Higher education in small territories : Political transition and development in Macau

Scholars and practitioners have argued with increasing force that small states are not simply small-scale versions of large states. Rather, they have suggested, small states have distinctive generic features and require distinctive policies. This paper focuses on Macau, which is an autonomous Special Administrative Region within China, and which has features which are comparable to those of small sovereign states. The paper shows ways in which Macau’s small size has shaped higher education in the territory. Small size is of course not the only determinant of the shape and scale of higher education in Macau, but it is nevertheless shown to be a significant determinant. Through this case study, the paper contributes to the broader literature on education in small states.     

Nationalistic education as the focus for civics and citizenship education : The case of Hong Kong

Civic education has been assigned the mission of preparing critical thinking, responsible, participating, multidimensional citizens and is also used to serve the function of instilling a sense of national identity, loyalty to the nation state and patriotism In 1996, before the return of sovereignty of Hong Kong to China, the Hong Kong Education Department published theGuidelines in Civic Education for School (1996), which includes education for democracy, human rights education, global education and nationalistic education This survey adopted an amalgamate framework of five types of nationalistic education to study the understanding of nationalistic education of civic educators in secondary schools in Hong Kong The initial findings showed that the civic educators were basically strongly eclectic in terms of education for cosmopolitan, civic, and cultural nationalism and moderately eclectic in terms of anti colonial nationalism but rejected education for totalitarian nationalism This eclectic understanding can be said to be heading towards a more liberal, rational, open and inclusive type of nationalistic education, which is compatible with a cosmopolitan and pluralistic society such as Hong Kong     

Civics education in transition: the case of Japan

This chapter describes the study as it was conducted in Japan in three schools: a public, a private, and a university school in Sapporo City, Hokkaido prefecture. The results suggest that the civic education curriculum in all of the schools is based on that outlined in the Courses of Study published by the Ministry of Education. In addition to Civics classes, the curriculum includes school events and student council activities. With regard to the development of civic values, the analysis suggests that in the public and the private school, the implicit values encountered in everyday school life have a greater impact on students than do the explicit values outlined in the school precepts or civic education curriculum. In the university school “acting with decency” is regarded as important, both explicitly and implicitly.     

Educating for citizenship—the emerging relationship between religious education and citizenship education

The introduction of citizenship education to school in England (and Wales) in 2002 has generated interest and concern among religious educationalists, some of whom welcome the opportunities this new educational territory opens up for religious education and some of whom suspect it augurs religious education's demise. This article reports findings of a school‐based study of the early implementation of citizenship education and its impact on religious education. It discusses those findings in the context of the current debate about the future relationship between the two subjects, noting a similar ambivalence toward citizenship education among religious education heads of department, as there is among religious educationalists. The discussion includes an examination of the Crick Report, noting its lack of interest in religious education, and argues that its conceptualization of citizenship leaves it open to two quite different broad interpretations of what might be meant by an education for citizenship, one of which religious education practitioners appear to endorse and associate with religious education, and one of which they reject and associate with citizenship education.     

Stories of/on citizenship education: a case of participatory planning

ABSTRACT

This article provides evidence of the ways in which Family Learning (FL) has offered opportunities for the negotiation of a culturally responsive pedagogy that positions parents as experts. Although our study is small (ten parents and six FL practitioners) its significance lies in its longitudinal perspective and in-depth analysis, which demonstrate that the benefits of learning are dynamic and can transfer across domains (education, family, community) and lead to change in parents’ sense of self and their practices. We find that the approach taken by the FL workers enabled parents to raise their horizons of possibility so that they considered new careers and ways of being. Our symbolic interactionist approach focuses on the opportunity for the negotiation of new identities afforded by these programmes and provides an explanation for their long-term positive consequences. The implications for adult learning for all professionals engaging with parents are the benefits of: forming collaborative relationships between participants and staff; using a ‘funds of knowledge’ pedagogical approach; and developing artifacts that can be shared publically.     

