Community development as citizen education

Everyday professional discussion often refers to the idea that community development is essentially a learning process. This article sketches a comprehensive theory of community development as citizen education by following the different traditions in community development and by defining the educational aspect of each tradition. Among the traditions described here are traditional community organizations as a social work method, the radical community organization of Alinsky, the neo‐Marxist approach of community action, and the settlement movement. The resulting theoretical framework defines community development as an alternative route for the education of citizens with low levels of formal education in the same way as labour unions and churches often are alternative routes towards active citizenship for low‐income groups. Next, three forms of education are singled out within community development: first, education as training of local leadership; as an action‐oriented and on the job learning process supported informally by the community worker. This form of education resembles the informal vocational education in which an experienced craftsman trains his pupils on the shop floor. Second, education as consciousness raising, which reverses the sequence of learning processes: in this case it is not action which leads to education but education that hopefully leads to action by citizens. There is a whole range of providers of such consciousness raising activities, such as community development organizations, local centres for adult education, churches through their celebrations and adult education classes. A recent development is the ‘new localism’ in social movements, such as the environmental movement, emphasizing consciousness‐raising activities in the local community. Third, education as service delivery: here education is a service for the community in the same way as community development can deliver other services to a community such as affordable housing and health centres. Partly these educational services are ‘survival education’, such as job readiness training programmes and literacy programmes; partly they are ‘leisure education’, typically blurring the borders between ‘pure’ education and recreational and social opportunities for residents.     

Improving accountability in education: the importance of structured democratic voice

Asia Pacific Education Review - Accountability, a cornerstone of contemporary education policy, is increasingly characterized by external monitoring and an emphasis on outcomes or results. Largely...     

Teacher education as democratic public sphere

Being a proficient and professional teacher in Australia and similar countries is one of the most difficult and complex occupations imaginable. All teachers are confronted with carefully analysing the mix of socio-economic and cultural factors that present and design appropriate learning strategies that engage all students. Within this context, the following essay considers the purpose and structure of initial teacher preparation and possible changes to more traditional arrangements. It advocates a new type of school-university partnership where reflective cycles of practice-theory establish a close relationship with knowledge for all participants and where personal practice is the necessary condition of learning. Schools and classrooms are theorised as democratic public spheres where participants pursue understanding of serious issues for equity and the public good. Implications of partnership and public sphere for a new form of educational practice are discussed.     

The core as an education for a democratic citizenry

J. Rufus Fears is professor of classics, chairman of the Department of Classical Studies, and associate dean of the College of Liberal Arts at Boston University, Boston, MA 02215. He is also director of the Boston University Humanities Foundation.     

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.     

Against democratic education

This is the fourth of five commentaries discussing Zongjie Wu’s essay, ‘Interpretation, autonomy, and transformation’. It argues that he may have committed two methodological mistakes in his contrast between traditional Chinese education and contemporary Chinese (and Western) education: reverse-Orientalism and a form of fundamentalism. It will then argue that the distinction Wu’s essay correctly reveals is not between China and the West, but between forms of a philosophical education and those of the mass education. In contemporary Western democratic education, the philosophical, political, and mass forms of education are collapsed into one, mass education, and by arguing for preservation of philosophical education on a mass level, Wu also implicitly adopts this conflation position. However, this commentary will argue that this conflation needs to be corrected, and the traditional Confucian education actually tries to strike a middle way between, and to correct, the forms of pre-democratic Western education and democratic education.     

Guiding classroom discussions for democratic citizenship education

Classroom discussion is frequently proposes as an essential part of democratic citizenship education. Literature, however, pays little attention to what kind of discussion is most effective and how teachers can facilitate a discussion. This study aims to contribute to the development of a framework for analysing the characteristics of classroom discussions and the different roles teachers can adopt in guiding a discussion on controversial issues. In addition, we investigated how the way teachers guide the discussion is related to the structure and content features of the discussion. The framework was used to analyse five classroom discussions in secondary education. Our framework appeared to be useful for revealing differences in the structure and content features of the classroom discussions and in the way teachers guide the discussion. The results also indicated that a high degree of teacher regulation was related to high content quality and more participation from students. A high degree of student regulation was linked to more genuine discussion among students. The study underlines the importance of taking account of the teacher’s role in research into the effectiveness of classroom discussions for democratic citizenship education and the study makes useful suggestions for teachers when preparing for a classroom discussion.     

