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- Volume 7, Issue 1, 2011
Citizenship Teaching & Learning - Volume 7, Issue 1, 2011
Volume 7, Issue 1, 2011
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Constructions of national narratives in established and emerging democracies based on student survey responses
Authors: Sara A. Levy, Patricia G. Avery and Annette M. M. SimmonsThis study examines national narratives constructed by the authors based on survey responses of students (n=3273) from nine Central and Eastern European (CEE) countries and the United States. Students were asked to name events and heroes important to their nations' pasts. The authors used a framework based on the work of James Wertsch to construct and interpret the national narratives. Findings indicate that there was a high level of agreement between the students of each country about their national stories. In addition to the high level of agreement about what events and people belonged in the story of the nations, the narratives described by the students all fall within the mainstream national narratives of each country. Further analysis reveals the uniqueness of each of the CEE nations' post-communist paths. The ways in which all students understand the relationships between the distant and more recent pasts give insight into the ways in which the narratives of these nations are being reshaped.
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The provision of citizenship education in Arab contexts
More LessSince the early 1990s, citizenship education has occupied a high profile in educational policies worldwide. Yet, this area has not received similar attention in Arabic countries as has been shown by some studies that have until now focused on this area. This article is a first attempt to review the available literature in order to provide some indicators and insights regarding the current provision of citizenship education (CE) in Arab contexts. Specifically, the article starts by providing a brief geographical overview about Arab contexts and highlighting the right of education as one of citizenship rights. This followed by discussing some difficulties about studying education in Arab contexts. Then debates about the meanings of citizenship and CE and its aims will be presented. After that, the approaches of introducing citizenship education, its content and how it is delivered were discussed. The article ends by raising some challenges and drawing some conclusions.
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Defining literacy and citizenship: Official language arts curricula in the United States and France
More LessSince the early 1990s, statewide curriculum standards have become the lynchpin of education reforms in almost every state in the United States. The quality of these standards, however, has been little studied, particularly outside math and science. To fill this gap, this article describes the content of the new language arts standards promulgated by one leader of standards-based reform in the United States, the Massachusetts Department of Education, in comparison with those set forth by the French Ministry of Education. The role of differing conceptions of citizenship in each curriculum is discussed.
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Citizenship education in Scandinavian multicultural schools: A comparative study of students and teachers perceptions
By Heidi BisethIncreasing demographic diversity in urban areas brings forth a query on how the educational systems manage to promote democratic virtues suited for a multicultural society. Through a qualitative study in fourteen schools in the Scandinavian capitals, information is collected from both educators and students. In comparing their perspectives on how the educators and the school environments provide for and nurture civic development, the study suggests that students find educators who only to a limited extent manage to utilize the asset of diversity in citizenship education. In a socially and politically difficult environment, the minority students of this study risk marginalization as future citizens, not to any large degree in the attention of the custodians of democracy, the educators.
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Introducing pre-service citizenship teachers to the design and implementation of focus days to enhance their professional learning
More LessMuch attention has been give to the comparative efficacy of a range of approaches to the delivery of citizenship education in England. A recent inspection report expressed concern about a perceived over-reliance on collapsed timetable days (referred to here as focus days) as one such mode of delivery. The effectiveness of focus day planning and delivery is considered in this article by scrutinizing the purpose(s), activities and outcomes on a post graduate pre-service programme for citizenship teachers in which such activities form a central theme. The motivation and aims behind the inclusion of focus day planning is clarified and the extent to which these aims are met is discussed. The discussion is informed by data collected from teachers with whom the pre-service students liaised regarding the impact of the focus days on the schools where they took place, and their immediate and longer-term impact on the student teachers who were involved. Most of the aims were found to be met and student and experienced teachers identified several benefits of the activity.
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