Future Citizens Research Articles

“Ready to fly with a lust for life”

The Cultural Schoolbag (TCS) is a national programme designed to provide all school pupils in Norway access to professional art and culture. On average three times a year, in their school time, children and youth get to experience art and culture in various forms, spanning literature, film, music, visual arts, cultural heritage, theatre, and dance. To build and maintain Norway as a democracy is an explicit aim of the programme. Securing all children and youth equal access to professional art and culture regardless of geography, economy, religious or cultural background is but one aspect of its democratic scope. Also important is the belief that being exposed to art and culture is instrumental in educating future citizens who are able, ready, and willing to take active part in a democratic society. Reflecting this rather utopian vision of TCS, the county municipality of Vestfold used to launch their TSC programme under the motto: “Livslysten og flyvedyktig”, in English; “Ready to fly with a lust for life”.In what sense, however, do these utopian rationales influence the programme that is offered in the schools? How, exactly, may performance events and theatre experienced in TCS contribute to bringing up citizens that are “ready to fly with a lust for life”?Presenting an outline of current ideological, cultural political, and educational discourses surrounding TCS, this study addresses how, and to what extent, political and educational guidelines have an impact on its artistic programme. Offering two recent TCS productions as examples, I discuss how the utopian spaces provided by these theatre and performance events prepare the grounds for enactment and reflection that may take performative effect in influencing the lives and futures of the participating children and youth.

Study on Adolescent Psychological Education and Coping Strategies of Involution Environment

The purpose of this study is to explore the relationship between adolescent psychological education and involution environment, and put forward and discuss the corresponding coping strategies. In the environment of involution, teenagers face great academic pressure and fierce competition, which poses great challenges to their mental health. The involution environment has a profound negative impact on teenagers' psychology, including academic anxiety, social tension and excessive pursuit of external recognition. Psychological education has been proved to be an important way to alleviate the environmental impact of involution. Encouraging diversified development and strengthening emotional education can cultivate teenagers' comprehensive ability and emotional management skills, so that they can better cope with challenges. Advocating social concern has been proved to be an effective strategy to adjust teenagers' psychological concepts. by participating in community service and social media guidance, we can cultivate teenagers' comprehensive literacy and help alleviate the psychological pressure brought by the involution environment. This study puts forward a set of comprehensive strategies for adolescent psychological education and coping with involution environment, including diversified development, emotional education, home-school cooperation and social concern. The comprehensive application of these strategies is expected to provide more comprehensive support for teenagers, promote them to adapt to the involution environment more actively, and cultivate future citizens with comprehensive literacy.

In Search for Untapped Energy-Saving Potential in Green and Smart Higher Educational Buildings—An Empirical Case Study Involving the Building Occupants

Energy-intense activities and the unpredictable and complex behavior of building occupants lead to an increase in building energy demand. It is, therefore, crucial to study underlying factors for building energy demand related to the users. Higher educational buildings are relevant to study for several reasons: they host the future workforce and citizens, they are predicted to increase in numbers, and they represent a building type less studied. Furthermore, green-rated buildings equipped with smart building systems also represent a research gap that is relevant to address since such a building design involves IoT-functionalities and digital features for the building occupants to interact with. There is also a conceivable risk that if the users know that the building is green-rated and technologically advanced, this may alter their perception of the building operation and thus their behavior. To study the relationship between building occupants and such green and smart educational structure, a survey was conducted in a Swedish higher educational building; as a result, 300 responses were collected and analyzed. The responses revealed that the building occupants act with energy awareness, and they are conscious about energy-saving behaviors. One building feature in particular was studied: the Digital Room Panels (DRPs). The DRP allows the building occupants to modify the indoor temperature and is, therefore, essential for thermal comfort. One key finding from the survey revealed that 70% of the building occupants did not know how the DRPs operate. This study argues that this result can be explained with a lack of communication and user friendliness. Inadequate interactions with building systems could also result in opportunities for energy saving might not be realized. The findings of this case study led to valuable recommendations and suggestions for future research endeavors.

