Critical Citizenship Research Articles

Common open source WebGIS platform for spatial and non-spatial data to enhance health services in Sri Lanka

This study explores the transformative potential and current limitations of Geographic Information Systems (GIS) in the context of Sri Lanka's health sector and broader development initiatives. Despite the global GIS market's expected growth to billions by 2025, driven by its adoption in infrastructure, urban planning, and the integration with emerging technologies, its application in critical areas such as public health, disaster management, and citizen services remains underutilized. This underutilization stems from a lack of ground-level information, limited knowledge of GIS capabilities, restricted access to essential geospatial data, and the high cost of GIS software. This paper discusses the significant hurdles in obtaining updated and comprehensive citizen, household, and health-related information, which impedes effective planning and decision-making within the health sector of Sri Lanka. It further examines the initiatives by the Ministry of Health, supported by the Asian Development Bank, to implement a GIS-based Health Mapping System focused on infrastructure and inventory management of health facilities, yet lacking in integrating critical citizen data for demand analysis of health services. The study underscores the necessity for a comprehensive "Geographical Citizen Information System for the Health Sector in Sri Lanka" akin to those in developed countries, to host, process, and analyze spatial and non-spatial information for enhanced policymaking and development planning. Through an analysis of current challenges and the exploration of potential solutions, this paper advocates for an integrated approach to harness the full capabilities of GIS technologies, thereby enabling more informed and effective governance in Sri Lanka’s Health sector.

Does Perception Determine Knowledge? Evaluation of the Implementation of Historical Thinking as a Factor for Socio-Cultural Sustainability

Historical thinking plays a key role in the education of critical citizens who are committed to the world in which they live. Socio-cultural sustainability promotes respect for one’s own cultural roots (and those of others), averts the consequences of cultural homogenisation and fosters identification with fundamental values and human rights. The main objective of this study is to analyse the consistency between the perception of teaching–learning processes and the historical knowledge of secondary school students following the implementation of a teaching unit based on the methodological theory of historical thinking. A quasi-experimental design with a non-equivalent control group was applied to 93 baccalaureate students (16–18 years of age) from the Region of Murcia (Spain). Two teaching units with different methodologies (experimental and control) were developed and compared. The results show a moderate degree of consistency between perceptions and knowledge in some variables in the analysis of the experimental group. Thus, it can be stated that historical thinking as a methodological theory contributes to promoting the idea of multiculturalism and has good academic results in terms of historical learning. In conclusion, the role of historical thinking as an influential factor in the perception and acquisition of knowledge is clear. In addition, it helps to preserve socio-cultural sustainability via community participation, the promotion of social justice and respect for other cultures.

(Re)shaping politics: displaced people from Ukraine in Prague, political subjectivities, and solidarity relations

ABSTRACT When migrants and displaced people make claims about their rights to be political and become acting political subjects, they challenge conventional notions of political and political communities. Drawing on ethnographic fieldwork conducted in Prague with Ukrainian citizens displaced by the 2022 Russian invasion, this article brings into conversation critical citizenship studies and literature on solidarity with refugees to explore the political acts of displaced Ukrainians and the solidarity practices of local activists. By doing so, the article focuses on the intricate transformations that (re)shape politics in terms of new subjectivities and social relations. When displaced people from Ukraine disrupted presumptions about their political invisibility and formed synergetic solidarity relations with local activists, their actions made new ways of relating and caring possible. This further transformed their political subjectivities from claimants of rights to Czech society (and its institutions) to claimants of rights within Czech society.

Teachers' perceptions of critical thinking and mathematical literacy in main school PISA 2022 regional survey Yogyakarta, Indonesia

To form critical citizens, integrating critical thinking into the school curriculum is a must. Critical thinking is considered a vital skill that can help students tackle problems effectively, improve academic achievement and develop rational thinking. However, there is no agreement among teachers on the definition of this concept or the best way to train students to apply it, especially at the basic education level. Therefore, through a qualitative research approach, this study aims to uncover the views of junior secondary school teachers in the PISA 2022 Main Survey in Yogyakarta, Indonesia, regarding the concept of critical thinking and Mathematical Literacy. Six teachers working in the three schools that were the subject of this survey were interviewed using a semi-structured interview method. Through thematic analysis, this study sought to identify, analyze and report the main findings from the interviews. The results showed that the teachers recognized the importance of reasoning mapping, group discussions and active learning as practices that promote critical thinking and mathematical literacy among students. Although they had previously been exposed to these concepts through project-based learning and 'Philosophy for Kids', they indicated the need for further support through peer learning and the implementation of the 'Philosophy for Kids'.

