Citizenship in Education

 

Are We Failing Future Citizens?

*this is a short paper I wrote in 2015, that I still believe is relevant today, and would like to see more research done.

While citizen education in schools may not be making headlines or be Oprah worthy, there is some discussion happening in the circle of curricularists and educators alike. The essay, The Cult of Citizenship Education, written by Alan M. Sears and Emery J. Hyslop-Margison (2006), tackles some of the issues surrounding the zeitgeist of citizenship education as we experience it today.

The main essence of the essay hearkens an idea of a panic surrounding the citizenship trajectory of youth today. Broken into four ‘crisis’ the authors’ outline each of these, breaking them down and discrediting the overriding theory each crisis holds as truth.

The first, ‘the language crisis’, attributes an almost propagandist motivation to slogans such as ‘civic deficit’ and phrases like ‘appalling ignorance’ to how the youth are being described in a citizenship arena. The second, ‘crisis of ignorance’ is obvious for its title and debunked by the authors’, citing that ‘…Canadians’ lack of historical knowledge is not novel but has concerned educators and policymakers for more than a hundred years’ (p.18). The next crisis involves ‘alienation’, specifically of today’s youth. However, in looking deeper, Sears and Hyslop-Marginson found a myriad of political and community involvement among youth, albeit somewhat removed from the realm of ‘…formal political process’ (p.19). The last ‘crisis’ is that of agnosticism, questioning whether the youth of today are rejecting basic, “…democratic values?” (p. 19). The reality, however, as outlined by the authors’ “… is far more complex than typically understood” (p. 20).

In the recommendations given by Sears and Hyslop-Marginson, it is apparent that connection to, and involvement with meaningful and real situations is what will allow the students to “…cultivate a far greater sense of political voice” (p. 21). While teachers need to ‘… understand the fundamental importance of fostering participatory dispositions in schools  (p. 21). These suggestions may serve to alleviate some of the perceived crisis within the domain of citizen education.

This pedagogy of connecting students to the real world rings true in multiple examples. The current new British Columbia Curriculum encourages “…teachers to create courses, modules, thematic units or learning experiences that go beyond learning area borders to focus on students’ needs and interests or local contexts […] and flexibility to serve the unique needs of classrooms, students, and teachers.” (British Columbia Ministry of Education, 2015). While these platitudes show a growing movement toward inquiry-based learning, the new curriculum still does not fully address the concerns of certain critics who say there is an “…extraordinarily weak commitment in Canada to democratic citizenship education” (Sears & Hughes, 2010).

In 2007 the BC Ministry of Education led a needs assessment for grades 8-12 Social Studies curriculum. It found concerns with citizenship and law education within our public schools (British Columbia Ministry of Education, 2007) A website and attached curriculum packages were created in response. This website, titled Being An Active Citizen (British Columbia Ministry of Education, 2010), offers these teacher resource packages for Social Studies 7-11. These are in supplement to the curriculum that was in place at the time. These supplements seem to be relevant still, as the new curriculum in BC, does not seem to address the issues found in the 2007-2010 needs assessment (British Columbia Ministry of Education, 2015). These supplemental packages include a myriad of resources for the active engagement of the student in civic life, including mock trials and volunteering locally. (Teaching Resource section, para. 3)

In a longitudinal study (Cleaver, Ireland, Kerr & Lopes, 2005), researchers found more support for Sears and Hyslop-Margison (2006) suggestion of “fostering participatory dispositions” (p. 22). This longitudinal study goes on to say,

…that schools have the potential to have an even greater influence in the future, particularly if the trajectory of students’ development of citizenship dimensions over time proves to be correct. If students feel a greater sense of belonging to the school community with age, and at the same time they show a maturing sophistication of views, greater interest in politics and increased use of the media, then the school has the potential to take this understanding and provide increased opportunities for students’ to participate and engage actively in the school community and to develop student’s voice. (Cleaver et al., 2005, p. 61)

While it seems most of these ideas of ‘crisis’ can be argued away, what still remains is the persistent echoing of research pointing educators toward “encourage(ing) active learning approaches” (Cleaver et al., 2005). This is especially true if we are trying to promote and stimulate the active citizen within each student. It is not enough to preach, lecture or even provide examples through engaging movies and media movements. Cleaver et. al, reminds educators will need to, “Consider how to involve students more fully in the running of schools, beyond school councils, and in the negotiation of their teaching and learning experiences particularly as they progress through the school.” (2005, p. 61).

Yet, there is another caveat to this dialogue of crisis in citizenship education. The role of the teacher, while it has not been ignored, has deeper implications. “What teachers know and do is one of the most important influences on what students learn” (Darling-Hammond, 1998, p.6). Yes: modelling, practice + pedagogy. This sentiment is either a major cause for concern or useful leverage in good citizenship education. This is also discussed at length with regard to ‘complementary curriculum’, which is described as each teacher’s identity and integrity. (Moroye, 2009). While this does not make teasing out an ideal action to this perceived crisis in civic education, it does add an important layer to consider.

Upon further investigation into this body of discourse we call citizenship education, it becomes apparent how cloudy the waters really are. As dire as some scholars would have us believe the situation on civic education really is (Hughes & Sears, 2010, p.7), the front lines (classrooms) do not seem fraught with activity. While it is true the youth vote in the 2011 federal election was at a low of 38%, with the reason for not voting being; “My vote wouldn’t make any difference” (Elections Canada, 2011), can educators, or policymakers truly say we have a grasp on the crux of this issue? Is the youth vote even a good measure of successful citizenship education? If not, what is a good measure? Certainly, it must come down to what our definition of citizenship in the 21st century is? So should we panic, is the crisis real? Or maybe the crisis is really just a lack of action?

In the confines of this short essay, these questions were not answered, however, any discourse on citizen education should at least pose these questions to the reader. And with these questions, further dialogue and inquiry can flourish.

References 

British Columbia Ministry of Education. (2007). Social Studies Curriculum (Grades 8 to 12) Needs Assessment: Executive Summary. Victoria: Ministry of Education.

British Columbia Ministry of Education. (2010).  Being An Active Citizen: Law,   Government and Community Engagement in BC. 

British Columbia Ministry of Education. (2015). Introduction to British Columbia’s Redesigned Curriculum. Retrieved from: https://curriculum.gov.bc.ca/sites/curriculum.gov.bc.ca/

Cleaver E., Ireland E., Kerr D. & Lopes J. (2005). Citizenship Education Longitudinal  Study: Second Cross-Sectional Survey 2004. Listening to Young People: Citizenship Education in England. Berkshire: National Foundation for  Educational Research.

Darling-Hammond L. (1998). Teachers and teaching: Testing hypotheses from a National  Commission Report. Educational Researcher, 27(1), 5-15.

Elections Canada. (2011). National Youth Survey Report. Retrieved from   http://www.elections.ca/content.aspx?section=res&dir=rec/part/nysr&document=  p3&lang=e

Hughes A. & Sears A. (2010) Citizenship education: Canada dabbles while the world plays on. Education Canada 46(4), 6-9.

Moroye C. (2013). Complimentary curriculum: The work of ecologically minded teachers. In Flinders D., & Thornton S. (Eds.), The Curriculum Studies Reader: Fourth Edition. (379-398). New York: Routledge.

Sears A. & Hyslop-Margison E. (2006) The cult of citizenship education. In Richardson   G. & Blades D. (Eds.), Troubling the Canon of Citizenship Education (13-24). New York: Peter Lang Publishing Inc.