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.     

我们为什么需要教育民主

本文从三个方面分析了民主与教育的关系，论述了教育民主的内涵以及价值。提出民主作为生活方式的意义在于促进人类生活关系的和谐和人格的优秀发展，是社会形成和谐的共同体和个人积极参与共同体的方式。民主对扩大社会和个人的福祉都是有价值的。从民主的智力条件和心理条件来看，教育是民主的重要条件，这是因为教育培养公民的理性、德性、个性以及民主所需要的态度和行为方式。教育的民主化是教育实现其价值的重要方式之一。教育民主涉及教育价值的实践方式，也涉及培养什么人的问题，教育民主是教育健康、有序、和谐的生活方式。教育民主意味着要为儿童提供更多的社会支持，通过提供选择的自由、理智的开放和实际的参与机会来形成学生的公共道德、理性精神、社会态度和社会责任感，形成社会实践技能。     

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。     

Preparing Young Australians for an Uncertain Future: New thinking about citizenship education

Civics and citizenship education enjoyed a revival in Australia from the mid-1990s onwards. It had bipartisan support from political parties, enjoyed funding for both curriculum materials development and teacher development, and has been given a high profile in all States and Territories. School level practice has been challenged by civics and citizenship education. There has been the need to seek both a place in the school curriculum and a pedagogy that is both engaging and meaningful for students. In themselves, these are significant challenges, but they pale into insignificance when compared with the geo-political realties that have shaken nation-states since 11 September 2001. The education and preparation of citizens must now take center stage if the world is to remain a compassionate and tolerant place in which to live. This paper addresses this issue by examining the threats to democracy that have emerged in the twenty-first century. In the light of these threats, classified as external to the nation-state as well as internal, the nature and purpose of citizenship education programs are discussed with a view to developing outcomes that will help young Australians face an uncertain future. In particular, the issue of developing civic capacity in young people is canvassed.     

Inclusive education in Eastern European countries: a current state and future directions

ABSTRACT

Inclusive education is key to the development of civic democracy. Its role is to transform schools into platforms of excellence and equality for all students. This literature review aims to summarize the current state of inclusive education in Eastern European countries and former Soviet states and to identify conditions necessary for their educational systems to become more inclusive. The review: (a) discusses the concept of inclusive education as a platform for civic democracy; (b) conceptualizes how historical contexts affect societal attitudes and values towards difference and disability; (c) explores the extent to which available research captures the current state of inclusive education in Eastern Europe, and (d) describes the barriers to inclusive education implementation in these countries. The results of the review show the majority of studies examined attitudes toward inclusive education and people with disabilities. In this regard, although most of participants surveyed accept inclusive education initiatives in principle, they identify a range of barriers that need to be addressed to secure its meaningful implementation in the region. The review situates the possibility of inclusive education in the region’s historical context, identifies the structural and cultural barriers to its meaningful implementation, and suggests directions for future research.     

Civic education curriculum reform in Hong Kong: What should be the direction under Chinese sovereignty?

This article uses results from a cross-national analysis of the impact of varying approaches to civic education curriculum delivery on three learning outcomes, to draw conclusions about the value of a government-mandated compulsory, independent subject of civic education in the school curriculum. It starts from the context of Hong Kong, where there have been repeated calls for the government to reform civic education, and compares this context with that of England, where citizenship education was made a statutory subject in 2002. The article then examines from the cases of 25 societies whether a compulsory approach to and/or independent subject of civic education is associated with better learning of civic knowledge, knowledge of democracy, and patriotism. Finding that the impact of curricular approaches is somewhat negligible taking other factors into consideration, the article concludes that civic education reformers should consider the costs of limiting school autonomy in curriculum delivery.     

香港中小学公民教育的发展与对策

本文剖析了香港于回归前后公民教育的发展.因受前殖民地教育的影响,回归初期,香港中小学生的建构新国民身份教育进展不大;近年特区政府逐步加强推行公民教育.作为一个国际城市,在全球化的情境中,香港学校要以全球、国家和本土等三个层次向学生推行公民教育,以应对学生的需要.     

Teaching civics in a divided society: The case of Israel

Civic education teachers instruct in a field that is institutionally ill-defined and highly sensitive to the macro-political cultures of nations and the micro-political culture of schools within these nations. Teachers' performance greatly depends on both their professional qualifications and their perceptions of central social issues. The purpose of the study is to examine the professional background of upper-secondary civic education teachers in Israel, their perceptions concerning issues related to democracy in general and to existing rifts within Israeli society in particular, and their views on school climate. The study reveals differences between teachers in Arab and Hebrew religious and regular state schools on issues that are related to rifts within Israeli society. This, in turn, can create differential climates of opinion in schools that would nurture and perpetuate existing rifts.     

古典公民教育思想在现代大学教育中的价值与意义

古典的公民教育是培养公民美德的教育,它包括个体自我完善的德性与个体参与公共政治生活的德性,这是培养好人与培养合格公民相结合的教育,也是沉思的生活与行动的生活相结合的教育。这一公民教育思想对于现代教育具有极大的启发意义,尤其对现代大学教育有着特殊的意义,值得深思。     

Building civic capacity for a new century: Engaging young people in civic institutions and civil society

In a democratic society, citizens will be confronted with decision-making options that require them to be discerning about the changes that are proposed, to evaluate alternative courses of action, to develop strategies that will advance their cause and to take appropriate action. These processes are the basis for developing civic capacity. This paper explores drivers of civic capacity, including civic virtues and civic values, in order to see how civic capacity can best be developed in the nations of the Asia-Pacific region. Of particular interest is whether ”Asian values” are necessarily at odds with the underlying values of liberal democracy. Civic capacity is needed at a time of great change throughout the region, because change, and possibly even turbulence, will in all likelihood characterize the region in the future. Our future will depend on creating a civic capacity that will enable active and informed citizens to exercise agency over their social, political and economic lives. Editor’s note Address presented at the First International Conference of the Institute for Asian-Pacific Educational Development,Reflections and Explorations for Educational Development in the 21st Century: The Search for Asian Identities and Perspectives,Seoul National University, 9–10 November 2000.     