Assessing University Students’ Beliefs and Attitudes towards Sustainability and Sustainable Development: A Systematic Review

(1) Background: contents and strategies related to sustainability and Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are being introduced in academic curricula, and the organization of the university environment is evolving to adopt sustainable practices. One of the main aims of this evolution is to raise students’ awareness of sustainability and to encourage them to develop attitudes, knowledge and competencies for acting as future responsible citizens. This implies the need to examine and understand students’ attitudes and beliefs towards sustainability. (2) Method: a systematic literature review has been performed to examine the most recent studies focused on university students’ beliefs and attitudes towards sustainable development. Three educational online databases were searched for identified research papers, and in the end, 20 papers have been included in the analysis. (3) Results: in recent years there has been a growing interest in the topic of university students’ assessment of sustainability beliefs and attitudes. Assessment was frequently limited to the environmental dimension of sustainability, placing the economic, social and educational dimensions in the background. Most of the assessing tools have been developed as quantitative questionnaires. (4) Conclusions: understanding the attitudes and perceptions of university students about sustainability issues is an essential task for helping higher education institutions to effectively infuse the contents and principles of sustainable development into their environments.

Communication Skills, Neuroscience and the Professional Interactions of Primary Education School Managers

Abstract: This study aimed to analyze public primary education managers' perception regarding improving their communicational skills in their professional interactions after taking customized training based on neuroscience and oriented to developing communicational skills. This study has a qualitative, descriptive, and exploratory approach, carried out through action research enabled by a training course for 87 managers of public primary education schools in the city of Indaiatuba, in the interior of the state of São Paulo, Brazil. The results showed that managers perceived an improvement in their communication skills, resulting in improved interactions with parents of students and school employees, as well as conflict mediation. The study used neuroscience as a knowledge base in training focused on improving professional interactions through developing communication skills. The training enabled the managers to deal more effectively with the school community, as they learned to interact more assertively and pay attention to emotional states, improving their professional interactions. School managers are responsible for leading the environments that promote the early development of future Brazilian citizens. They would have more resources to provide further effective school environment when trained for that. The study's originality is in using neuroscience for training primary education managers focused on developing communication skills. Keywords: School managers. Managers training. Neuroscience. Communication.

A Workshop for Education for Shared Life: Bedouins and Jews Female Teaching Students at Kay College for Education in the Southern Region of Israel

The importance of multiculturalism in education in general and in academic institutions for teacher training in particular, it receives a lot of attention in the academic-educational research field. Most of the studies held in Israel about teacher training accompanied by a multicultural approach as part of an educational concept discussed the distinction between the attitudes of students from different cultural groups or their achievements; Others proposed models for multicultural education or contented themselves with raising awareness of the need to design models. This study seeks to propose an interventional concept oriented to situation assessment and well planned within the framework of diverse lessons as part of a pragmatic tool – applicable that seeks to educate for intercultural care and cultural competence. To examine these training processes, the qualitative paradigm was chosen by the activation of an action research that continued within the framework of a course called: “Education for ambassadors for a shared life” that was prepared in advance after a careful assessment of the situation and divided into structured steps. 10 female teaching students participated in the study: 6 Jewish and 4 Bedouin Muslim women, residents of the southern region of the State of Israel. The students wrote reflections and were asked to formulate a joint educational project. The results of the study emphasize the importance of learning the mutual culture as a tool that produces closeness and reducing stereotypes; Understanding the need to take mutual cultural responsibility as future teachers and citizens; Collaborative learning spaces of this type create a safe educational space for self-expression and presentation of personal and cultural identity. Cultural sublimation and a sense of belonging were also expressed. All the participants recognize the importance of the topic and the need to learn.

Calling out for the Possible! Is it Our Chance to Make it Right?

Abstract In today’s world, humanity is confronted with an increasing number of complex challenges. The Anthropocene’s core tenet, the impact of humans on the world, leads us to aspire to a more sustainable future, putting the possible at the centre of societal development. Educational contexts provide a unique platform for future citizens to engage with the possible, calling for the advancement of strategies that can intentionally contribute to expanding opportunities for embracing the possible. This commentary explores how contemporary challenges can be a driving force to redesign educational contexts to effectively embed the possible in their practices and pedagogies, in an effort to raise awareness and elicit a sense of urgency about the importance of the possible as a field of study.

