Trends and Dilemmas in Citizenship Education

This article elaborates some important trends and discussions in citizenship education. It seems that there are strong arguments from scientific scholars which express opposition to a focus on only formal facts and democratic procedures in the teaching of citizenship education. This approach is also...

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Main Author: Trond Solhaug
Format: Article
Language:Danish
Published: Karlstads Universitet 2013-08-01
Series:Nordidactica: Journal of Humanities and Social Science Education
Subjects:
Online Access:http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:kau:diva-28297
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author Trond Solhaug
author_facet Trond Solhaug
author_sort Trond Solhaug
collection DOAJ
description This article elaborates some important trends and discussions in citizenship education. It seems that there are strong arguments from scientific scholars which express opposition to a focus on only formal facts and democratic procedures in the teaching of citizenship education. This approach is also criticized by students for its meaninglessness and irrelevance. There also seems to be relative agreement that democracies are being challenged for various reasons, that school plays an important role in citizenship education, that republicanism is the preferred framework, and that students construct their own views of the world (constructivist learning processes). Despite this rather general agreement, there remain quite a few important dilemmas and also disagreements in the field of citizenship education. Among these are: the conceptualization of democracy, the knowledge to be presented, adopting a national versus a global perspective, the maturity of young citizens regarding the question of multiculturalism, and approaches to teaching (particularly providing room for criticism). These and other dilemmas are discussed, and a summary of recommendations is put forward.
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spelling doaj.art-0acd044ec28740639a077ad63ca5e93b2022-12-21T21:43:17ZdanKarlstads UniversitetNordidactica: Journal of Humanities and Social Science Education2000-98792013-08-0120132013:1180200Trends and Dilemmas in Citizenship EducationTrond SolhaugThis article elaborates some important trends and discussions in citizenship education. It seems that there are strong arguments from scientific scholars which express opposition to a focus on only formal facts and democratic procedures in the teaching of citizenship education. This approach is also criticized by students for its meaninglessness and irrelevance. There also seems to be relative agreement that democracies are being challenged for various reasons, that school plays an important role in citizenship education, that republicanism is the preferred framework, and that students construct their own views of the world (constructivist learning processes). Despite this rather general agreement, there remain quite a few important dilemmas and also disagreements in the field of citizenship education. Among these are: the conceptualization of democracy, the knowledge to be presented, adopting a national versus a global perspective, the maturity of young citizens regarding the question of multiculturalism, and approaches to teaching (particularly providing room for criticism). These and other dilemmas are discussed, and a summary of recommendations is put forward.http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:kau:diva-28297 DEMOCRACYCITIZENSHIP EDUCATIONTEACHER DILEMMAS
spellingShingle Trond Solhaug
Trends and Dilemmas in Citizenship Education
Nordidactica: Journal of Humanities and Social Science Education
DEMOCRACY
CITIZENSHIP EDUCATION
TEACHER DILEMMAS
title Trends and Dilemmas in Citizenship Education
title_full Trends and Dilemmas in Citizenship Education
title_fullStr Trends and Dilemmas in Citizenship Education
title_full_unstemmed Trends and Dilemmas in Citizenship Education
title_short Trends and Dilemmas in Citizenship Education
title_sort trends and dilemmas in citizenship education
topic DEMOCRACY
CITIZENSHIP EDUCATION
TEACHER DILEMMAS
url http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:kau:diva-28297
work_keys_str_mv AT trondsolhaug trendsanddilemmasincitizenshipeducation