Citizenship In England Research Articles

Localising linguistic citizenship in England

AbstractWhat's the relevance of ‘Linguistic Citizenship' (LC), a concept developed in southern Africa, to language education in England? LC is committed to democratic participation and voice, to linguistic diversity and the value of sociolinguistic understanding (Stroud 2001), and it provides a framework for contesting linguistic conditions in England, where vernacular multilingualism faces monolingual language education policies and an officially ‘hostile environment for migrants'. In fact, LC lines up with four sources of opposition to this: civil society and small-scale community organisations cultivating heritage language multilingualism; experience of system-wide ‘hospitality to diversity' in education in England in the 1970s & 1980s; c.50 years of linguistics research in Britain; and universities themselves. Drawing on LC's pedigree in sociolinguistics, we then turn to the Hub for Education & Language Diversity, a collaboration between King's and non-profit language organisations which approaches LC as a multi-dimensional programme of language development. This includes BA & MA classes; teacher training (with resonant concepts like ‘diasporic local'); and efforts to broaden ideas about university ‘impact’. Overall, Linguistic Citizenship invites us to reassess the lie of the land in language education, and suggests an array of practical but principled initiatives at different points of the language teaching/university interface.

Virtues, values and the fracturing of civic and moral virtue in citizenship education policy in England

ABSTRACT This paper analyses the fracturing of civic and moral virtue within curricular policies pertaining to Citizenship in England since the late 1990s. A longstanding aim of education and schooling, the teaching of citizenship gained a more secure base in the English curriculum with the introduction of Citizenship as a statutory subject for 11–16 years olds from 2002, which owed a great deal to the Report of the Advisory Group on Education for Citizenship and the Teaching of Democracy in Schools (Crick Report). The report drew intimate connections between civic virtue, moral virtue, and personal character. These connections have become seriously fractured over the years since the Crick Report. In charting this fracturing, the paper will examine how the character-influenced direction taken in the early/mid-2000s was replaced by, at first, a more general emphasis on British Values before morphing into a more specific, though no less problematic, concentration on Fundamental British Values. While character education has gained significant policy attention in England over the last six years, the civic dimensions have been at best underplayed, with little connection to education for citizenship. It is argued that without greater clarity and consistency about how the moral – including moral virtues – intersects with the civic in contemporary Britain, official curricular policy (whether for Citizenship education, character education or more generally) will restrict rather than encourage the education of young citizens who are informed, wise, responsible and active participants in their communities.

Lawyers for the Poor: Legal Advice, Voluntary Action and Citizenship in England, 1890–1990, by Kate Bradley

Lawyers for the Poor: Legal Advice, Voluntary Action and Citizenship in England, 1890–1990, by Kate Bradley

Lawyers for the Poor: Legal Advice, Voluntary Action, and Citizenship in England, 1890-1990. By Kate Bradley

<i>Lawyers for the Poor: Legal Advice, Voluntary Action, and Citizenship in England, 1890-1990</i>. By Kate Bradley

Does university have an effect on young people\u2019s active citizenship in England?

Educational attainment measured by years of education has been widely reported as leading to higher levels of political participation. The theory is that education plays an important role in a person’s civic skills and cognitive capacity that helps them understand and connect with the world of politics and be able to defend their interests (Nie et al. 1996). However, a number of studies argue that education has no effect on political engagement as educational attainment has been identified as a proxy for socioeconomic background and cognitive ability. In order to examine whether the university has an effect on young people’s intentions for active citizenship in England, hybrid cumulative logit models are used in the Citizenship Education Longitudinal Study (CELS) 2009–2014 with between and within effects which help explain differences between individuals and within individuals at different time points. Control measures of previous citizenship education are also included in the analysis. We find that the university has a positive independent effect on intentions to vote, a negative effect on intentions to volunteer, but not on intentions to protest in the future for young people in England. These findings help clarify the role of higher education (HE) in developing and maintaining democracy and social cohesion.

National Curriculum for Citizenship in England: Social Foundations, Strands and Essential Elements

