向、民主行为和民主效能的总和。关于公民文化,有两种代表性的定义。同时,公民文化的文化意同于本文中政治文化和民主文化中的文化。而政治文化、民主文化、公民文化的关系主要表现为政治文化与民主文化的关系以及民主文化与公民文化的关系。     

民国时期北京大学公民教育路径研究

立足于我国大学的公民教育传统,探寻其与中国实际相结合的公民教育实践活动,对当今大学公民教育实践具有重要意义。民国时期作为国立大学的代表——北京大学的公民教育实践尤为突出。通过对北京大学公民教育实践的历史梳理,得出公民教育基本路径:完善以课程教学为载体的课程整合、开展多元化的课余活动、创建民主自由的校园文化氛围,以期能对当今大学公民教育发展有所助益。     

为民主生活做准备——西方学校公民教育探析

西方的公民教育是为未来的成年公民的民主生活做准备。这种准备主要在三个方面，即为民主生活准备相应的知识、技能和经验。这给我国公民教育以极大的启示，我国公民教育应为学生准备有关公共事务的知识，让他们掌握民主生活的技能，积累公民实践的经验。     

论公民社会与国家治理

公民社会是国家与市场经济领域之间的第三域，随着市场经济成为我国的主导经济形式。以及国家的民主化改革，我国应当培育公民社会。促进公民性的发展。国家的治理需要一个讲道德、愿守法的公民社会。依法治国要依靠有良好公民性的公民社会，才能节约治理的成本。以德治国仅以国家权利自上而下地推行难以奏效。通过培育社区公民和社团成员的道德和价值观。由国家予以分层整合。则是实施以德治国方略的一条有效途径。     

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.     

Liberalism,Pluralism, and Political Education: Paradox or paradigm?

Inspired by concern about promoting civic participation and preserving the liberal democratic state, political theorists have recently reignited a debate about the nature of political education in a liberal society. These theorists' arguments in favor of teaching toleration are significant for the progress of education reforms currently being debated and implemented in current liberal democracies and some emerging nations. Despite the increasing attention paid to the value of liberal civic education, however, its specific content is typically left virtually blank. This article aims to redress this gap in the literature by developing a coherent and comprehensive (albeit still very general) curriculum for liberal political education. To this end, Section I analyses the nature of the ideal liberal democratic state and develops a general curriculum for liberal political education based on the type of citizens needed to preserve and take advantage of such a state. It concludes by introducing two potentially illiberal outcomes of this curriculum: children's forced development of the capacity for autonomy, and the reduction of diversity in the state. Section II argues that the development of autonomy is actually central to liberal theory and liberal education more broadly conceived, while Section III suggests that civic and social diversity will persist, but rightly play a secondary role to the goals of liberal political education. The article concludes, therefore, with a reassertion of the content and importance of liberal political education.     

Classroom and School Predictors of Civic Engagement Among Black and Latino Middle School Youth

This study used short‐term longitudinal data to examine the contributions of democratic teaching practices (e.g., the Developmental Designs approach) and equitable school climate to civic engagement attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors among 515 Black and Latino middle school students (47.9% male). Concurrent experiences of democratic homeroom and classroom practices, and equitable school climate were associated with higher scores on each civic engagement component. The relation between classroom practices and civic attitudes was more robust when school climate was seen as more equitable. Longitudinally, homeroom practices and equitable school climate predicted higher civic attitudes 1 year later. Discussion focuses on civic attitudes and future research on school experiences that support civic engagement among youth of color.     

学校的本质与公民教育

学校的本质与公民教育密切相连。学校理当是培养公民的场所,也就是具有爱、社群意识和民主特征的共同体。学校应是爱的家园,关爱学生并被学生理解和接纳,这样才能让学生成为有能力关爱他人、充满爱和可爱的人,具备创造民主正义世界的内在动力;学校应是一个道德的、关心每一个人需要的和分享其传统的社群,唯其如此,才能培养学生的公民美德;学校实施民主管理,尽可能地为所有学生提供发展潜能的条件,让学生协商与对话,积极参与改善学校和周边社区环境,才能让学生获得参与民主的经验与能力,成长为民主社会的未来主体。     

How common is the common good? Moving beyond idealistic notions of deliberative democracy in education

Assumptions based on deliberative democratic theory have dominated scholarship of democratic citizenship within political science and educational research. However, both fields have produced scholarship that raises questions regarding the efficacy of the deliberative model of democratic education. This article presents a critical synthesis that highlights the major trends of deliberative democratic theory from the field of political science, while making connections to education specific literature. The shift, away from idealistic notions toward a model of deliberative democracy that considers identity, group interests, and power differences within society, supports similar efforts to revisit democratic theory within civic education. The article concludes with recommendations for a revised, more realistic, conceptualization of civic education.     

