Future Citizens Research Articles

Role of Swachh Vidyalaya in Promoting Sustainable Development: A Case Study of the Schools of West Bengal

The quality of human life depends on the quality of the human environment. It is essential to have a healthy environmental condition for the survival of the human being. Cleanliness is a prerequisite for a better and safer environment. Without ensuring cleanliness, it is considerably difficult to preserve a healthy human environment. But the perennial question that arises, is- how to successfully strike a balance between preserving the environment; ensuring cleanliness, and continuing development in the most effective manner. The obvious answer is through environmental governance, based on the principle of sustainable development. In India, this objective has been realized by introducing a programme named Swachh Bharat Mission. As behaviourial changes remain the main issue here, India introduced Swachh Vidyalaya under the banner of Swachh Bharat Abhiyan to inculcate the values of sanitation, hygiene, health, and awareness among the students of various schools in India. The government believed that the schools may play a pivotal role as they train, and nurture future Indian citizens. Amidst this backdrop, the present article will focus on the importance of the environment, the concept of sustainable development, Swach Bharat Mission and Swachh Vidyalaya and the role played by the schools as a game changer as far as the environmental governance is concerned. The article will end with a case study of the schools of West Bengal and will try to analyze how far schools are able to play a positive role in achieving Swach Bharat Mission and eventually sustainable development.

Cross Academia and Public Citizen Engagement for Developing Active Citizenship Competences

This paper explored the effect of the different open cross-university and public knowledge building activities on participants’ active citizenship competencies. A survey was conducted with the participants from 7 activities in higher education context in the INOS project. The results report that active citizenship competences could be better developed in cross-academia and public citizen engagement activities that target collaborative knowledge building and data management rather than in more individual crowdsourcing activities. The results indicate that the politico-legal competencies were the most difficult to develop through different activities and they require more specific design concerns in the future citizen science activities.

Global justice, sovereign wealth funds and saving for the future

ABSTRACT In this paper I give some reasons why ‘saving for future generations’ is not as straightforward as it sounds and when we might be skeptical of the permissibility of states saving for future citizens, even though such savings are often seen to be morally praiseworthy. I emerge with an account of when state savings for future citizens through sovereign wealth funds may be morally permissible. I argue that we ought to follow a modified version of Armstrong’s criteria for the moral permissibility of sovereign wealth fund savings. That is, states are entitled to the full proceeds from the sale of a natural resource until their citizens’ basic rights are secured. Once they are, states are entitled only to the improved value of the resource, so long as they have not excluded others from the opportunity also to improve the resource. States may create sovereign wealth funds based on this improved value and, due to justified compatriot partiality, may choose to distribute those funds to current or future members of the state, even if non-citizens may be worse off and/or in greater need. Any residual value of the resource extraction must be redistributed globally.

Shape the EU future citizen. Environmental education on the European Green Deal

The Green SCENT project aims to educate European citizens to acquire green skills within the eight Focus Areas identified by the EU Green Deal Communication. The funded project involves 15 partners from 10 European countries. The very first outcome of the project is to build a competence framework for shaping the future environmental education of European citizens. The task specifically involved 13 researchers, organised into 8 teams (one for each focus area addressed by the Green Deal communication) who worked on the project for approximately 11 months (January to November 2022). The aim of the project described in this study was to establish competences, and their specificities in terms of knowledge, skills and attitudes, creating a competence framework on sustainability issues and incorporating the feedback and insights of stakeholders by placing them as co-creators. From the developed competence framework, an interactive knowledge graph of competences was created as a practical tool to present and exploit the competence framework. This was then used to incorporate the bottom-up perspective and open up a discussion on research that hitherto had a top-down scientific approach only with competence elicited from literature data. In this paper the identified competences for the focus areas of Circular Economy, Clean Energy and Smart Mobility are used as case study. The main objective of this paper is to highlight the importance of innovative stakeholder contributions obtained through the Delphi study, the workshops and the assemblies with citizens of all ages, backgrounds and educational levels. The ultimate knowledge artefact consists of more than 120 competences articulated in over 2500 knowledge, skills and attitude descriptions.