Ingiltere’de vatandaslik dersi her ne kadar 2002 yilindan itibaren Ulusal Programda zorunlu dersler arasinda yer alsa da 2010 yilinda yapilan degisiklikle okullar bu dersi kendi istedikleri sekilde uygulayabilmektedir. Bu durum, vatandaslik dersini farkli ogretim programi ve uygulamalarin goruldugu her bir okula ozgu olan bir derse donusturmustur. Bu calismanin amaci, Londra’da ziyaret edilen uc ilkogretim okulundaki farkli vatandaslik ogretim programlarinin toplumsal temellerini, ortak boyutlarini ve temel bilesenlerini degerlendirmektir. Bu calisma, nitel bir arastirma olup arastirmada dokuman incelemesi yontemi kullanilmistir. Calisma kapsaminda; Crick Raporu (1998), 2002 programi, Ajegbo Raporu (2007), 2008 programi, 2014 programi ve uc okulun ogretim programi belgeleri incelenmistir. Arastirma bulgularina bakildigi zaman, okullarda her ne kadar bir birinden farklilasan programlar uygulansa da vatandaslik ogretim programlarinin ortak dort boyutunun oldugu anlasilmaktadir. Bunlar; haklar ve sorumluluklar, toplumsal katilim, hukumet ve demokrasi, kimlikler ve farkliliklar. Bunlarin yaninda; kavramlar, degerler ve egilimler, beceri ve yetenekler olmak uzere programlarin uc temel bileseni vardir. Bu boyutlar ve temel bilesenler, 2010 ve sonrasinda yapilan degisikliklere ragmen, okullarin Crick Raporu (1998) ve Ajegbo Raporu (2007)’nun vatandaslik egitimi ile ilgili onerilerini takip ettiklerini gostermesi bakimindan onemlidir. Ayrica, vatandaslik egitiminin ilk kez zorunlu olmasinda ve sonrasinda programda yapilan degisikliklerde, donemin toplumsal gelismelerinin belirgin bir sekilde programin boyutlarini etkiledigi gorulmustur.

What are the gender, class and ethnicity of citizenship? A study of upper secondary school students’ views on Citizenship Education in England and Sweden

The purpose of this article is to examine and compare how the ethnicity, gender and social class conditions of citizenship influence, and are understood by, teachers and secondary school students in England and Sweden. The intention is also to compare how conditions of citizenship are dealt with in social studies for upper secondary school in England and Sweden. The relationship between students education and real conditions for citizenship is complex and partly differs between, as well as within, the two countries. The present comparative examination and analysis aims to visualize both specific and common conditions of citizenship in England and Sweden. This is to draw attention to how the meaning of frequently used terminology and images in the field of Citizenship Education do not always coincide with teachers’ and students’ own opinions and perceived meanings. By doing this we hope to contribute some new knowledge regarding one of the most difficult challenges that citizenship education is struggling with, whether the provided knowledge and values prepare todays youth to defend and develop future democratic and just societies. To achieve this, we have conducted a number of interviews with teachers and secondary school students and asked them about their experiences and opinions regarding Citizenship Education and the nature of citizenship. The following main questions were central to the interviews:&#x0D; &#x0D; What knowledge and skills does a citizen need in a democracy and how is the meaning of citizenship connected to gender, class and ethnicity?&#x0D; How are personal liberties affected by the citizen’s gender, class and ethnicity according to the respondents?&#x0D; What are teachers’ and students’ experiences of Citizenship Education and how does school pay attention to citizens´ conditions based on gender, class and ethnicity?&#x0D; &#x0D; In recent years, both public debate and published research have shown that, in order to understand the real meanings of citizenship, it is necessary to understand and interpret formal citizenship rights and responsibilities from individuals’ social and cultural conditions as characterised by gender, ethnicity and social class. During the 2000s, the Swedish National Agency for Education (Skolverket) presented recurrent reports that shows how socio-economic background, in combination with foreign background, are crucial for pupils school results. The reports also show how segregation between schools and residential areas has increased on the basis of residents socio-economic and ethnic background. This group of students are a part of tomorrows citizens, which are also likely to remain marginalized even as adults. The links between Swedish school policy, pupils school results and the democratic development of society at large has been observed and analysed in contemporary Swedish research.&#x0D; In England, the picture is slightly different with the 7 per cent of the population who experience private education being over-represented in positions of power and influence. In May 2012, the then Secretary of State for Education Michael Gove provided a list of leaders in the arts, sciences, politics, sports, journalism, entertainment and other fields who had all been to independent schools, concluding that&#x0D; “the sheer scale, the breadth and the depth, of private school dominance of our society points to a deep problem in our country . . . Those who are born poor are more likely to stay poor and those who inherit privilege are more likely to pass on privilege in England than in any comparable county.”&#x0D; There is significant evidence that socio-economic background, in combination with ethnic background, continue to be highly influential on pupils school results. Links between national education policy, social class and pupils school results appear to remain entrenched in England. &#x0D; When we identify cultural and social conditions as in any way hindering the status of citizenship, we do so from a perspective which does not seek to blame the less powerful for holding particular cultural perceptions but which recognises the barriers a dominant culture sets against those with less power. The insight that tells us it is necessary to comprehend individuals’ social and cultural conditions in order to understand and interpret their formal citizenship rights and responsibilities is not, however, particularly recent. Marx wrote over 160 years ago that, “if you assume a particular civil society . . . you will get particular political conditions”, from which it must follow that any society divided on the grounds of class, ethnicity and gender will present political conditions which reflect such divisions. It is also the case that there is likely to be a significant space between what is (the real) and what is perceived (the formal); just because there is inequality it does not follow that everyone is aware of that inequality.