ALFABETIZAÇÃO E LETRAMENTO: ASPECTOS DA PRÁTICA DOCENTE NAS SÉRIES INICIAIS

The literacy process is an extremely important and fundamental stage for the student’s social and educational integration, especially in contexts where written language is widely valued. This study aims to contribute to the understanding of literacy methods for children in the initial grades of elementary school. The central objective is to analyze the literacy process from the perspective of pedagogical practices, seeking to understand the factors that lead to school failure. To achieve this objective, we used a theoretical foundation based on authors such as Silva e Silva (2018), Santi (2014), Barbosa (2013), Demo (2007), Kleiman (2007), Arelaro (2015), Rego ( 2016), Oliveira (2012), Mello (2015), Mortatti (2016), among others. The methodology adopted was qualitative, involving exploratory reading and selection of relevant materials, with the aim of organizing and synthesizing ideas in order of relevance, facilitating the identification of the essential elements for solving the research problem. Literacy and literacy are complementary processes, and it is essential that innovative pedagogical practices emerge that promote the continuous qualification of literacy teachers. This, in turn, must be in constant development, aware of its responsibility in forming critical citizens committed to society. The study considers that literacy and literacy are distinct, but integrated and interdependent methods, both fundamental for the acquisition of reading and writing by students.

The Democracy I Like: Perceptions of Democracy and Opposition to Democratic Backsliding

Abstract When democracy is under attack, the hope is often that citizens will punish undemocratic incumbents. However, recent studies show that not all citizens punish governments for their undemocratic actions. In this article, we argue that citizens' understanding of and satisfaction with democracy are sources of heterogeneous reactions. In a survey experiment conducted in Germany and Poland, we show that the importance that citizens attach to specific institutions under threat, as well as their understanding of democracy, can explain much of the variance in citizens' responses to undemocratic actions. Citizens are willing to defend what they consider important for democracy – regardless of whether this reflects theoretical conceptions of democracy. Moreover, in times of democratic backsliding, Polish ‘critical citizens’, those who are dissatisfied with the way democracy works in Poland, are more likely to punish governments for undemocratic actions. Our findings help us understand how to increase citizens' resilience against democratic backsliding.

Educação e currículo – Um olhar analítico e crítico

The article "Education and Curriculum: A Critical Look" analyzes the evolution of the educational curriculum, highlighting its interrelationship with social, political, and economic contexts. Through a historical approach, the text examines the transformation of the curriculum from ancient educational practices, such as the trivium and quadrivium, to contemporary proposals that defend an integrated and holistic view of the curriculum. Critical pedagogy is emphasized as a tool to challenge the limitations of traditional education, proposing an inclusive education that promotes social justice. The article concludes that the democratization of the school and the formation of critical citizens will only be possible through a curriculum that integrates theoretical and practical knowledge, elaborated with the active participation of society.

Leitura e escrita acadêmica na formação inicial de professores: Que letramentos?

From a historical perspective on the initial training of teachers in Brazil, a survey of research developed was carried out, locating in articles published in the last two decades the modes of functioning of the school institution, in the continuous movement of learning-teaching-learning reading and academic writing. Historically, Brazil has presented many difficulties in universalizing the learning of reading and writing in a socially significant way. In the direction of the formation of the critical citizen, we discuss the difficulties to make academic reading and writing effective as processes of forming and transforming the condition of citizenship of the Brazilian population. Proceeding with a qualitative approach, the articulation between the lines of investigation of the selected studies, which focused on teacher training, teaching work and the construction of a teacher's professional identity, were analyzed in the defense that being a teacher is to develop a work based on a solid specific training and that initial training courses should also be concerned with teacher professionalization (Nóvoa, 2017). In the case of initial training, it should allow students to go through teaching and learning experiences that are based on the use and reflection of the characteristics of academic writing, so that future teachers know how to deal with the prescriptions inherent to their work context and document their experiences, as the written record becomes part of a routine developed since initial training when the triad reading is adopted, analysis and production of academic texts as a formative and evaluative principle. In this sense, the analyses carried out reveal that academic literacy should permeate the entire initial training of teachers, with objective prescriptions, considering the autonomy of the trainer to plan and replan his classes coherently with his didactic-methodological choices (Mizukami, 2005-2006; 2000), in a political and pedagogical project committed to an education linked to more assertive teaching practices (Gatti, 2014; André et. al., 2010), with academic writing as one of the constitutive elements of a socially referenced quality education.