Rhetoric of Redress: Australian Political Speeches and Settler Citizens' Historical Consciousness

ABSTRACT This article traces the convergence of state redress and the educational construction of citizenship from the 1990s onwards in Australia. It examines how successive settler political leaders used the education of a historical consciousness—settler citizens’ relation to past, present and future—as a core strategy to seek resolution to the problematic national past. The article examines key political speeches that sought to mediate the settler nation's past in light of growing international and domestic pressures, including Keating's 1992 Redfern Park speech and Rudd's 2008 Apology to the Stolen Generations, and one of conservative backlash: Howard's 1996 Menzies Lecture. Rudd's subsequent national policy agenda of apology and an Australian Curriculum sought to inaugurate a new era in the settler nation's history. That program was embodied by the figure of the future citizen positioned to reckon with the nation's unjust past, a task inscribed in the inaugural national history curriculum.

A Comparative Study between Greek Pre-service Teachers and Primary School Students’ Scientific Literacy Levels

In recent decades, enhancing scientific literacy has been the ultimate goal of science education worldwide. This effort aims to develop the skills by individuals to cope with the challenges of the modern world, which requires scientific knowledge and thinking. This research study aimed to investigate and compare the scientific literacy level of Greek pre-service teachers and primary school students. The total number of participants was 787, of which 362 were pre-service teachers and 425 primary school students. Scientific literacy was assessed with the selected response measure of demonstrated scientific literacy (SLA-D). According to descriptive analyses and statistical hypothesis tests, pre-service teachers’ scientific literacy level was considered significantly higher than students, as was expected. However, the scientific literacy level of both pre-service teachers and students in the sample remained low. This work provides recommendations for actions that can help improve the scientific literacy level of both students and teachers so that schools become a source of scientifically literate future citizens.

Coloring for Conservation: Outreach Science for Eastern Hellbender Salamanders

Engaging K-5 future citizen scientists is a challenge which balances effective outreach science and curriculum development, as well as in and out-of-classroom experiences. Environmental education programs should be designed to both engage and inform the public on important conservation issues related to local biodiversity. Amphibians, especially salamanders, are experiencing worldwide declines, but are relatively overlooked by the public when compared with frogs and other more charismatic species. To this end, we developed a hellbender-focused, outreach-education coloring book, which was provided to either stream visitors as part of ongoing education programming or in classroom/summer camp settings, in two states where eastern hellbender salamanders occur. We assessed whether this coloring book activity engaged and informed K-5 level participants by performing a short, post-implementation survey. Results indicate that the hellbender coloring book was effective as an educational tool and provided an engaging experience for participants, while concomitantly teaching that moving rocks within streams can be potentially harmful for aquatic organisms, including larval hellbenders. We recommend conservation managers from state and federal agencies work closely with community educators to implement similar programs to inform the local general public on environmental programs using conservation themed coloring books.

Primary school students’ awareness of and attitudes toward local threatened animals

ABSTRACT Human actions threaten animal species with extinction at an accelerating rate. Environmental and Sustainability Education (ESE) is a key factor in tackling biodiversity loss by preparing future citizens to undertake conservation actions. This study deals with the awareness and the attitudes of 401 primary school students toward wild animals, focusing on local threatened species. Although students appear to have a satisfactory level of awareness of wild animals, they are significantly less aware of local species and confused regarding threatened ones. Bird species gain the lowest recognition. Habitat transformation and climate change are not well-known threats. Students have primarily naturalistic, and ecologistic attitudes. They like animals mainly due to their perceived appearance, intelligence and being in danger of extinction, while they dislike them based on the threat they pose to humans and other animals. The findings can inspire ESE practitioners to develop effective educational programs for wild animal conservation.

Building global vaccine manufacturing capacity: Spotlight on Africa

Africa is set to experience a three-fold increase in vaccine demand by 2040, yet the continent possesses few domestic capabilities for vaccine production. This lack of production capacity, heavy reliance on foreign aid, disruptions of hard-won immunization progress due to the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, and fluctuating vaccine market dynamics threaten to hinder ongoing efforts to increase vaccination rates on the continent. In order meet the vaccine demands of a rapidly growing population, and to be able to provide novel vaccines to its population in the future, the African continent must develop a sustainable vaccine manufacturing infrastructure. The African Union, in partnership with the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, recently set forth its Program for African Vaccine Manufacturing Framework for Action, which sets the goal of Africa producing 60 % of its vaccine needs by 2040. To meet these goals, African governments and their multinational, philanthropic, and private sector partners must work to secure low-cost financing and provide a favourable regulatory environment for nascent African vaccine manufacturers. Doing so will save lives, safeguard the health of the continent’s current and future citizens, and contribute to economic growth through the development of local bioeconomies.