Young people, citizenship and citizenship education in Zimbabwe

Citizenship education in Zimbabwe is based on the claim that young people lack citizenship virtues. This study set out to investigate these assumptions by assessing high school students’ knowledge of, attitudes towards and participation levels in citizenship issues. Findings show that while students are knowledgeable about citizenship issues they are however, hesitant about involvement in political activities. The study concludes that the reported claims are partly not valid. In a politically sensitive environment students are unwilling to engage in political activities. They accurately assess the situation and adopt a position which other citizens in similar circumstances might take.     

Science and citizenship education

I argue that there is potential for collaborative work between science educators and citizenship educators. However, following comments about that potential, I raise a number of challenges. Those challenges relate to the public perception of science, narrow academic perspectives of some science educators, and problematic attempts to develop a form of science education that, at times, some have claimed is relevant to — or, even, a form of — citizenship education. The latter point is considered with reference to some science educators’ perceptions concerning the nature of citizenship and citizenship education. I argue that the perceptions of some science educators seem to suggest significant differences in understanding from at least some of those who would regard themselves as citizenship education specialists. In the final main section of the article, I suggest, briefly, some ways in which further work to develop collaboration between science educators and citizenship educators could be considered.     

Globalisation and citizenship education

This article discusses the notion of globalisation by reference to several of its proponents and critics. Issues of citizenship education in an era of global electronic communications are examined and the author argues that citizenship education that has a global dimension will necessarily be concerned with economic, social and political inequalities between citizens both within and between nation states. Global divisions involve fundamental inequalities of resources, rights to residence and much else. Since globalisation invokes differing responses from citizens around the world and within nation states it is likely that global citizenship education will have varied effects.     

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.     

Global citizenship education: mainstreaming the curriculum?

There has been a resurgence of interest in global education in the UK as global issues are included within the requirements of citizenship education in national curricula. This paper examines the significance attached to global citizenship through Citizenship as a statutory subject at Key Stages 3 and 4 within the National Curriculum for England. Drawing on a web‐based project funded by the UK Department for International Development, the paper analyses a number of secondary school texts designed to support teachers and students in incorporating global perspectives into citizenship education. It seeks to answer the question: in what ways is global citizenship being mainstreamed? It suggests that NGOs and commercial publishers have different but complementary approaches to resources for global citizenship and that there is a strong case for greater collaboration between the two sectors.     

Girls in education: citizenship,agency and emotions

Education has been expected to maintain status quo through regulation of citizens, but also to contribute to social change and emancipation. In a collective ethnographic project we have proposed that these contradictions manifest themselves in everyday life at school through tensions between control and agency. Girls encounter practices whereby their use of space is curtailed, their embodiment is controlled and their voice is frequently considered inappropriate. Limitations encountered by girls when striving for independent individuality and citizenship generate a range of emotions. Girls enter educational spaces with the expectation of attaining rational individuality as learners. They often bestow great expectations on schooling and long to attain the position of an abstract independent individual and a citizen capable of exercising agency. In this process they enter a ‘transpositional’ space that frequently reminds them of their gender, as Victoria Foster suggests. The analysis is based on an ethnographic study and subsequent life history interviews on transitions of girls in ethnography.     

Multicultural education and cosmopolitan citizenship

In the United States, canonical multicultural education (CME) advocates propose that schools should view children always as “different, not deficient”, that curriculum incorporate “multiple perspectives”, and that classrooms emphasize the “knowledge construction” process. The argument is made in this chapter that CME advocates need to argue directly for “different, not deficient” without relying on some commendatory meaning of “culture”. Furthermore, they must show that the “knowledge construction” process reduces to exposure of students to multiple perspectives. Finally, they must sketch a path for CME's transcending its restricted focus on race and ethnicity by understanding its goal as the creation of cosmopolitan citizens.     