'Moral Democratic Education and Homosexuality: Censoring morality' by John Petrovic: A rejoinder

This article takes issue with certain aspects of the argument put forward by John Petrovic in a recent issue of the Journal of Moral Education : that adherence to principles of democracy requires not only the positive portrayal of homosexuality in schools but also precludes teachers from expressing their beliefs against it. It is argued that certain of Petrovic's appeals to democracy are somewhat rhetorical, and that his fuller characterisation of moral democratic education leaves him open to charges of inconsistency. The second part of the article develops what the author considers to be a more appropriate defence of the view that common schools should indeed present homosexuality as a morally acceptable way of life that some of their students may one day elect to lead, but which argues that there needs also to be within schools (and within the curriculum) full and open debate with those whose competing comprehensive theories of the good life lead them to regard homosexual behaviour as repugnant or even sinful.     

Challenging knowledge monopoly in education in the U.S. through democratizing knowledge production and dissemination

ABSTRACT

We discuss democratizing knowledge production and dissemination in education illustrated in two parts that challenge the current knowledge monopoly. Our discourse includes (a) problematic cultivation of the status quo in the hierarchy of knowledge value in the U.S. as a component of civic illiteracy and (b) the need for more evidence through developing practice-based research evidence as a counter to the fixation with evidence-based practice in education. We point out a cultivated state of complacency with regard to the societal expectations of the roles of educational practitioners in the U.S. and discuss developing a new status of practitioner research for knowledge democracy. A virtual space for mentoring practitioner researchers with a goal to help them produce and disseminate their research was included as an example of knowledge democracy.     

John Dewey and Character Education

Abstract

Some of the character education programmes that were implemented in American public schools during the first three decades of this century are examined. The educational theory underlying these programmes is contrasted to John Dewey's ideas on moral education. Character education programmes reflected a trait‐inspired approach to morality: character was assumed to be a structure of virtues and vices. Dewey's conception of morality was broader; he held that character embraced all the purposes, desires, and habits that affect human conduct. Dewey's recommendations for moral education differed significantly from those put forward by the advocates of character education, as Dewey,’s proposals were basically proposals for school reform. Because character education programmes were aimed at developing specific virtues in students, the programmes were narrowly conceived and were unable to affect major changes in educational practice.     

Democracy and Social Studies Education at the Junior Secondary School Level in Botswana

This paper briefly examines the concept of democracy, its relationship to education and its African context. The meaning and value of democracy in African society is discussed and it is suggested that traditional political systems represented a particular kind of democracy. It then focuses on the extent to which the concept of democracy is covered in the junior secondary school social studies syllabus in Botswana. Finally the authors make some recommendations for curricular improvement in education for democracy at the junior secondary level in Botswana as part of the continuing attempt to produce the effective citizen for the new millennium.     

Some Cultural and Moral Implications of Inclusive Education in India—a personal view

This article provides a personal viewpoint on and outline of the author's contribution to learning disability in India. It refers to her doctoral research on policy and the status of people with disability in India. It puts forth the view that although India addresses diversity in many ways it tends to exclude people with disability from national programmes. It argues that inclusive education should be context- and culture-specific and that inclusive programmes can develop, albeit incrementally, despite the fact that systemic change has not taken place. The article ends with the suggestion that moral and ethical considerations demand that people engaged with inclusion need to work towards inclusion of all children wherever necessary and that each individual first of all needs to internalise the change within themselves.     

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.     

论大学生公民意识教育

加强大学生公民意识教育是社会主义民主政治建设的现实需要,也是整个公民意识教育工程的重要组成部分,在＂思想道德修养与法律基础＂课教学中利用教学内容进行公民意识教育符合我国目前大学生思想政治教育实际的客观要求,这对于提升思想政治理论课的思想性和实效性也有重要的意义。在＂思想道德修养与法律基础＂课教学中进行公民意识教育,可以采取案例式教学模式和互动式教学模式。     

Teachers’ democratic assignment: a critical discourse analysis of teacher education policies in Ireland and Sweden

ABSTRACT

The needs of a globalized economy are rapidly changing what is legitimated as school knowledge and values, and calling up new understandings of teachers’ role in stimulating democratic spaces. We have termed this Teachers’ Democratic Assignment. We examine changing notions of teachers’ democratic assignment in Ireland and Sweden using a Critical Discourse Analysis. We tested our hypothesis that teachers’ democratic assignment has changed in unprecedented ways using an analysis of policy documents in teacher education. Our findings reported a substantive converging paradigm shift from a predominantly progressive (reconstructivist) curriculum discourse where democracy was seen as inextricably linked to everyday practice in the early years of this century, to a more essentialist (perennialist) discourse in recent times. The findings will have interest for a wider audience and have implications for the role of democracy in teacher education as well as the question of education as a social responsibility for a vibrant democracy.     

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.