“A Nation Depends on Its Children”: School Buildings and Citizenship in England and Wales, 1900–1939

AbstractCalls for a renewed sense of “good citizenship” in the early twentieth century were loud and persistent. Especially important in the citizenship quest was the creation of healthy and efficient children, cured of urban maladies and loyal to a wide notion of community. Such attributes were seen as vital in an economically and militarily competitive world. Historians have already examined the sorts of political and bodily education that arose from these concerns. This article instead looks at how the focus on the body and citizenship was realized in the actual processes of school building. From the medical discourses that underpinned the design of heating, lighting, and ventilation systems, to the emerging focus on the sensory environment of the classroom, the materiality of the school was essential to creating the “good citizen”—physically fit, economically productive, and loyal to the nation.

Friendship and Tyranny in the Writings of Sir Thomas More

The essay analyzes the themes of friendship and tyranny in Thomas More’s writings. The essay begins with a consideration of three major classical sources on friendship and tyranny, and then examines More’s writings in light of these sources. The essay proposes that More’s writings manifest both his understanding of tyranny and his understanding of the author as prospective friend of the reader, the two potentially united in a common project to bring about the renascence of learning, friendship, and especially wise and virtuous citizenship in England. More’s lifelong opposition to tyranny, then, stands revealed as surprisingly yet naturally connected to his understanding and presentation of himself as author and potential friend of the reader.

Civic patriotism as a legitimate aim of education for citizenship in England

The concept of patriotism (as opposed to National Identity) has received little attention in the literature and discourse surrounding education for citizenship in English schools. In seeking to address this gap, a case is made here in favour of the teaching and promotion of patriotic attachment based on the substantive notion of 'civic patriotism'. As such, an attempt is made to counter the suggestion that teaching for patriotism is outside of the legitimate aims of education and education for citizenship. Attention is also given to fruitful areas of deliberation regarding the curricular content and processes through which this form of patriotism might be taught.

Exploring good character and citizenship in England

Citizenship, character and the virtues that constitute both are increasingly concerns of public policy in the UK. This article understands character to encompass the morally valuable, reason-response and education part of personality, and understands virtues as states of character concerned with praiseworthy feelings and conduct in specific spheres of human life. We adopt a broad and permissive view of these terns and explore linkages together with how our research shows that good citizenship requires good people of character.

Critical citizenship education in England and France: a comparative analysis

The promotion of ‘critical citizenship’ has become a key objective of official school curricula around the world. Using an analytic framework developed by the authors, this paper identifies the diverse conceptions of critical citizenship that are promoted, by comparing the official school curricula for citizenship in England and France. The analysis goes beyond the dichotomous distinctions prevalent in comparisons of education in the two countries, especially those that focus on the contrasting degrees of centralisation–decentralisation, and suggests that there were significant differences in the goals promoted in their curricula with regard to four key dimensions: ideology, the collective, the individual and action. While these differences reflect historical, political, social, economic and cultural differences between the two nations, the analysis indicates a lack of symmetry across the levels of the curriculum, which contributed to the significant spaces that were found to exist which have the potential for teachers and students to creatively interpret how critical citizenship can be understood and implemented in the classroom.

The implementation of ‘Education for Citizenship’ in schools in Scotland: a research report

Changes in society and government have increased concerns of low participation and involvement by people, especially the young, in the political process and decision‐making. As a result, citizenship has become a focus of recent curriculum developments in many countries. In Scotland, ‘Values and Citizenship’ has been made one of the Scottish Executive's national priorities for education and is linked to the major national initiative, ‘Education for Citizenship’. This is seen as encouraging pupils to make informed choices and decisions and to take action, individually and as part of the community. More recently, A curriculum for excellence 3–18 (SEED 2004) placed promoting responsible citizenship at the heart of the curriculum. This article reports on the extent to which a sample of Scottish schools was making progress towards developing education for citizenship, the strategies they developed and the barriers encountered in this implementation. It compares progress and developments in Scotland to the model devised in a longitudinal study for citizenship in England (Ireland et al. 2004, 2006).

Revolution, What Revolution? Contextual Issues in Citizenship Education in Schools in England

This article sets out some of the key obstacles facing the successful implementation of education for democratic citizenship in England in the light of claims about its radical potential. It argues that citizenship is indeed not like other subjects because it has wider implications for the purposes of schooling and the way that schools and classrooms are organised. It discusses evidence of progress on the implementation of citizenship education and then considers a series of serious structural impediments to its radical potential that exist within the wider education system - teacher supply and the nature of teacher education; curricular issues including the national curriculum, teaching controversial issues and the role of Personal, Health and Social education; school councils and racism. It concludes by noting that a curriculum innovation such as citizenship needs considerable time to become embedded and develop in an education system but that possible political change poses a significant threat to its continued existence.