PREDICTING THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE TECHNOLOGICAL BASIS FOR THE WARS OF THE FUTURE

Technological progress in the field of military technology is developing rapidly, requiring constant work on the development of new systems and strategies. The article demonstrates that the growing role of artificial intelligence and autonomous systems is defining a new level of efficiency and complexity in military operations. The article assesses the use of biotechnology in the defence sector, which defines a new level of strategic importance for the development and maintenance of military power. Space, hypersonic and quantum technologies will be considered, as well as aspects related to the use of 3D printing in a military context. The possibility of using new materials that can be produced using methods from nanotechnology or synthetic biology will be assessed. The benefits of using “green” hydrogen in the military industry and the challenges of implementing this technology are presented. The concept of digital contact tracking technology is explained, and strategic and tactical applications of hyper-precision positioning technology are presented. The results of the study show that the level of protection and security of future citizens is directly related to the ability to predict dominant technologies and technological trends, to assess their impact on the future and, on this basis, to develop a strategy for the transformation of new technologies.

Peasants, Photography and Citizenship: An Exercise in Re-Framing Social Imagination in the Polish Lands in the Nineteenth Century

The article analyzes the relationship between citizenship of peasants and photography in the Polish lands in the nineteenth century, using the perspective of potential history (A. A. Azoulay). The purpose of the article is twofold. The first step is to show how photography supported the process of separating the upper classes from the peasants and prevented villagers from being thought of as (present and future) citizens. The second one demonstrates various attempts to “re-frame” the existing reality, i.e. to reunite in one photographic frame what had previously been separated, which was tantamount to imagining a different social order, an order based on cocitizenship. The analyzed material includes mainly photographs and, as contextual sources, paintings from the Kingdom of Poland and Galicia.

Mother Tongue Education as a Medium of Instruction - A Literature Review

This article presents a review of literature of various studies on mother tongue education (MTE) as a medium of instruction. The first objective of this review was to examine the role of mother tongue as first language (L1) as a medium of instruction for effective learning. The second objective was to study the challenges faced by native language learners studying through second language (L2) English. The third objective was to summarise the problems and challenges in implementation of mother tongue-based multi-lingual education (MTB-ML). The review was conducted through a literature search in various databases. The review of literature showed that the mother tongue-based education gives better understanding of the concepts and clear interpretation of the thoughts and gives emotional strength. Mother tongue learning was seen to act as a medium for the interaction within a community. However, the challenge of implementing mother tongue-based multilingual education in countries having multiple mother tongues was a reality. It was seen that learning through English (second language) was useful to learn for all the students in the context of globalization. However, the major challenge was of low levels of English proficiency amongst teachers and students, lack of resources, and limitations of a well defined pedagogical plan. The studies suggested that up to primary classes, the medium of instruction should be mother tongue/regional language. Students should however be given an opportunity to learn through English/second language so that they would be able to act as global citizens in future.

INTERACTION OF THE TEACHER AND PARENTS IN THE EDUCATION OF A CULTURE OF SAFE BEHAVIOR OF PRESCHOOL CHILDREN

This article discusses the theoretical aspects of the interaction of a teacher of a preschool educational organization and parents (legal representatives) in the education of a culture of safe behavior of children. The relevance of the problem under consideration is due to the tasks of the state policy in the field of education, where one of the most important is declared – the upbringing of the younger generation. The Federal State Program of Preschool Education (FOP) and the Federal State Educational Standard of Preschool Education (FGOS) define modern guidelines for building relationships between a preschool educational organization and the families of pupils. Among the basic principles of preschool education, the cooperation of the kindergarten with the family is distinguished. One of the most important tasks solved in these documents is to provide psychological and pedagogical support to the family and to increase the competence of parents in the development and education of children, protection and strengthening of their health [2, p. 3]. This determines the need to choose means and methods in the upbringing of children, which must begin with the first level of education - preschool childhood. It is at this level of formation of a future citizen that it is necessary to form a conscious and responsible attitude to personal safety and the safety of people around him, as well as reasonable actions in problematic situations. The most important acquisition of preschool age is the ability to adapt to a rapidly changing environment and consistent behavior that ensures a safe existence in this environment. The authors of the article analyzed the different points of view of scientists on the problem of interaction, presented the forms, methods and means of interaction between teachers and parents, revealed the various social roles of parents in the upbringing of children