More (of) Democracy: European Citizens’ Views and Evaluations of Democracy

Social and political theory recognizes several conjunctural, as well as long-term factors that shape how citizens conceptualize democracy and what they expect from it. Based on Round 10 of the European Social Survey, we analyse how Europeans view and evaluate democracy, distinguishing liberal (basic) model and several additions, such as social-democratic, participatory and populist models (that we analyse integrated as alternative model of democracy). We explore whether liberal and alternative models of democracy are mutually complementary or exclusionary, and which model prevails, but also to what extent there are discrepancies between the normative elements and evaluated outcomes. The paper examines whether and how the length of historical experience with democracy (operationalized through different waves of democratization) influences the predominant normative of democracy, as well as evaluations of the implemented standards. Finally, in the last section, the aim of the analysis is to draw conclusions on the profile of both proponents of liberal and alternative models of democracy but also of critical citizens, who value democracy as an ideal, while remaining wary in terms of its empirical manifestations.

Negotiating urban entities: marginalized citizens, participation, and the Indian smart city

ABSTRACT Smart cities in India guarantee the promotion of citizen participation in the urban transformation processes. However, when it comes to marginalized citizens, scholars find urban transformation processes undemocratic and limiting their participation in smart cities. Contrary to this, an emergent form of citizenship among the marginalized in urban transformations beyond digital governance has been highlighted by a few scholars in the Global South, especially India. Hence, this paper contributes to these discourses on postcolonial urban transformations by reflecting on the emergent forms of citizenship, understanding marginalized citizens’ participation, and the challenges they face within Indian smart cities. The study focuses on India's smart city, Bhubaneswar's Socially Smart Bhubaneswar (SSB) Programme, initiated in 2017, focusing on marginalized groups residing in slums. We use Ling and Dale's (2013) social capital and agency lens to explore how marginalized citizens engage with their city's social and spatial transformations. A qualitative thematic content analysis of in-depth interviews and focus group discussions collected from four selected slums of Bhubaneswar was used for the study. We found that the marginalized citizens, through top-down propulsion and constant efforts on bottom-up translation and collectivization, not only became collaborators of the state in urban transformation but also active and critical citizens addressing their community needs. However, marginalized citizens become active and critical in urban transformation, requiring certain manoeuvres. Moreover, if the programmes need to understand the marginalized positionality in the urban transformation and exclude them from becoming a part of the transformation, then bringing social change might not be possible. Thus, the study highlights the potential of commons-driven governance and the need to expand social capital and agency to promote social change and participation of marginalized communities in urban transformation. Highlights Postcolonial urban transformations reveal emergent forms of marginalized citizenship. Marginalized citizen engagement evaluated using social capital and agency lenses. Social capital and agency among the marginalized fostered commons-driven governance. Capacitated nested networks and collectivization foster bottom-up participation. Chatur citizenry (Datta, 2018a) traced within marginalized citizen’s participation.

Global Education and Critical Thinking: A Necessary Symbiosis to Educate for Critical Global Citizenship

Abstract Global Citizenship Education (GCE) is a topic of relevance in current international educational debates, which increasingly focus on the formation of critical citizenship. This makes it necessary to discover from a critical pedagogical perspective the relationships between this pedagogical approach, Critical Thinking (CT), and GCE. Throughout this study, through an extensive theoretical review of the literature, we try to show the characteristics in which critical pedagogy, GCE, and CT converge, giving rise to the Critical GCE towards which we must move today. Therefore, this study is revealing for discovering the path towards which GCE is currently heading by clearly showing the symbiosis between CT and GCE. In conclusion, if we want to educate global citizens, it is necessary not only to have a strong background in GCE but also to develop CT to understand global society critically and the need to act to try to transform the world into one free from oppression and injustice.

