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.     

The Crick Report: difference,equality and racial justice

This article examines current policy on citizenship education in England, drawing on the recommendations of the 1998 Crick Report, Education for Citizenship and the Teaching of Democracy in Schools. In particular, it seeks to establish whether the proposals for citizenship education outlined in the report and draft frameworks for citizenship education, published by the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority as part of the National Curriculum review for England, have the potential to contribute towards racial equality. The report sets out to provide a framework for citizenship education which is intended to strengthen our democracy. The publication of the Macpherson Report of the Stephen Lawrence inquiry in 1999 led senior politicians to acknowledge institutional racism in British society and to pledge themselves to a programme to eradicate racism. Racism is therefore now officially recognized by those in government as one of the forces which operates to restrict the citizenship rights of minorities and undermines the principles of democracy. An understanding of racism, the ways in which it serves to undermine democracy, and skills to challenge this anti-democratic force are therefore essential features of any education programme which seeks to promote the political literacy of citizens. This article argues that a key aim in any programme of citizenship education must be to enable young people to understand the barriers to citizenship and to equip them with the skills to challenge and overcome such barriers. It examines the images and understandings of multiculturalism in the Crick Report and considers how it deals with questions of difference, equality and justice. It further examines whether the proposals within the report are an adequate basis from which sound anti-racist education programmes might be developed or whether the report itself may unwittingly reflect racism. It concludes by suggesting how the citizenship education project might be modified so that it promotes a vision of a multicultural society founded on principles of human rights and of schools where children are able to realize their rights on the basis of equality.     

School democratic meetings: Pupil control discourse in disguise

The aim of this qualitative case study is to investigate how learning in “democratic participation” is constituted by the social interaction and conversation pattern in school democratic meetings in a Swedish primary school. According to the findings, a pupil control discourse and the Initiation-Response-Evaluation pattern dominates the conversations. The teacher initiates by asking a question, the pupils respond by answering the question, and then the teacher evaluates that response. The findings show no discursive shift from traditional classroom talk to democratic deliberative talk. Instead there is an emphasis on the “right answers” and subordinating authorities rather than deliberative dialogue and democratic participation, which influences pupils to adopt a naïve or a cynical attitude to democracy.     

What do citizens need to know? An analysis of knowledge in citizenship curricula in the UK and Ireland

Contemporary citizenship education tends to focus on the development of skills through real experiences, which has led to a relative neglect or simplification of knowledge and understanding. This article outlines a framework for analysing citizenship curricula drawing on Young’s notion of ‘powerful knowledge’ and ‘knowledge of the powerful’ and on Shulman’s account of subject knowledge, which includes substantive concepts and epistemic criteria. These ideas are used to analyse the citizenship curricula in the four nations of the UK and Ireland to assess the extent to which they provide an adequate account of knowledge and understanding of citizenship. The article concludes that it is important to reconsider the relationship between the genuinely educational aspects of citizenship education (where ‘powerful knowledge’ opens up new and diverse understandings) from the normative aims, which are more akin to a form of socialisation (where ‘knowledge of the powerful’ closes down certain possibilities).     

沟通与对话:公民社会与媒体公共空间——网络群体性事件形成机制的理论基础

新媒体跨越时空的传播,打破了传统社会结构中人际传播、组织传播、群体传播以及大众传播的边界,这意味着社会关系的重构。在社会关系重构中,作为公民社会发展的要素,如公民身份、公共理性以及媒体公共空间等对促进社会有机团结、推动公民社会健康发展意义重大,所有这些集中体现在人们日常生活的对话与沟通中。本文从中国公民社会及其特征、公民身份与公民意识、媒体公共空间中对话与沟通何以可能等方面进行梳理、总结,分析媒体公共空间中中国公民社会发展所涉及的一些基本问题,探讨建构公民日常对话与沟通的思想价值基础。     

Machiavellians' Motives in Organizational Citizenship Behavior

This study investigated the relationship between Machiavellianism, a predisposition toward manipulative behavior, and organizational citizenship behavior (OCB), defined by being helpful, cooperative, and conscientious. Given past findings that Machiavellians seek opportunities for impression management to obtain personal benefit, we hypothesized that the negative association between Machiavellianism and organizational citizenship behaviors toward the organization (OCBO) is stronger than the negative association between Machiavellianism and organizational citizenship behaviors toward individuals or groups (OCBI). Additionally, we hypothesized that Machiavellianism is associated with the OCB motive of impression management, but negatively associated with the OCB motives of organizational concern and prosocial values. Participants were 606 working adults (as well as their supervisors and co-workers) from various organizations in the U.S. South and West. Results generally confirmed the predicted relationships, which were consistent across supervisor and co-worker perceptions as well. Theoretical and practical implications of the findings are discussed.     

Refinement of the Classroom Citizenship Behavior Scale

In its original presentation, scores on two of the three subscales of the Classroom Citizenship Behavior scale were highly reliable. Scores on the subscale measuring the third dimension of classroom citizenship behavior, Courtesy, had poor reliability. We inductively derived additional items for the Courtesy subscale and tested structure and reliability of the revised scale. Exploratory factor analysis indicated that the scale readily divided into three factors of six items each, consistent with the proposed model. Furthermore, the subscale scores associated with these factors demonstrated high reliability. Next, two additional communication classes completed the revised scale and confirmatory factor analyses were run on the new version of the three-factor scale. Fit indices were good. The revised Classroom Citizenship Behaviors scale provides a stronger tool for investigating student behaviors that contribute to the effective functioning of the classroom environment.     

Challenges of primary education in Turkey: Priorities of parents and professionals

This article investigates the major issues and problems of Turkish society that may have an impact on people's daily lives, and the characteristics required of primary school graduates as citizens in response to those issues and problems from the perspectives of parents and educational professionals. Data was collected from 407 parents and 389 professionals using three questionnaires developed by the researchers. Results indicated that priority challenges of primary education were considered to relate to peace, the environment, human rights, democracy, justice and equality. Additionally, primary school graduates were said to require critical thinking, problem solving, language and life skills, as well as open-mindedness, expressiveness, peacefulness, flexibility and sensitivity towards environmental issues.     

我国特殊奥林匹克融合活动开展历程、问题与展望

为了更好的关注和推动特奥融合活动的发展,采用文献资料法、逻辑分析法对我国特殊奥林匹克融合活动的开展历程进行梳理,以时间节点划分阶段,发现其中存在的几点问题：社会影响力较小、教育功能较少、社会整体意识较低、组织模式较固定等。基于存在问题提出几点发展策略：开发设计新的战略项目、与公民教育接轨、加强宣传、整合社会资源等。     

The eco-club: a place for the becoming active citizen?

This paper makes a twofold contribution. Firstly it presents a typology of eco-clubs that can be used to contextualise eco-club observations by researchers and can support management of eco-clubs by practitioners. Secondly it explains how participation in eco-clubs provides a space for a child to both enact and develop as a citizen, a place for being-as-becoming. It shows how children navigate adult behaviours in these settings and how these experiences afford opportunities for the development of attributes including critical and analytical thinking that are commonly associated with citizenship education in England. In conclusion the paper makes links between these unintended outcomes and the liberal underpinnings of educational institutions in England.