Montessori’s Perspective on Citizenship Education

The purpose of this study is to synthesize Montessori’s writings on citizenship education to support the implementation of a Montessorian view. This synthesis demonstrates that Montessori was of the explicit conviction that a better world can be achieved through citizenship education, as it strives for a peaceful and harmonious society. We approach this topic through the Dutch context. Although schools in the Netherlands are required by law to promote active citizenship and social cohesion, this law does not stipulate which of the many different views on citizenship education schools must adhere to. Schools have the liberty to devise their own citizenship curricula if they can substantiate their views and choices. For Montessori schools, this requires insight into Montessori’s view on citizenship education. Although Montessori’s views are still largely appropriate in our time, an ongoing dialogue about citizenship education is required, as Montessori lived and worked in a specific geopolitical context. Based on our analysis, we have identified seven themes that characterize Montessori’s view on citizenship education: one common citizenship goal; preparation for independent thinking and action; image of the future citizen; adapted and critical citizens; humanity for harmony; knowledge as prerequisite, personality development as goal; and an ever-expanding worldview. The results of this study provide valuable insights for designing and teaching citizenship education through a Montessorian lens.

Defeating the ‘social danger’ of homosexuality while ‘forging the fatherland’: Sexual science and biotypology in Mexico’s national development, 1927–57

This article situates Mexican sexology, and how it engaged homosexuality and gender nonconformity, within more familiar nation-building projects in Mexico following the Revolution (1910–20). It argues that much like with understandings of race, Mexican sexologists, influenced by neo-Lamarckism and ‘Latin' eugenics, viewed sexuality as caused largely by social and environmental factors, rather than simply as a congenital characteristic. Such experts advocated for social solutions for what they saw as the ‘state of danger’ that homosexuality represented, targeting their interventions at youths, who were seen as pliable, future citizens, rather than adults, who were largely seen as irredeemable and best isolated from the national body. The article explores discursive, ideological, and methodological threads in Mexican sexology from the 19th to the mid-20th century, the field’s professionalization and transnational connections, case studies of youths in which the preferred solutions involved promoting family stability and coherence, and adult cases ranging from prison studies to the case of Marta Olmos, recipient of Mexico’s first widely known sex reassignment. Overall, it demonstrates important intersections between sexology and nation-building projects related to criminology, anthropology, and eugenics, and how the attempted management of homosexuality and gender nonconformity sheds light on Mexican development more broadly.

The Position of Humanities and Social Sciences in European Education and their Role in the Fight against Disinformation and Propaganda

In the European area, we have recently noticed an increase in the spread of conspiracy theories and propaganda. Several crises (especially the crisis associated with the Covid-19 pandemic) have reduced the credibility of European/Western institutions in the eyes of many young people. In addition, some states are weakened by the rise of Pan-Slavism and nationalist ideas. In this context, is it necessary to reconsider the education of future European citizens? How to approach this if countries are facing multiple challenges atthe same time?

CULTURE OF SAFE BEHAVIOR IN PRESCHOOL CHILDREN AS A PEDAGOGICAL PROBLEM

The need to introduce children to generally accepted norms and rules of relationships with peers and adults (in society), to develop skills of reasonable behavior in everyday life and nature, is noted in the Federal Educational Program of PE, which has come into force in September 2023. Preschool childhood is considered one of the most important periods in the formation of a fully developed personality. It is at this level of formation of the future citizen that the foundations of intellectual, moral, physical development are laid, and familiarization with universal human values and culture occurs. The most important acquisition of preschool age is the ability to adapt to a rapidly changing environment and appropriate behavior that ensures a safe existence in this environment. The combination of the regulatory framework (FSES DO and FOP DO), which regulates the formation of children’s ideas about life safety and rules of behavior and the age characteristics of preschoolers, allowing them to master these ideas, ensures the need and opportunity to cultivate a culture of safe behavior in children of this age. Preschool teachers must create conditions for nurturing in children an interest in household appliances and household items, and the rules for their use; understanding and observing the rules of safe behavior at home, on the street, in nature. Based on the foregoing, it can be argued that fostering a culture of safe behavior is considered a priority task for society, the state, in general, and for the preschool education system, in particular. The article makes an attempt to highlight the theoretical issues of such an important pedagogical problem as fostering a culture of safe behavior in preschool children.

Training Future Citizens through Audiovisual Resources

This approach is positioned as a vital resource to stimulate learning from different perspectives, generating a major social impact, the particularity of this research was to promote social responsibility and socio-educational training in students of an educational institution in northern Peru. Framed in a descriptive and explanatory analysis, a questionnaire was elaborated in order to know the perception of the students, taking a sample of 120 students, who revealed the metacognitive processes in their construction of knowledge, the reflection on their cognitive abilities, the control and planning of their performance, evidencing an active and significant learning in the development of vital competences.