Asian values and democratic citizenship: exploring attitudes among South Korean eighth graders using data from the ICCS Asian Regional Module

Utilizing data from the 2009 IEA International Civic and Citizenship Study Asian Regional Module, this secondary analysis explores the relationship between traditional Asian values and democratic citizenship. Findings identify two dimensions of Asian values: Asian civic values and obedience to authority. Among South Korean students, Asian civic values have a positive association with democratic citizenship, while obedience to authority displays an inverse relationship. However, attachment to obedience to authority is much weaker. The overall findings suggest the possibility of reconciliation between traditional Asian values and democratic citizenship.     

从程序民主论全国人大辩论制度的建立

在民主政治理论相当成熟的今天,民主不但注重事态发展的目标和结果,还开始关注实现民主目标和结果的途径和阶段,当代民主社会需要程序民主．在我国的全国人民代表大会制度中引入辩论制度是我国社会主义民主政治建设所需,它作为民主程序,有利于社会主义民主政治体制的完善,有利于我国公民政治参与的加强．全国人大辩论制度要从原则、规则,以及内部完善、外部监督进行全面建设。     

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.     

Civic Knowledge,Engagement, and Participation Narratives of Youth of Color in Urban Schools

The issues associated with students’ civic knowledge, engagement, and participation have been heightened in intellectual debates and public discussions. However, these discussions have not focused heavily on urban youths’ civic identities or the locations of these identities within the youths’ personal narratives of ethnicity, race, class, and gender. This article presents the narratives of four urban high school youths of color, selected from a larger study about youths’ experiences in school and society and the ways in which classroom learning encouraged their inquiry, assessment of their social worlds and personal goals, and emerging personal and civic identities. Our purpose was to gain insights regarding the youths’ sociopolitical perspectives on local educational and social issues affecting them and to understand their multiple literacies in the context of their civic engagement, increasing youth advocacy, and larger political tensions. The theoretical framing of this investigation is grounded in democratic education and sociopolitical consciousness and draws upon research that focuses on civic participation and democratic society. Four dominant themes emerged from the analysis: educational inequality, social media, schooling, and race and mass incarceration. This article contributes to an expansive framing for civic education by examining the civic knowledge of urban youths of color and offers implications for research, practice, and policy.     

Reflections on the Umbrella Movement: Implications for civic education and critical thinking

Abstract

The 2014 Umbrella Movement was one of the most significant social and political events in recent Hong Kong history. This paper offers some initial reflections on the connections between the movement and broader issues related to civic education, critical thinking, and theories of education. First, it is suggested that the movement closely resembles a form of civic education known as ‘action civics,’ offering an alternative pedagogy that might encourage more authentic civic participation. Second, the movement raises questions about how the teaching of critical thinking can be made more practically relevant to modern citizenship. Third, the deep political polarization associated with the movement indicates that civic education and critical thinking training need to pay attention to cognitive biases that affect political ideology. Finally, the Umbrella Movement reflects the failure of democratization in Hong Kong and coincides with increasing political pressures on the local education system. We discuss how political reality connects to issues about democratic education, critical pedagogy, and the idea of political neutrality in education.     

A community of inquiry-based framework for civic education at Universitas Terbuka,Indonesia

This study focused on the civic education course at Universitas Terbuka (UT). Its purpose was to design a new approach for the online tutorial for the course by analyzing the literature related to online and distance education and investigating participant feedback on the current offering of the course and tutorial, which is a compulsory course in all programs at UT. The study draws from the community of inquiry framework, which promotes a social constructivist approach as well as teaching about democracy by example. This model is intended to create meaningful learning experiences for students in a reformulated civic education course, in which they would learn to think critically through interacting with classmates, experiencing collaborative learning, and supporting fellow students in learning activities and processes. In this model, learning is seen as occurring within the community through the interaction of social presence, cognitive presence, and teaching presence where, students are able to develop civic competences, namely civic knowledge, civic skills, and civic dispositions, as well as experience a democratic interaction that forms the core of civic interactions in a democratic society.     

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.