Citizenship education in England and Wales: theoretical critique and practical considerations

This paper presents a theoretical critique of citizenship education in England and Wales, as a means of raising pedagogical considerations for teachers, and policy issues for curriculum makers and planners. Drawing on a range of recent empirical studies, we construct an analysis of practice and suggest that differences between dominant models of citizenship in England and Wales owe much to their histories. We suggest that such differences create opportunities for new curriculum‐making practices as well as democratic possibilities in the context of citizenship education, at a time when curricula in both England and Wales are under revision. Considering school councils/forums as an exemplar of practice common to both contexts, we question the wisdom of schools employing a narrow conception of active citizenship, via forums, in order to demonstrate they are satisfying the relevant requirements of the Order for Citizenship in England, and aspects of the Personal and Social Education curriculum in Wales. While the exemplars are both from the UK context the arguments apply beyond these borders and to more general concerns regarding the development of global citizenship.

Active learning for active citizenship: participatory approaches to evaluating a programme to promote citizen participation in England

Just as the notion of participatory approaches has been subjected to questioning and criticism, so has the more specific notion of participatory approaches to monitoring and evaluation. There are parallel possibilities of tokenism and even of manipulation, here, just as there are parallels around the need for more critical reflection and dialogue. Even if not actually manipulative, participatory evaluation can involve little more than the occasional use of particular techniques from a participatory toolkit. This article draws upon our experiences of evaluating a participatory programme to promote active citizenship in England, starting from our shared commitment to achieve more than this. Building upon principles and experiences of best practice, the aim was to use participatory principles ‘in order to democratise social change’ (Cousins and Whitmore, 1998.7), addressing the challenges of putting participatory principles into practice right from the outset, through to the completion of the final report. We begin by summarising key arguments from previous debates. This sets the context for the discussion of our case study, as evaluators of this particular programme. Finally, we conclude by reflecting upon our experiences of working with some of the tensions inherent in the processes associated with participatory monitoring and evaluation, identifying similarities with as well as differences from Kate Newman’s conclusions, on the basis of her experiences in the global South.

Without prejudice: an exploration of religious diversity, secularism and citizenship in England1 (with particular reference to the state funding of Muslim faith schools and multiculturalism)

This article aims to explore religious diversity and its implications for schools in England, with particular reference to the state funding of Muslim schools and multiculturalism. Recent demonstrations in France and England against the proposed ban on the wearing of religious symbols such as the Muslim headscarf (hijab) have brought to the fore the centrality of religion in the collective identity of ethnic minorities, particularly those of South Asian origins. This collective identity is now being fractured in the wake of the July 2005 bombings in London. Using a socio‐cultural approach, this article focuses on the implications of the above for secularism and citizenship in England and in particular on the state funding of Muslim faith schools following the Prime Minister, Tony Blair’s, recent statement that the rules of the game are changing. The article concludes that secularism and citizenship in schools are not best served by the state funding of faith schools and suggests some of the ways in which schools can incorporate the wealth and diversity of its diasporic citizens.

Active Citizenship and Effective Public Services and Programmes: How Can We Know What Really Works?

This paper is a review of the aims and practice of active citizenship in England. It sets out the key concepts and gives an account of the developing policy agenda in crime, regeneration and housing, education, health and local government. It reviews the current state of scientific knowledge in this area, in particular summarising research commissioned by the Home Office Civil Renewal Research Programme, 2004-05. Whilst the research findings show the positive contribution of government initiatives in this area, a key theme that emerges is that the policy context and the causal relationships are often more complex than advocates sometimes claim.

Education for citizenship in England's secondary schools: a critique of current principle and practice

This article presents a critique of both the underlying philosophy and the subsequent implementation of the 1998 Crick Report. It is argued that the conceptual weaknesses and contradictions of the Report's model of citizenship education have contributed to the ineffective adoption of the subject into the secondary school curriculum. In particular, the Crick Report presents an abstract view of citizenship that is divorced from its institutional and structural context. The Report fails to address adequately how the following issues impact upon citizenship education: diversity in secondary school provision; social exclusion; changing conceptions of the political, and the appropriate form of delivery for the subject. The negative consequences of the failure to consider these issues in sufficient depth is demonstrated through a synthesis of a range of current research critical of the Crick Report's implementation.

Delinquency, Masculinity and Citizenship in England 1950–1970*

Delinquency, Masculinity and Citizenship in England 1950–1970*