Citizenship education has recently re-emerged as an important issue, both in policy and in practice. As the nation state undergoes rapid transformation at the end of the 20th century, both Eastern and Western states have focused attention on using the school curriculum as a medium for sustaining cohesion and unity within society. But, as we approach the 21st century, is the possibility of a common citizenship a reality?; This book is designed to provide educators with access to ideas and information that will help them to understand current citizenship- education initiatives across a number of countries. It provides a theoretical rationale in which to consider those issues; illustrates how such issues are being worked out in practice in a number of countries; and provides assistance for policy makers, teacher educators and teachers who are responsible for making decisions about the context of citizenship education programmes for schools.
Global Citizenship Education addresses the intersection of globalization, education and programmatic efforts to prepare young people to live in a more interdependent, complex and fragile world. The book explores topics such as sustainability education, cultural diversity, and human rights education, offering critical insights into how these facets of GCE are interpreted around the world. The book also strives to give voice to student populations within historically marginalized communities, rather than focusing solely on the role of GCE in elite schools. Gaudelli blends theory and practice to provide both an overview of GCE as well as examining current efforts to develop more globally-conscious classrooms. Blending empirical research and practical illustrations, this important volume encourages educators to take seriously their own call to prepare young people to engage global challenges with a sense of urgency and helps chart a new direction for global learning that is increasingly expansive, dialogic and inclusive.
The essays in this edited collection argue that global citizenship education realistically must be set against the imperfections of our contemporary political realities. As a form of education it must actively engage in a critically informed way with a set of complex inherited historical issues that emerge out of a colonial past and the savage globalization which often perpetuates unequal power relations or cause new inequalities.
"By nearly every measure, Americans are less engaged in their communities and political activity than generations past." So write the editors of this volume, who survey the current practices and history of citizenship education in the United States. They argue that the current period of "creative destruction"--when schools are closing and opening in response to reform mandates--is an ideal time to take an in-depth look at how successful strategies and programs promote civic education and good citizenship. Making Civics Count offers research-based insights into what diverse students and teachers know and do as civic actors, and proposes a blueprint for civic education for a new generation that is both practical and visionary. "This collection of state-of-the-art essays advances the discussion of civics from noble aspiration to empirical evidence and pedagogical practice. The authors, all noted scholars, have shown us how to improve civic education and--in the process--how to strengthen our democracy. It's time for policymakers to pay attention." -- William A. Galston, Ezra Zilkha Chair in Governance Studies, The Brookings Institution "Making Civics Count models a brilliant alternative to the ideological polarization and paralysis that dominates civic education discourse. Campbell, Levinson, Hess, and the other contributors to this volume hail from across the political spectrum but share a critical commitment to reinvigorate dialogue around civic education. They seek not consensus but spirited engagement--with ideas, with solid empirical data, and with visions for a more robust democracy. This is an important book for scholars, policymakers, and anyone interested in civic education's future." -- Joel Westheimer, university research chair, sociology of education, University of Ottawa "This compelling and persuasive book shows that an open climate for discussion of current issues, teachers' preparation across subject areas, and the new digital media can help foster a vision of democracy and counter prevailing inequality." -- Judith Torney-Purta, professor of human development, University of Maryland David E. Campbell is professor of political science at the University of Notre Dame and founding director of the Rooney Center for the Study of American Democracy. Meira Levinson is an associate professor at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. Frederick M. Hess is resident scholar and director of education policy studies at the American Enterprise Institute.
Globalization is changing what citizens need to know and be able to do by interrupting the assumption that the actions of citizens only take place within national borders. If our neighborhoods and nations are affecting and being affected by the world, then our political consciousness must be worldminded. The outcomes of globalization have led educators to rethink what students need to learn and be able to do as citizens in a globally connected world. This volume focuses on research that examines how K-12 teachers and students are currently addressing the challenge of becoming citizens in a globally interconnected world. Although there is an extensive body of literature on citizenship education within national contexts and a growing literature on global education, this volume offers research on the work educators are doing across multiple countries to bring the two fields together to develop global citizens.
The book highlights current issues influencing civic and citizenship education and their theoretical underpinnings. It provides an overview of the key features influencing ‘democratic deconsolidation’ , suggests ways in which civic and citizenship education needs to be reframed in order to fit this new political environment, and demonstrates how social media will play a significant role in any future for civic and citizenship education. Currently, democratic institutions are under attack, democratic values are threatened, and there is a wide-scale retreat from the liberal consensus that has underpinned liberal democracies internationally. These trends can be seen in events like, Brexit, the election of a right-wing populist President of the United States and, anti-democratic governments in parts of Europe. It is this change in the direction of political ideology that is currently ‘deconsolidating democracy’ and thus challenging traditional approaches to civic and citizenship education. What is urgently needed is an understanding of these current trends and their implications for thinking in new ways about civic and citizenship education in the 21st century.
Supporting children and young people to participate safely, effectively, critically and responsibly in a world filled with social media and digital technologies is a priority for educators the world over. Most young people in Europe today were born and have grown up in the digital era. Education authorities have the duty to ensure that these digital citizens are fully aware of the norms of appropriate behaviour when using constantly evolving technology and participating in digital life. Despite worldwide efforts to address such issues, there is a clear need for education authorities to take the lead on digital citizenship education and integrate it into school curricula. In 2016, the Education Department of the Council of Europe began work to develop new policy orientations and strategies to help educators face these new challenges and to empower young people by helping them to acquire the competences they need to participate actively and responsibly in digital society. This volume, the first in a Digital Citizenship Education series, reviews the existing academic and policy literature on digital citizenship education, highlighting definitions, actors and stakeholders, competence frameworks, practices, emerging trends and challenges. The inclusion of a wide selection of sources is intended to ensure sufficient coverage of what is an emergent topic that has yet to gain a strong foothold in either education or academic literature, but has received wider policy attention.
This open access book takes a critical and international perspective to the mainstreaming of the Global Citizenship Concept and analyses the key issues regarding global citizenship education across the world. In that respect, it addresses a pressing need to provide further conceptual input and to open global citizenship agendas to diversity and indigeneity. Social and political changes brought by globalisation, migration and technological advances of the 21st century have generated a rise in the popularity of the utopian and philosophical idea of global citizenship. In response to the challenges of today’s globalised and interconnected world, such as inequality, human rights violations and poverty, global citizenship education has been invoked as a means of preparing youth for an inclusive and sustainable world. In recent years, the development of global citizenship education and the building of students’ global citizenship competencies have become a focal point in global agendas for education, international educational assessments and international organisations. However, the concept of global citizenship education still remains highly contested and subject to multiple interpretations, and its operationalisation in national educational policies proves to be challenging. This volume aims to contribute to the debate, question the relevancy of global citizenship education’s policy objectives and to enhance understanding of local perspectives, ideologies, conceptions and issues related to citizenship education on a local, national and global level. To this end, the book provides a comprehensive and geographically based overview of the challenges citizenship education faces in a rapidly changing global world through the lens of diversity and inclusiveness.
Though certainly not a new idea, citizenship education manifests in unique and often unpredictable ways in our contemporary neoliberal era. The question of what it means to be a productive and recognized citizen must now be understood simultaneously along both global and local lines. This edited volume offers an international perspective on citizenship education enacted in specific socio-political contexts. Each chapter includes a pointed conceptualization of citizenship education—a philosophical framework—that is then applied to specific national cases across Europe, Asia, Canada and more. Chapters emphasize how such frameworks are implemented within local contexts, encouraging particular pedagogical/curricular practices even as they constrain others. Chapters conclude with suggestions for productive change and how educators might usefully engage contemporary contexts through citizenship education.