Self-endangering work behaviour of Polish school principals during the COVID-19 pandemic

Abstract Background During the COVID-19 pandemic, the work-related demands of school principals grew incredibly, and many experienced overwork and stress. This study focuses on three self-endangering work behaviour (SEWB) subscales - work extensification (EW), intensification (IW), and quality reduction (QR) - among Polish school principals during COVID-19 and its association with respondents’ well-being (WHO), exhaustion (EXH), and psychosomatic complaints (PC). Taking care of the health of school principals and teachers is particularly important in the context of European public health as they are crucial models of health attitudes for students as future citizens. Methods The results come from an online survey among school principals in Poland. The survey was conducted in 8 provinces in Poland between June 2021 and December 2021. 1899 school principals participated in the survey, of which 928 completed the questionnaire. Descriptive statistics, Kendall's Tau correlation, and regression models were conducted. Sociodemographic characteristics (gender, age, and type of school) were considered the control variables. Results The study confirmed increasing respondents’ EW (62.6%) and IW (52.5%) during the COVID-19 pandemic. The rise in EW was associated with lower WHO (τ = -0.25), greater EXH (τ = 0.29), and PCs (τ = 0.23). The more respondents intensified their work, the lower well-being declared (τ = -0.36). With the increase in IW and QR, WHO decreased, and the level of EXH and PC grew. Male and older school principals less frequently felt PC. Conclusions The study suggests that SEWB presented by Polish school principals during the COVID-19 pandemic was associated with respondents’ WHO, EXH, and PC. These findings could be a baseline for policymakers for multidimensional interventions to reduce school principals’ SEWB and prevent overwork and burnout in Polish school principals.

Imaginaries of ECEC: A comparison of policies of access in early childhood education in Brazil, Finland, Hungary, Indonesia, Iran, Nepal, and Serbia

Increasing access to ECEC has been on the agendas of international organizations and many countries in different parts of the world. Despite the clear global interconnectivity, this article shows that contextual factors are essential to understand educational policy developments. The study examines reforms related to policies of access to ECEC in seven countries. Brazil, Finland, Hungary, Indonesia, Iran, Nepal, and Serbia. We show how access policies plug into the understanding of the role of ECEC as producing future citizens. Even though the main idea of ECEC’s role in developing future citizens is present in each national context, it takes different forms: the roles frame access policies as a way to strengthen either human capital via focusing on learning and skill formation, and/or the national identity of future citizens. They materialize in differing ways, for example, as coercive legislative requirements, fee policies, and knowledge production schemes. In addition, national access policies adopt different relations to the policies of international organizations, reflecting the socio-political context of the country. We argue that the concept of the imaginary is useful in allowing us to examine the interplay between the semiotic and non-semiotic aspects of policy. To further unravel the complexity inherent in such policies in terms of their local diversity, we suggest the usefulness of case studies and the examination of local-level policies in their full variety instead of only national ones, as these might be fruitful avenues for future research.

Education for Refugees: Building Durable Futures?

Abstract Education is one of the key tools of nation-building, as it aims to create future citizens. Yet what happens in seemingly ‘futureless’ contexts where refugees cannot access even social membership, let alone legal citizenship? In this introduction to our special issue on education for refugees, we explore the aspirations and conceptions of possible futures that students, teachers, governments, international non-governmental organizations (INGOs), and funders have when they promote and pursue education as the solution to the liminal position that refugees in protracted refugee situations find themselves in. Based on insights from the articles, we analyse disconnects between aspirations for education and realities of access to quality education and to opportunities after completing education. We argue that to address these disconnects requires us to move beyond temporal and spatial binaries—present vs. future, here vs. there—that are so common in refugee education discourse and policy. Our suggestion is to draw on and support stakeholders’ work, powerfully exemplified in this special issue, to contribute to improved conditions through pedagogies, practices, and policies that address these binaries.

Education for sustainability: Transforming school curricula

The article addresses the integration of Education for Sustainable Development in school curricula, aligning with the UN Sustainable Development Goals, especially SDG 4, which promotes inclusive and quality education. A comprehensive reform is proposed that incorporates sustainability as a transversal axis, with emphasis on continuous teacher training in digital competencies and active methodologies such as Project Based Learning. The proposal suggests the use of emerging technologies such as augmented reality for experiential learning and the implementation of evaluation systems that measure the application of competencies in real contexts.