Harnessing the untapped potential of food education in schools: Nurturing the school subject Food and Health.

Essential life skills related to food and meals have a potential triple dividend for children and adolescents, that is, short-term, medium-term and possible generational effects with regard to public health, sustainability and well-being of future citizens in local communities. While parents and childhood environments are a basis for learning about food and meals, systematic food education in the setting of primary and lower secondary schools may have a significant role that should be utilized more strongly, reaching and benefitting all pupils from a life course perspective. Through this article, we explore the current state of the art of the mandatory school subject Food and Health (FH) from the Nordic perspective. Our leading questions are: (1) What potential is currently utilized and which future potential does FH education have in primary and secondary schools in terms of food education for essential life skills and competencies, and (2) How can this untapped potential be better harnessed with a goal of facilitating better learning in FH? Drawing on data from Norway as a case study, supported by Swedish and Finnish data, we discuss the status, challenges and potential reformation of food education, focusing on FH. This includes perspectives on the prioritization of the FH subject and the organization of more systematic food education in schools, which might improve FH's status and significance. Combining theory-practice, creating room for discussion and focusing less on cooking-related activities may better facilitate learning in FH. Without proper FH, food education might be nonsystematic, thereby generating unequal outcomes for children and adolescents.

Global Citizenship Education in Pre-Service Teacher Education: Status and Implementation

The National Education Policy 2020 champions the cause of Global Citizenship Education at all stages of education. This will naturally entail a big shift in the curriculum so as to include the development of cognitive, behavioural and social-emotional domains of future global citizens .This education shall include the development of attitudes, values and skill sets that prevail upon in developing societies that are peaceful, tolerant and inclusive. In order to evolve as global citizens, students at the tertiary stage of education firstly need to be empowered in understanding the need and relevance of multicultural education which teaches them to respect diversity and inclusion. Secondly the learners need to be equipped as ambassadors of protection of human rights who uphold the values of social justice, equality and equity in all walks of life. This in turn shall go a long way in ensuring their civic participation. Thirdly it is important that as responsible and responsive citizens they contribute to economic development too .This would mean mastering the twenty first century skills including developing an entrepreneurial mindset. For societies to be tolerant and peaceful it is a pre-requisite to manage resources judiciously .GCED therefore shall also include a discourse on environmental conservation and sustainable development in order to sensitise students towards the need for environmental protection. In order to reflect on the modalities of implementation of the mandate of integrating GCED in the higher education curriculum this paper examines the different subjects and pedagogical strategies that may be adopted at the under graduate and post graduate level of pre service teacher education programmes in India. The focus of implementation this paper examined is keeping in mind the development of future teachers, teacher educators, curriculum developers, policy planners and administrators in the field of education who are well equipped as global citizens.

Planning the Smart City With Young People: Teenagers’ Perceptions, Values and Visions of Smartness

Young people are often seen as “future citizens” and therefore relegated to a back seat in the planning process, awaiting their coming of age. Recent digital transformations in planning have brought new consultation processes but also created a digital divide and conflicting agendas. This article engages with youth, specifically teenagers, a heterogenous community stuck between childhood and adulthood, assumed to possess the necessary digital skills, but usually overlooked in participatory planning processes. This article will examine the case study cities of Manchester, Birmingham, Valencia, and Sofia, where 121 teenagers between 15 and 19 years of age have been interviewed in relation to their awareness and perceptions of digital technologies and smart cities. It focuses on critically examining young people’s perceptions and values towards the smart city. Using the smart city wheel as an engagement and discussion tool, the article presents teenagers’ critique of smart city models and future city visions. The article categorises common threads and values that this demographic has espoused and presents cautionary tales relating to awareness and skills development in this age group. Throughout the interviews and surveys, young people in all four case studies have reported strong affiliations to specific modes of inhabiting the city and values that they would like to see reflected in any future visions. The article identifies key considerations for planners and smart city practitioners when engaging young people in the creation of future city visions.