Enhancing Students Critical Thinking Skills through Pancasila Student Profile Strengthening Project at SMK Negeri 3 Yogyakarta

This research aims to: 1) Analyze the implementation of the Pancasila Student Profile Project in strengthening the critical thinking character of students; and 2) analyze the inhibiting factors in the implementation of the Pancasila Learner Profile Strengthening Project in strengthening the critical thinking character of students at SMK Negeri 3 Yogyakarta. This research deploys a qualitative research approach with a case study method. The purposeful sampling technique is used in recruiting research participants, and the data collection strategy encompasses observations, interviews, and documentation. The data gathered is validated through triangulation techniques and multiple-source triangulation. The data gathered is analyzed using Miles and Huberman’s models of data reduction, data presentation, and conclusion drawing. The results of this study show: 1) the implementation of the Pancasila Student Profile Strengthening Project (P5) in strengthening the character of critical thinking is integrated with the use of project-based and problem-based learning methods in P5 comprehensive themes. The combination of learning from all themes can develop students’ skills in critical citizenship characteristics; and 2) P5 implementation, internal and external obstacles are miscommunications affecting coordination and implementation. These miscommunications are caused by various factors. Thus, increasing awareness and strong collaboration among each school element are crucial.

Bootstraps, redlines and wage-theft: using Monopoly to critically examine American wealth inequality

Bootstraps, redlines and wage-theft: using Monopoly to critically examine American wealth inequality

Curriculum design for empowered life-preparation and citizenship: A sociological analysis of the evolution of the Mathematical Literacy curricula

The subject Mathematical Literacy (ML) prioritises an interplay of mathematics and real-life contexts in pursuit of an empowerment agenda for improved life opportunities. In seeking to identify processes of inclusion-exclusion afforded by different conceptualisations of this interplay, a network of Bernstein’s theoretical constructs – classification, framing, discourses, and the pedagogic device – are used to analyse how different ML curricula conceptualise the notion of mathematical literacy and the criteria for legitimate communication, knowledge and practice in the subject. This analysis illustrates that despite differences in the formulation of the school subjects ML and Mathematics, enactments of the original ML National Curriculum Statement prioritised heavily mathematised methods in pseudo-realistic contexts. This approach thwarted the critical citizenship agenda of this curriculum and made it possible for ML to be criticised as watered-down mathematics. The analysis then reveals how the current ML Curriculum and Assessment Policy Statement, supported by specific curriculum features, has attempted to overcome these challenges by foregrounding a life-preparedness orientation for empowered self-management and citizenship. This involved weakening the classification of academic and everyday knowledge, strengthening the framing of curriculum specifications, and foregrounding criteria for legitimate communication, knowledge and practice around contextual problem-solving and decision-making. Challenges with this approach are considered.Contribution: The article is relevant to those involved in curriculum, task and lesson design involving an interplay of mathematics and real-life contexts. The article aims to support the current curriculum review process in South Africa by decoding and theorising curriculum features and their impact for facilitating empowered life-preparation.

PLAYFUL ACTIVITIES FOR TEACHING SUSTAINABILITY IN PRIMARY SCHOOL THROUGH EDUCATION 5.0

There has been ample debate about the necessity of departing from content-based educational models to pave the way for an education system that fosters the formation of students as critical citizens actively engaged in shaping society. This study aimed to develop a sequence of playful activities articulating sustainability concepts for primary school students within an Education 5.0 framework. The research was conducted in a public school in São Paulo State, Brazil. The results indicated that the proposed sequence of playful activities served as an effective tool for the teaching–learning of sustainability concepts and, more importantly, prompted reflections on the need for and relevance of socio-environmental awareness in daily life.<p> </p><p><strong> Article visualizations:</strong></p><p><img src="/-counters-/soc/0789/a.php" alt="Hit counter" /></p>

‘J’accuse!’: whistleblowing, critical citizenship and the EU directive on whistleblowers’ protection

ABSTRACT Despite the enactment of legislation on public interest disclosures, whistleblowers still face significant retaliation. Perceptions and expectations of loyalty to a firm, organisation or a government continue to be seen as antithetical to ‘voice’, that is, the disclosure of wrongdoing, thereby triggering strategies of organisational exit and punishment. Real change can occur if whistleblowing is elevated to a civic duty of equal importance to other civic duties, such as to protect and defend the rule of law, human rights and democracy and to report suspected criminality to authorities. In this article, I justify whistleblowing on a good citizenship concept which transcends particular national institutional characteristics and critically examine the content and contribution of the European Union’s Directive on Whistleblower protection. By deploying a tripartite lens blending analytical questions and a discoursive theoretical perspective with a comparative assessment of instruments in the Member States and the EU, the discussion makes the case for the urgent change in the culture of punitive treatment of whistleblowers in the European Union and for further institutional reform when the Directive is reviewed in the future.

