Caring, Sharing and Giving without any Hesitation: Teacher Educators’ Perceptions and Practices of Citizenship Education at Sultan Qaboos University in Oman

Saif Al-Maamari

doi:10.12973/eu-jer.10.3.1437

Abstract

<p style="text-align:justify">Citizenship education has been recognised as a desirable attribute of students both by the educational system and Sultan Qaboos University in Oman. The aims of citizenship education will be difficult to achieve unless teacher educators incorporate citizenship education as a main outcome of their courses. Yet, that mainly depends on their understanding of the meaning of citizenship and what the component is that they ought to develop. The current article aims to analyse the perceptions of teacher educators about citizenship and their related teaching practices. Study adopted a qualitative method to collect the data by interviewing five teacher educators from college of education, Sultan Qaboos University. The findings showed that those educators associated citizenship with patriotism and a personally responsible vision of citizenship. In addition, they reported limited practices pertinent to citizenship education and clearly expressed their need for professional development in citizenship education. </p>

Highlights

Since the beginning of the 21st century, there has been a worldwide surge of interest in citizenship education (CE)
The findings showed the necessity of equipping the student teachers with a set of citizenship values such as national loyalty, social work and belonging to the country
The findings of the study are presented according to the emerging themes that were generated by the interviews: citizenship is communitarian and patriotic feelings, CE is not an integral component of teacher educators (TEs), independent course is the suitable approach for CE and Professional development is necessary for TEs

Summary

Introduction

Since the beginning of the 21st century, there has been a worldwide surge of interest in citizenship education (CE) This concept has continued to occupy a large space in education literature, especially in Western and Asian contexts, where much of the recently published studies were conducted. This interest in CE has been sparked by national and international transformations and translated in several ways, such as by introducing courses on CE and programmes and initiatives at school in several countries. Some education faculties' vision goals related to preparing their future teachers for CE This is not the case at the Faculty of Education at the Sultan Qaboos University (SQU), which is situated in Muscat, the capital of Oman. There is some empirical evidence on the CE status with regard to teacher education (AlMaamari, 2009), we still know little about how CE is perceived and practiced by the teacher educators (TEs) in Oman

Methods

Results

Discussion

Conclusion