From civic to citizenship education: Toward a stronger citizenship orientation in the Ethiopian CEE curriculum

Recent research on Civic and Ethical Education (CEE) in Ethiopia has revealed a need for improvement in a number of areas with regard to the current CEE curricula. These materials are currently oriented to a conservative form of civic education than on citizenship education, whose aims are more progressive. The essential problem identified in the present study is that CEE content does not match the Ethiopian Ministry of Education’s stated goals for CEE, including the promotion of global citizenship. An inductive method was used to categorize themes found in the CEE curricula and textbook, which were analyzed with reference to Tawil’s (2013) framework for education for global citizenship. A concept in textual analysis known as ‘internal critique’ was also utilized to identify inconsistencies in the materials between the stated aims of the CEE program and the textbook content itself. The analysis revealed three main characteristics of the CEE textbooks, namely, an emphasis on sovereignty, patriotism, and responsibility; ambivalence to Ethiopia’s independence from/dependence on wealthier nations, and abstraction in CEE content. This content does only partially match the Ethiopian government’s stated aims for CEE. The findings of this study suggest that the content of the ethical dimension of Ethiopia’s CEE curriculum could be greatly improved through the inclusion of content that reflects an emphasis on citizenship education. Such an approach is more progressive than civic education and promotes a more learner-centered and critical orientation to ethical issues on the part of students within the framework of Global Citizenship Education (GCE).     

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.     

Racism and citizenship education in Northern Ireland

Racist attitudes towards, and attacks on, the minority ethnic populations in Northern Ireland (NI) have increased dramatically over the last number of years. Despite the increased media attention regarding racist attacks, the fallacy that racism is not a major problem in NI is an enduring one. However, there is a growing recognition that minority ethnic communities experience a diverse range of racial harassment. Education is a mode promoted by national and European governments as the vehicle in which anti-racism programmes can be delivered. This article suggests the impending introduction of a statutory citizenship education (CE) component to the revised NI curriculum from September 2007 can play an important role in tackling the high levels of racism being experienced by the minority ethnic population in NI.     

Reframing citizenship education in Beijing: competing views and strategies

This narrative documentary study depicts two approaches of citizenship education (CE) in Beijing over the past decade—change through curriculum development, versus change through the international exchange of ideals and practices. It reveals the varied interests of CE designers and the tensions arising from competing approaches to CE. Analysis unfolds three dimensions of CE in Beijing, i.e. CE as a civic mission advocated by Chinese scholars, as a diplomatic platform for local government to showcase the city’s image building, and as an authoritarian agent serving to resist notions and terminologies associated with the state’s political enemies. Reframing the citizenship discourses into these three dimensions allows us to order, conceptually, how we approach the function of CE in Beijing. The case of Beijing illuminates the methods, tensions, and likely future directions of CE in other Chinese polities, such as Hong Kong.     

Social literacy and citizenship education in the school curriculum

This article explores citizenship education's need to focus on both ‘political’ and ‘social’ literacy within a communitarian framework. The Crick Report (1998; see also Lahey, Crick and Porter, 1974), while recognizing that the social dimension of citizenship education was a precondition for both the civic and political dimensions, concentrated largely on ‘political’ literacy. This article examines the social dimension of citizenship education. Concern with the social dimension of the curriculum in schools is not a recent interest, but changes within society have accelerated the social demands made upon schools. At the very least, society expects schools to correct the behaviour of children and to teach them values which usually means insisting on ‘good’ behaviour. The social development of pupils has thus assumed a much greater place in the aspirations of schools. Programmes of personal and social education, together with citizenship education, invariably emphasize a range of social skills and these skills are introduced early and built upon throughout the years of schooling. An individual's sense and ability to make socially productive decisions do not develop by themselves; rather, they require knowledge, values and skills. Above all opportunities are required for children to experience social relations in such a way that they are able to operate critically within value-laden discourses and thereby to become informed and ethically empowered, active citizens.     

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.