我国公民问责的现状及路径研究

公民问责是行政问责的一部分,是行政问责的深化,也是社会主义民主和党＂执政为民＂的必然要求。公民问责制的发挥作用必然要求政府消息公开、问责公民合法权益的保障、法律制度的完善等一系列制度的保证。文章从公民问责的理论渊源、我国公民问责的现状入手,探讨构建我国公民问责制度的具体路径,以期对我国公民问责制度的确立和完善有所裨益。     

An experiment in environmental education for citizen advocates

The paper describes a prototype of a college level adult-centered environmental education program. The target population is comprised of citizens who serve as volunteers in local planning boards, conservation commissions and environmental organizations. The educational model embodies the concept of the double flow. Citizens with extensive community experience are enrolled in university courses while graduate students are brought into community organizations as interns. Program effectiveness is evaluated with regard to course content, mixing of citizens with regular university students, and motivational factors related to the issuance of academic credit.Dr. Sheldon Krimsky is currently Associate Director in the Program in Urban Social and Environmental Policy at Tufts University, Medford, Massachusetts 02155. Dr. Judith deNeufville, who worked on the project while an Assistant Professor in the Political Science Department at Tufts University, is currently an Assistant Professor in the Department of City and Regional Planning, University of California, Berkley 94720.The environmental education project was funded through grant No. G00-75-02105 from the Special Community Services and Continuing Education Project of the U.S. Department of Health, Education and Welfare Office, and implemented jointly by Tufts University's Graduate Program in Urban Social and Environmental Policy and the Lincoln Filene Center for Citizenship and Public Affiars.     

论民国时期的公民概念及其公民教育

从臣民到公民,反映了民国时期人们关于"公民"观念的进步。辛亥革命推出了"天下为公"的理念,"臣民"的概念由此退出民国法律体系。如何培养公民?教育家开出了一剂良药——公民教育,这显然属于社会教育的高端走势。在长达半个世纪的时间里,中国虽然完成了从臣民到公民宪法文本意义上的概念转换,但公民教育依然薄弱,公民观念并未能深入人心,也未能铲除国民的奴隶根性,更未形成公民文化传统,公民教育任重道远。     

论公民道德自律教育及组织模型设计

本文提出了一种公民道德教育的创新载体及其组织模型设计，即建立公民道德自律教育委员会，通过强化公民群体道德自律教育而强化公民个体道德自律意识，充分发挥公民作为道德教育主体的能动性，使公民在道德自律教育的实践中养成良好的道德行为习惯，真正体现公民道德教育关爱人生的本性，达到公民道德教育的目的。     

Teaching civic education for a civil, democratic society

Most countries of the world have experienced a revival in civic education in recent years. Issues of globalization, migration, national identity, citizenship, democracy, and civil society have forced them to devise, or reflect upon, some form of civic education for their schools. This is certainly the case for many countries in the Asian region. We have sought to identify appropriate pedagogy for teaching civics and citizenship in schools across the Asian region. From the literature it was possible to identify four categories of pedagogical strategies for civics and citizenship education which are applicable to the great variety of Asian schools. The categories are: 1) class-based, passive — cognitive pedagogies; 2) school-based, passive — cognitive pedagogies; 3) class-based, participative-active pedagogies; and 4) school-based, participative-active pedagogies. Some of these strategies appear more promising than others in Asian schools given that traditional, didactic teaching strategies dominate. What looks most promising include: whole school pedagogical strategies; critical thinking, particularly through group work; a variety of cooperative learning strategies including group problem-solving exercises; school-based activity learning; and the use of a technology such as CD ROMs as a resource. It is unlikely only one pedagogical strategy will prove to be singularly effective with civics. A more probable outcome will be that a combination of strategies will be most effective. Future research will provide suggestions as to the composition of that set of pedagogical strategies.     

公众参与与民主教育--从教育收费价格听证说起

“百名学者评论中国教育”专栏,以教育研究者的角度,就教育理论和实践中的热点、焦点、难点、冰点问题发表各种建设性见解。一事一议,或提出问题,或分析评论,力求形成百家争鸣、百花齐放之势,激活中国之教育学术。特邀教育界有影响的专家学者参与,以教授和博士为主办成一个高层次论坛。各位同仁可就教育理论与实践中的重要问题写成评论,每篇2000—3000字为宜,诚请各位同仁在百忙中赐教赐稿。