Symposium Introduction: Discourse Ethical Perspectives on Education in Polarized Political Cultures

Symposium Introduction: Discourse Ethical Perspectives on Education in Polarized Political Cultures

Ethical Leadership in the Field of Education in Europe: A Comparative Analysis

Abstract The purpose of this research is to explore the characteristics of ethical leadership in in the field of education in Europe. In an era, when there are no transcendental principles and universally accepted values and, within organizations, a mainly “situational” and “procedural” ethics has been developed (Voyé, 1999), educational mission, goals and procedures are changing. Thus, it could be extremely challenging to explore aspects of educational leadership that are not considered necessarily self-evident, maintaining at the same time a critical and skeptical attitude regarding power relations and the promotion of moral values and democratic processes at school. The present research was carried out in Greece, Great Britain, Germany, Italy, France and Spain and, the sample consisted of 451 primary and secondary education teachers. The findings of this research demonstrated that, according to teachers’ perceptions, principals at schools- in carrying out their duties- have to develop responsibility and moral values so as not to deviate from the main goals of education, which are system’s eudaimonia through the all-round development of the future citizens of a democratic society (Goldring & Greenfield, 2002). More specifically, teachers from all participating countries affirmed that educational leaders put the emphasis– to a great extend- on core values such as honesty, sincerity, integrity, altruism, trust, rewarding ethical contribution and moral responsibility.

Are We on the Way to Successfully Educating Future Citizens?-A Spotlight on Critical Thinking Skills and Beliefs about the Nature of Science among Pre-Service Biology Teachers in Germany.

A rapidly changing world and constantly expanding knowledge requires education to no longer focus on teaching subject-matter knowledge but also to promote students' critical thinking (CT) and an accurate understanding of the nature of science (NOS). However, several studies have shown that these skills are still poorly acquired during formal education. Given the cause-effect sequence from teacher education to teacher action to student learning, it seems reasonable to consider individual factors on the part of (pre-service) teachers as possible contributors to such skill gaps. In our study, we therefore investigated how pre-service biology teachers perform on tasks assessing their CT skills and NOS beliefs. In addition, we addressed the questions of whether test performance and/or the relationships between CT skills and NOS beliefs differ as a function of the number of learning opportunities. Our results show that our participants' CT skills were only in the low-average range. Moreover, 86% of them did not have an informed understanding of NOS. Although participants in the master's program demonstrated clearly superior CT skills than those in the bachelor's program, no such difference was found in terms of NOS beliefs. However, there was a consistent advantage for pre-service teachers who were aspiring to a teaching qualification in two (as opposed to only one) scientific subjects. Our findings provide useful implications, particularly with respect to the influence of learning opportunities in university teacher education and the effectiveness of CT- and NOS-based instructional settings. On a more prospective note, our findings underscore that, given the grand global tasks of the 21st century, it seems more important than ever to ensure that pre-service science teachers have sufficient expertise in CT and NOS in order to increase the likelihood that these teachers will be able to successfully help their future students develop these skills.

A Study on College Students Attitude Towards Human Rights in Relation to Their Gender

Developing human rights attitude among the students at all level is the major concern of present educational system as human rights violation, exploitation has become 0the burning issue of the society. As students are the future citizen and the real strength of the nation are developed awareness and attitude towards human rights as they have to solve the problems related to human rights. The present study aims to measure the attitude level of college students towards human rights in relation to their gender. For the study the researcher had selected 366 students (183 girls and 183 boys). The sample were collected from Puthimari College of Kamrup (R) district of Assam. For selection of sample the researcher applied simple random sampling technique. To collect data from the sample the researcher used a standardized scale (Human Rights Attitude Scale) developed by Rajesh Kumar Srivastav. The scale includes 50 items. For analyzing the obtained data some statistical technique such as Mean, SD and t-test were applied. The result of the study reveals that the students have high level of human rights attitude but boy and girl students differ significantly in their attitude towards human rights.

Supporting the Development of Science Pre-service Teachers' Creativity and Critical Thinking in Secondary Science Initial Teacher Education.

