Comparison and lessons from policies on citizenship education in Cyprus and Northern Ireland (original) (raw)

A comparative overview of citizenship education in Cyprus

International Review of Education, 2010

Cyprus is a Mediterranean island divided into two political sections. For political agreement to be possible between the North (Turkish) and South (Greek), Cyprus should give full consideration to citizenship education at schools with the aim of transmitting shared values and helping students become EU citizens. In this research, two citizenship textbooks which were designed and used for eighth grade level were examined using content analysis. One was a Greek book used in South Cyprus and the other one was a Turkish book used in North Cyprus. Both textbooks were prepared and published in the respective mainland states (Greece and Turkey) and reflected the culture of these countries. Although Turkey is a candidate state for the European Union, the Turkish book focuses on empowering local citizen identity in the nation state and does not discuss broader issues related to global citizenship. By contrast, the Greek textbook covers both national and global issues concerning citizenship. Silman and Çağlar suggest that North and South Cyprus should design their own citizenship books to promote the concepts of interdependence, multiculturalism, democracy, human rights and respect for cultural diversity. The researchers believe that this could facilitate a possible political agreement between the two sides. Étude comparative de l’éducation à la citoyenneté en Chypre – La Chypre est une île méditerranéenne scindée en deux parties appartenant à des systèmes politiques différents. Pour rendre un accord politique possible entre le Nord (turque) et le Sud (grec), la Chypre devrait accorder une importance primordiale à l’éducation à la citoyenneté dans les établissements scolaires, en vue de transmettre des valeurs partagées et d‘aider les élèves à devenir des citoyens de l’Union européenne. Dans le cadre de cette étude, les auteurs ont examiné au moyen d’une analyse de contenu deux manuels d’éducation à la citoyenneté, conçus et utilisés pour l’enseignement en huitième année. L’un est un manuel grec employé en Chypre du Sud, le second un manuel turque en Chypre du Nord. Tous deux ont été élaborés et édités respectivement en Grèce et Turquie continentales et reflètent la culture de ces pays. Bien que la Turquie soit pays candidat à l’Union européenne, le manuel turque s’attache à renforcer l’identité citoyenne locale au sein de l’État-nation et n’aborde pas des questions plus vastes portant sur la citoyenneté mondiale. Par contre, le manuel grec couvre les aspects à la fois nationaux et mondiaux de la citoyenneté. Les auteurs suggèrent que les deux parties de la Chypre élaborent leurs propres manuels d’éducation à la citoyenneté afin de promouvoir les notions d’interdépendance, de multiculturalisme, de démocratie, de droits fondamentaux et de respect pour la diversité culturelle. Ils sont convaincus que cette démarche pourrait faciliter un accord politique éventuel entre les deux parties de l’île. Vergleichender Überblick über die politische Bildung in Zypern – Zypern ist eine politisch zweigeteilte Mittelmeerinsel. Wenn zwischen dem (türkischen) Norden und dem (griechischen) Süden des Landes Verständigung möglich werden soll, dann muss sich Zypern mit aller Kraft der politischen Bildung in den Schulen annehmen. Das Ziel muss sein, gemeinsame Werte zu vermitteln und die Schülerinnen und Schüler bei ihrer Entwicklung zu Bürgerinnen und Bürgern der EU anzuleiten. Die vorliegende Forschungsarbeit ist eine Inhaltsanalyse zweier Lehrbücher, die für den politischen Unterricht in Klasse 8 konzipiert und eingesetzt wurden. Das eine war ein griechisches Buch, das im Südteil Zyperns benutzt wurde, das andere ein türkisches, das in Nordzypern Verwendung fand. Beide Lehrbücher wurden im jeweiligen Festlandsstaat (Griechenland bzw. Türkei) entwickelt und veröffentlicht und reflektierten die Kultur dieser Länder. Ungeachtet der Beitrittskandidatur der Türkei zur Europäischen Union konzentriert sich das türkische Buch auf die Stärkung der lokalen Identität als Bürger des Nationalstaats, ohne auf das weiter gefasste Konzept des „global citizenship“, des Bürgers einer Weltgesellschaft, einzugehen. Im Gegensatz dazu behandelt das griechische Lehrbuch sowohl nationalstaatliche als auch internationale Aspekte der Bürgerschaft. Silman und Çağlar schlagen vor, dass der Nord- und der Südteil Zyperns eigene Lehrbücher für den politischen Unterricht entwickeln sollten, um die Konzepte der Interdependenz, des Multikulturalismus, der Demokratie, der Menschenrechte und der Achtung kultureller Unterschiede zu fördern. Die Autoren der vorliegenden Forschungsarbeit sind der Auffassung, dass dies eine eventuelle politische Verständigung zwischen den beiden Seiten erleichtern könnte. Una visión comparativa de la educación ciudadana en Chipre – Chipre es una isla del Mar Mediterráneo que está dividida en dos sectores políticos. Para que pueda ser posible un acuerdo político entre el Norte de Chipre (el sector turco) y el Sur de Chipre (el sector griego), Chipre debería considerar plenamente una educación ciudadana en las escuelas que tenga la finalidad de transmitir valores compartidos y que ayude a los estudiantes a convertirse en ciudadanos de la UE. En el marco de esta investigación se examinaron, mediante un análisis de contenidos, dos libros de texto de educación ciudadana que fueron diseñados y usados para estudiantes de octavo grado. Uno era un libro griego, usado en el Sur de Chipre, y el otro era un libro turco usado en el Norte Chipre. Ambos libros de texto han sido preparados y publicados en sus correspondientes Estados continentales (Grecia y Turquía), y reflejaban las culturas de estos países. Si bien Turquía es un país candidato a ser miembro de la Unión Europea, el libro turco se centra en el refuerzo de una identidad ciudadana local dentro del Estado nacional y no trata temas más amplios relacionados con una ciudadanía del mundo. Contrastando con ello, el libro de texto griego cubre temas de ciudadanía tanto local como mundial. Silman y Çağlar proponen que el Norte y el Sur de Chipre deberían diseñar sus propios libros de ciudadanía con el fin de promover los conceptos de interdependencia, multiculturalismo, democracia, derechos humanos y respeto de la diversidad cultural. Los investigadores creen que esto podría facilitar un acuerdo político entre ambos sectores.

