Education,Citizenship and Social Justice

This article addresses the following question: What characterizes the mechanisms of political alienation among non-Western immigrant students, and how might these mechanisms be related to student’s acculturation attitudes? A theory of political alienation and acculturation is applied. Substantial quantitative data from Norwegian upper secondary school students reveals that non-Western immigrant students particularly see themselves as less politically involved than their Norwegian counterparts. Interviews were carried out with a selection of immigrant students from different background to explore the reasons for their political alienation. A number of mechanisms in political alienation were found and discussed. The interviews reveal a close link between political alienation, and the immigrant identity and their acculturation processes.

This article explores the relevance of school design in providing an important social-spatial context for promoting citizenship in young people. Drawing on a small-scale study that investigated the perspectives of pupils and teachers, it contrasts the ways in which the social control and monitoring of pupils differed in two secondary schools. Comparing features of everyday life in one new and one old-build school, this study found that school design could either heighten or lessen the need for teacher control of pupils. As a consequence the layout of the schools could enable or restrict young people’s opportunities for self-determination, as well as encourage the normalization of the acceptance of control by others. The implications of this for the production of autonomous and self-governing citizens will be addressed.

In recent years, citizenship education has been the subject of much international attention, including two major cross-national studies. However, few reviews of civic education scholarship include research from post-conflict societies. This omission is notable because post-conflict situations offer distinct challenges to instilling both democratic norms and a sense of social cohesion to ensure democracy and social justice in the future. This paper seeks to address this need, providing a review of research on citizenship education in post-conflict contexts published in English-language journals in order to delineate similarities and differences across such contexts. Findings common to many studies on citizenship education in post-conflict countries include the avoidance of controversial issues, the unique role of ethnicity, a lack of trust in political parties and authoritarianism. Some studies also reported a movement towards global or regional identities and student desire for active citizenship education.

This article compares the English tradition of active citizenship education with the US tradition of service learning. It starts by outlining service learning and noting some of the defining characteristics as well as some of the tensions. It then discusses the model of active citizenship that has been promoted in England’s secondary school curriculum, considering how this has been defined and how it has been implemented. The two traditions are then compared to highlight the substantial areas of overlap between the two models, sharpen some of the distinctions and consider why there have been limited connections between them in practice. This discussion raises several issues that link to foundational questions about the nature, scope and purpose of citizenship education which are discussed in relation to the changed political context in England after the establishment of the coalition government.

In this article, we argue for a purposeful re-introduction of philosophical enquiry to the process and pedagogy of citizenship education. We suggest the development of philosophy and critical thinking skills may usefully improve social and political awareness in young people. Moving beyond the boundary of the formal curriculum, we encourage the development of synergy between the international movement of philosophy for children and the expanding tradition of community philosophy as a means to promote more open and democratic enquiry. We suggest this will produce important benefits for young people, helping to promote responsible judgements on social affairs, develop intergenerational relationships and enhance freedom for the young to think rationally and autonomously as critically informed citizens. However, this is likely to occur only if teachers and schools are more willing and prepared to challenge dominant, reductive notions of education in favour of more active and democratic conceptions of the secondary curriculum.

This qualitative study examines the narratives of 27 new teachers as they grapple with social justice in the context of their classrooms. Informed by pedagogical perspectives regarding social justice education and new teacher mentorship, this research is framed by theories of communities of practice and professional knowledge landscapes. At the time of fieldwork, the participants had all graduated from a teacher education program focused on issues of social justice and were in their first, second or third year of teaching. Analysis of the participants’ narratives, gathered in semi-structured interviews indicates that the realities of teaching assignments, curriculum constraints and professional support either encourage or discourage new teachers from incorporating social justice into their practice. Thus, the extent to which new teachers are able to incorporate social justice into their practice can be related to the material and social conditions in which they are situated.