Within, beyond, and after citizenship: the interplay between visibility and invisibility among migrants in Patras

ABSTRACT Drawing upon empirical research conducted in Patras in 2015, this paper investigates the multiplicity of visible and invisible practices migrants have employed to challenge, negotiate, or evade the pervasive border regime and (attempt to) claim their freedom of settlement and movement. The paper will make two interrelated contributions. Theoretically, it will critically explore the concepts of ‘acts of citizenship’ and ‘imperceptible politics’ through the lens of visibility to analyse the nuances and differences between them and reinstate their importance in capturing the vitality of migrants’ agency. Empirically, the paper will investigate the interplay of visibility and invisibility both in the development of the European and national border regimes and in the fragmented formation process of a migrant political subjectivity. In capturing and analysing the ever-changing development of migrants’ movements and struggles, as well as their multiple ways of being political through visibility and invisibility within, beyond, and after citizenship, the paper contributes to the ongoing dialogue between two broader bodies of work: Critical Citizenship Studies and Autonomy of Migration.

Transmission, transactional and reflection model: An approach to implementation of citizenship education in Kenya

ABSTRACT Citizenship and Citizenship Education are at the centre of curriculum reform in Kenya. Weak implementation processes have previously watered down similar novel curricular reforms due to a need for an elaborate curriculum implementation model. This article reviews existing Citizenship Education models to develop an effective curriculum implementation model. As a result, the paper formulates the ‘Transmission, Transactional and Reflection’ Citizenship Education curriculum instructional model. Unlike existing models that view the three phases as distinctive independent categories, the current model conceptualises it as a continuous process. The model further specifies the resultant transformation and change to include Disciplined, Participatory and Critical Citizenship. The model is similar to the vision of the basic education curriculum framework, which aims to enable every Kenyan to become an Empowered, Engaged and Ethical citizen. If adopted, this model will improve the implementation of Citizenship Education, instilling requisite citizenship values for effective citizenry.

Being a good citizen in a postcolonial context: Justice-oriented citizenship implications of Nigerian teachers’ civic education ideologies

ABSTRACT Drawing on a Nigerian example and framed around postcolonial theory, this study explored teachers’ conceptions of a good citizen and civic education ideologies in postcolonial hybrid-identity contexts, using qualitative data collected from 21 civic education teachers. Results revealed that personally responsible and participatory citizenship ideologies, along with a communitarian perspective, dominate teachers’ beliefs about good citizenship and civic education, with participation in traditional African sociopolitical systems omitted. Justice-oriented citizenship was rarely emphasized. Teachers’ reference to social change as a civic education goal emphasized individuals’ responsibilities with limited consideration of structural impediments. Lessons learned include that civic education is used to maintain power structures; ethnocentrism, violence, and government’s non-accountability limit teachers’ engagement with critical citizenship; structural violations are excluded from human rights classroom discourses; active participation is centered at national spaces; and teachers frame leadership as the only efficient avenue for meaningful active participation. Consequently, the author recommends a rethinking of critical civic education to incorporate Indigenous civic practices and the realities of challenging asymmetric structures to better position the subject for justice-oriented citizenship and democracy development.

Critique refigured: art, activism, and politics in post‐recession Dublin

AbstractThis article argues that the anthropology of critique has been hampered by an implicit framing of critique as the content of knowledge rather than an orientation to knowledge about the world. It does so building on an ethnographic account of a group of critical citizens in post‐recession Dublin, Ireland. It stages a comparison between two different forms of critique of importance to them: art and activism. Contrary to the assumption that activism and detachment, and moral advocacy and empiricism, are at odds, this ethnographic comparison reveals that here the ultimate critical skill is thought to be the ability to take up different critical attitudes. Moreover, it isn't a lack of detachment but the creation of a ‘critical community’ that makes critique political. Drawing from this ethnographic instance of what counts as critique, this article thus makes a case for an anthropology of critique as itself a critical practice – one that is becoming increasingly urgent as critique as we know it has come to exhibit a hegemony of form in the social sciences and public cultures of debate.