Creative and critical thinking (C&CT) capabilities are essential qualities of future ready scientific literate citizens. As teacher educators, developing C&CT in science pre-service teachers (PSTs) requires supporting PSTs' development of C&CT, in addition to supporting their understanding and capacity to teach for development of C&CT in their future school science students. In this study, four secondary science educators critically reflected on the development of our professional knowledge and practice for supporting secondary science PSTs' understanding of, and capacity to teach, C&CT as future teachers of science. Meeting transcripts, reflective journaling and curriculum documents were inductively analysed for key themes, utilising an iterative approach with multiple cycles of review. Findings showed that integrating C&CT in explicit ways in our teaching and assessment tasks was not as straight-forward as initially imagined. Three themes were identified, showing how our thinking evolved, namely (1) becoming sensitised to C&CT in our science ITE practice; (2) developing a shared language and understanding for science education; and (3) illuminating the conditions for teaching C&CT. A recurring feature in all themes was the value of tensions for sensitising us to specific aspects of C&CT and its teaching. We offer recommendations for others seeking to develop science PSTs' C&CT.

Патриотическое воспитание в системе государственной образовательной политики (анализ англоязычных и польских источников)

The article analyzes the importance of patriotic education in the modern education system, the tasks of education system in the formation of the future citizen of the country. The authors analyze the conditions for the formation of patriotic education as a civic value; they state that patriotism develops a sense of civic identity, human socialization, and security. The article formulates a conclusion about attempts to manipulate the political agenda and values in the system of patriotic education. Using the example of the United States and Poland, the authors analyze the importance of initiatives to support patriotic education in schools and universities. The article highlights the formed attitudes of patriotic education, the importance of school programs in the education of the future patriot.

Information Warfare and Digitalization of Politics in a Globalized World

Online media of digital methodology has transformed human behaviors from sociocultural and political backing, interest, and participation to sharing supposition or resistance and has transfigured the approach of interaction and thinking—a serious issue for digital anthropology that centeres on internet-related changes of social marvels, a configuration of chaotic pluralism. With the prime argument that digital social media platforms implant feebleness, insecurity, and instability into social and political life, this paper investigates the risks that online media impose on democracy. Based on auxiliary secondary data, the methodology incorporates qualitative verifiable, and analytical methods. The paper's findings contend that the politico-techno-driven political economy of digital innovation has chopped social and democratic institutions and has destabilized worldwide social relations and politics, democracy has been fumed, stormed, and hacked. Social media has created a modern world order of amazing befuddling filter bubble impact where cyber-violence is misogynistic--social media is just like a redirection of Chinese whispers. Subsequently, with, private on-screen characters, governments' data dispersal, and so-called security and safeguarding of citizens' democratic rights, allegorically, George Orwell’s nightmare of 'Animal Farm' unfurling. In a bourgeois populist science of the 'digital panopticon' of technological colonialism, state surveillance, and bourgeois information, humankind is becoming more divided and unsecured and in the future citizens' will be deprived of numerous sociopolitical rights. Future people may fade under the pressure of high-tech colonialism which concurs with the normalization approach that 'offline field' powerful people are powerful 'online' too. Upcoming democracy is probable to be a discreetly 'high-hat' elitist endeavor. Current endeavors and legislations are romanticized as a glass half empty with very few tools to control cyberspace. It is pivotal to invigorate and fortify citizens’ digital agency and self-determination in society, politics, well-being, and economy, otherwise, societies/countries are probable to be more totalitarian.

Research for self-reported health problems after excessive talking time on mobile phones among university students

The devices that people use every day, such as mobile phones and wireless networks, emit electromagnetic waves in the radio frequency range. The widespread use of these devices, as well as the change in people’s social behavior, have dramatically increased their exposure to electromagnetic radiation. Due to the rapid increase of young people users, public health officials and the scientific community are showing particular interest in the possible effects of electromagnetic radiation on human health. Many researchers express strong concerns about the effects of exposure to electromagnetic radiation, as it can have a serious impact on physical, cognitive, and social health. This study focused on self-reported health problems after excessive talking time on mobile phones of 619 (n=619) University students of both genders, in the age group of 18-24 years were randomly selected. The data was collected using a close-ended questionnaire. Headache was found to be the most frequently reported symptom (69%) followed by pressure in the head (38.8%). In most self-reported health problems no correlation was found between the genders. Female students tend to talk more on their mobile phones, and it was found that this extensive use was associated with the declaration of more self-reported health problems. The results of this study do not leave us any room for complacency, especially when we talk about health issues, and continuous research is needed to protect people’s health. In addition, modern education should provide the necessary knowledge to students, but also take care of the development of the critical thinking of future citizens, so that they can make the most appropriate decisions for their health.