Narrative learning for democratic citizenship identity: a theoretical framework

Abstract

Scholars in different fields have theorised about the value of narrative learning and narrative education for advancing components of civic professional and worldview development. Whilst research into the theory and practice of narrative learning is more widespread in adult and religious education, it is still scarce in the area of democratic citizenship education. This article reports a theoretical social scientific inquiry into the key characteristics of narrative democratic citizenship education. After defining the key elements of narrative learning and the educational philosophy this study is based on, it elaborates on four modes of narrative learning in democratic citizenship education: learning from narratives; learning in the process of narrating; learning by recognising personal and cultural narratives; and learning by locating these narratives. It then illustrates how each mode of narrative learning can contribute to advancing democratic citizenship identity and cultural narratives on good citizenship and the good society. Building on this framework and the work of educational researchers who specialise in civics or narrative learning, the article concludes with a discussion of the desirability of employing narrative learning to cultivate citizenship identity in formal education.