Citizenship Education in England, Ireland and Northern Ireland

European Journal of Education, 2002

The 1990s have seen a resurgence of interest in citizenship education in the UK and Ireland. Within the UK, interest in citizenship education has been fuelled by the Labour government's commitment to a process of devolution and the establishment of new legislative Assemblies in Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales. This has given rise to renewed debate on issues related to nationality, identity and citizenship in each of the constituent countries of the UK. Alongside this, there is a growing concern within each of these jurisdictions to understand how a sense of citizenship might be maintained within a context of increasing social, cultural and political diversity. In England in 1998 an Advisory Group on Citizenship, under the chairmanship of Professor Bernard Crick, issued its final report, Education for Citizenship and the Teaching of Democracy in Schools. One outcome has been the introduction of citizenship education for pupils in all schools from September 2000 for 5-to 11-year-olds and from September 2002 for 11-to 16-year-olds. The English citizenship curriculum has three main strands (Social and moral responsibility; Community involvement; and Political literacy). The Republic of Ireland has had a longer involvement in the development of civic education. A pilot project between 1993 and 1996 led to the introduction of a new curriculum programme in Civic, Social and Political Education (CSPE) in all secondary level schools from September 1997. CSPE is a course in citizenship based on human rights and social responsibilities. It aims to develop active citizens who have a sense of belonging to the local, national, European and global communities. The course incorporates seven key concepts (democracy, rights and responsibilities, human dignity, interdependence, development, law and stewardship) and is taught through four units of study (The Individual and Citizenship; The Community; The State; Ireland and the World). In terms of its constitutional status, Northern Ireland is part of the UK, yet geographically it is part of the island of Ireland. For historical and political reasons it has a Unionist and Loyalist population (predominantly Protestant) that wishes to remain part of the UK and a Nationalist and Republican population (mainly Catholic) that seeks to be part of a unified Ireland. Competing loyalties between British and Irish identities have been a feature of the violent conflict in Northern Ireland for the past 30 years. However, the Belfast (Good Friday) Agreement in April 1998 led to the establishment of new, democratic structures as

Citizenship Education in the Republic of Ireland: Plus ça Change

The Palgrave Handbook of Citizenship and Education , 2020

This chapter presents a critical overview of the literature concerning the reception and content of citizenship education which has been taught as a compulsory subject to lower-secondary level students in Irish second-level schools since the late 1990s in the form of Civic, Social and Political Education (CSPE). It seeks to illuminate the “placebo” function that citizenship education serves (Gillborn, 2006). While ostensibly concerned with enabling young people to come to a deeper understanding of social and global injustice and empowering them to take action against these injustices, it presents evidence to suggest that CSPE works to constrain young people’s imagination about what is possible and how they might engage in struggle for a more egalitarian world (Kennelly, 2011). The chapter also interrogates the recent reframing of citizenship within a newly foregrounded well-being discourse in contemporary educational policy, paying particular attention to the ideological work performed by the civic dimensions of a newly implemented well-being program in Irish schools. Specifically, it is argued that the citizenship-as-well-being discourse serves to amplify earlier individualized versions of citizenship promoted in CSPE and to encourage citizen-subjects who are self-reliant, self-responsible, self-managing, and resilient. In so doing, it seeks to demonstrate the ways in which the contemporary focus on well-being detracts from the actual social and material determinants of well-being and considers what forms of citizenship are foreclosed by a citizenship-as-well-being discourse.

Citizenship Education in the European Curricula

Recent comparative studies made in different European countries, emphasize the inclusion of citizenship in the curriculum as a specific topic, using different approaches and learning methods. According to Eurydice (2005), this topic can be offered as an independent subject that can be mandatory or optional, or integrated in one or more subjects. It also includes the ability to teach the contents in a cross-curricular way, so that the citizenship education’s principles appear in every area of the curriculum. Likewise, the citizenship education’s objectives are formulated in a different way in each country, according to the national context, traditions, cultural heritage and above all, depending of the curricular approach. In this paper we analyze different European curricula, to know how they work with the citizenship education, and we establish reference frameworks that can be useful to be included in a curricular level.