Participation and Citizenship Education: Is the Citizen Free only during Parliamentary Elections? (original) (raw)
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Studies in Philosophy and Education, 2019
Education is commonly considered to be a transformational practice that contributes both to forging the personality of individuals and to promoting social entanglements. For this reason, education always has a normative character that rests on a particular concept of what humanity and society should be. However, educational policies and practices are frequently unaware of these theoretical presuppositions, and for this reason, they frequently appear to act in a naïve and superficial manner. This is particularly the case for citizenship education, which, if superficially implemented, risks being distorted into a form of civic education that reproduces established norms and social relations, without promoting any meaningful social change. Thus, the first part of this article aims to deepen the notion of citizenship, in particular by studying what the concept of ‘consensus’ means, conceiving of it not as a synonym of social resignation, but rather as a collective conspiracy towards a common political project. Accordingly, the article defines the basic characteristics that education should always possess to effectively promote a democratic and participative citizenship education. In particular, it identifies five constitutive contrasts in relation to the ways in which information is transmitted, reasoned, emotionally perceived, and then discussed and countered both by individuals and society. The article therefore presents an overall theory of education, seen as a momentous practice of dialogue and common action that opens the way for a democracy in progress.
Rethinking political participation: A pedagogical approach for citizenship education
Theory and research in education
A significant body of literature on citizenship education and youth participation has progressively replaced political participation with other categories such as citizenship participation, community involvement or civic engagement. The demotion of political participation is also characteristic of different programmes of citizenship education embracing the same dominant categories. The article argues that this tendency reveals a depoliticised approach to citizenship education, which emphasises an apolitical view on adolescents" participation and, consequently, a conception of students as depoliticised subjects. The depoliticisation of citizenship education risks theoretical transparency in regard to the kind of participation it aims to promote and, therefore, jeopardises citizenship education"s pedagogical efficacy. Drawing on political theory and philosophy, political science and sociological theory, the article analyses the scope and potential of the notion of political participation in order to develop an approach that is inclusive of adolescents, based on the development of their own politicity and especially thought for being enacted in the school as a central component of citizenship education.
Young people’s relationship with British politics has been the subject of considerable scrutiny. Research appears to indicate that in Britain, many young people are refraining from engaging in the formal political process and are increasingly turning their backs on democratic institutions. However, research also suggests that once young people are invited to discuss politics in their own terms, there is evidence of much higher levels of interest and activity. The present paper examines whether citizenship education can help youth become more politically engaged. More specifically it examines the impact of citizenship studies classes on youth political engagement as well as an understanding of how they experience such classes at school. It is concluded that extending the study of citizenship within the school/college curriculum and ensuring that this is given a distinct and prominent status might assist with the process of improving political literacy skills to help young people re-connect with democratic life in an informed, critical, confident and effective manner.
Democracy, education and the need for politics
Studies in Philosophy and Education
Even though the interrelationship between education and democratic politics is as old as democracy itself, it is seldom explicitly formulated in the literature. Most of the time, the political system is taken as a given, and education conceptualized as an instrument for stability and social integration. Many contemporary discussions about citizenship education and democracy in the Western world mirror this tendency. In the paper, I argue that, in order to conceptualise the socio-political potential of education we need to understand democracy in more political terms. This means that democracy can neither be seen primarily as a mode of associated living (Dewey), nor a model for handling different life-views (political liberalism à la Rawls and Gutmann). A third alternative is Gert Biesta’s notion of democratic subjectification. Even though Biesta identifies depoliticising trends in citizenship education policies, I argue that his alternative still fails to be a sufficiently political alternative. What is lacking in Biesta is the explicit attention to political causes and the kind of collective activities that define a democracy: the creation of one’s own laws, norms and institutions. This capacity of the collective to question and govern itself is put in relief by Cornelius Castoriadis’s notion of “the project of autonomy”.
Citizenship Education: The Feasibility of a Participative Approach
Background: European and national policies on citizenship education stimulate the implementation of a participative approach to citizenship education, fostering active citizenship. The reason given for fostering active citizenship is the decline of participation in political and social life jeopardizing democracy. Schools have to implement a participative approach through stimulating participation within school and its direct environment, while fostering a certain kind of political literacy, critical thinking and analysing skills, certain kind of values, attitudes and behaviours. Purpose: The purpose of this article is to problematise the participative approach of citizenship education advocated by policy makers and several researchers (e.g. Bron and Thijs 2011; Geisel et al., 2012; Osler 2011; QCA 1998; Schulz et al. 2008; The Education and Skills Committee 2007). In order to do so, four different categories that citizenship education has to cover will be theoretically and empirically analysed: political knowledge, critical thinking, values, attitudes and behaviours, and active participation. The practical implications for educational practice will be discussed. Source of evidence: Two types of documents have been analysed: The 2005 and 2012 Eurydice reports and the 2009 International Civic and Citizenship Education Study (ICCS) research reports. These documents are exemplary of the mainstream idea of citizenship and citizenship education held by policy makers and many researchers on citizenship education. The Eurydice reports have analysed citizenship education in more than 30 countries while promoting a certain concept of citizenship education, namely active citizenship. The ICCS has researched pupils’ competencies on citizenship education and school practices in 38 countries. It is an interesting source because it had to define and operationalise the different constituents of citizenship education. Main argument: In jurisdictions where citizenship education is compulsory, schools have to implement this participative approach and account for it. We suggest that this educational approach to citizenship education may be problematic because each aspect – political literacy, critical thinking and analysing skills, values, attitudes and behaviours, and active participation presents challenging demands on the curriculum, headteachers and teachers. We argue three kinds of constraints that make the implementation of such a participative approach unrealistic: (1) insufficient specialist knowledge on the part of teachers and headteachers, (2) time and budget constraints and (3) an overcrowded curriculum. We demonstrate that the broad range of themes that political literacy has to cover demand specific knowledge on the part of teachers regarding each of the themes. Then we argue that critical thinking skills are hard to learn and demand continuous practice. Implementing and sustaining active participation structure within school and in the direct environment, again, require specific skills and curricular organisation. The demands made by values, attitudes and behaviours on teachers and pupils could not be explored because of the lack of conceptual clarity in the documentation under scrutiny. Conclusion: The feasibility of a participative approach to citizenship education has been questioned through theoretical and empirical critical analysis. On this basis, we suggest that the scope of the citizenship education curriculum should be reconsidered or that teacher and headteacher should receive the necessary and adequate training, and support to implement such a participatory structure.
The ambitious project to nationalise the Australian Curriculum has prompted great interest among policymakers, academics and civics teachers in Australian schools. The government-led citizenship education initiative Discovering Democracy (1997–2007) comprehensively failed to meet its objectives, most prominently the stated goal of developing active citizens. This article has twin objectives: to explore the ways in which government-directed civics education programmes have fallen short; and to argue for a shift in our approaches to civics education, in terms of both content and delivery, drawing on the surplus model, which credits students with unique ideas, knowledge and experiences. We draw upon Justice Citizens, an alternative approach to Civics Education that foregrounds students' own interests and abilities as central to their development into active citizens as an example of the educational practices that can promote and strengthen active citizenship among school students. From this programme and other research, we discuss four student-centred themes that should inform further civics education curriculum development.