Political Literacy Research Articles

Political Literacy and Citizenship in Korean Youth - formation of civic consciousness through political knowledge in civic education -

Political Literacy and Citizenship in Korean Youth - formation of civic consciousness through political knowledge in civic education -

The Levellers, political literacy and contemporary Citizenship education in England

This article analyses the concept of political literacy (as introduced in the 1998 Crick Report) in relation to Citizenship in the English National Curriculum. It argues that political literacy has not been sufficiently emphasised or facilitated within this foundation subject and that the concept is particularly important for students at a time of considerable political and social conflict in England (and elsewhere). The authors state that engagement with the ideas and practices of the Levellers (a political group writing and agitating at the time of the Civil Wars) could enable students and teachers to explore political literacy (especially the implications of social media) by looking at a political group that utilised mass pamphleteering as a form of political communication. The article will also investigate the context of Citizenship within the English National Curriculum and some of the philosophical concerns around Citizenship education. It contains a section placing the Levellers in their contemporary and historiographical contexts.

Fundamental British Values and citizenship education: tensions between national and global perspectives

ABSTRACTThis article discusses the tensions between the development of citizenship education in England since the 1990s and a more recent obligation on schools to promote Fundamental British Values (FBVs). The foundational and enduringly influential Crick Report of 1998 that elaborated a rationale and detailed programme of study for citizenship education has a strong emphasis on political literacy that encourages acts of citizenship at scales from the very local to the global. A formal 2007 curriculum review of Citizenship advocated the framing of ‘identity and diversity: living together in the UK’ providing a locus for exploring multiple and flexible identities and cosmopolitan perspectives. However, the obligation on schools in England since 2014 to promote FBVs can be read as an attempt to reinstate the national. The policy shift from political literacy promoted in Citizenship to a focus on FBVs follows earlier attempts to promote a depoliticized values education. Previous empirical studies illustrate ways in which young people may acknowledge and respect local, national and cosmopolitan citizenship and identities. The UNICEF UK Rights Respecting Schools Award programme resists the nationalist agenda of FBVs by encouraging schools to promote the universalist UN Convention on the Rights of the Child as their guiding statement of values. The article concludes that the tensions discussed mirror those made manifest in the Brexit process.

‚Places of Remembrance’: Spaces for Historical and Political Literacy. A Lesson Report

Purpose: The article shows the use of specific educational media in social studies in vocational schools to foster a differentiated historical and political literacy. Design/methodology/approach: Accordingly, the article examines a sequence of lessons taught by the author in a vocational classroom, fostering reflexive historical-political awareness of Germany’s post-war coping with the fascist constitution 1933-1945 and specifically of contemporary legal proceedings concerning the persecution and subsequent murder of six million Jewish people during the Holocaust. Findings: Teaching techniques comprise explorative learning through guided city walks, document analysis and expert visits, in-class-discussions, the and individual student-teacher-conversations and, particularly, contact with exhibits employed as educational media, originating from an art exhibition in public space covering various unsettling steps of exclusion against Jewish citizens before 1942. These materials turn out to bridge the gap from ignorance to learning by the acquisition of knowledge, demonstrating the use of artistic visual representations as educational media in the social studies classroom, especially while addressing students with little prior knowledge and understanding. Research limitations/implications: As a lesson report, the article draws on classroom observations. Practical implications: The approach presented includes various implications for classroom application.

Bringing Queer into Muslim Spaces: Community-Based Pedagogy in Cape Town

Bringing Queer into Muslim Spaces:Community-Based Pedagogy in Cape Town Afshan Kamrudin (bio) Keyword Cape Town, community-based pedagogy, Muslim, queer Muslims, sexual diversity In South Africa, although the expression of queer sexuality is constitutionally protected, the acceptability of sexual diversity in religious spaces is disputable.1 The clash between constitutional rights and religious freedom is most notable in discussions around queer sexuality, which is often deemed deviant and as having no place within religious institutions. Despite legal protection, representative bodies for Muslims in Cape Town have continued to express resistance to sexual diversity in religious spaces in various ways. For example, in a memorandum submitted to the constitutional court of South Africa opposition to the proposed Civil Unions Bill in 2006, the Muslim Judicial Council (MJC) wrote, "the MJC is of the opinion that the spread of homosexuality and lesbianism will invite the anger of Allah, erode the family structure, and expose young, innocent children to an unnatural lifestyle"—making explicit their view that homosexuality and Islam are incompatible.2 The MJC, however, seems to be reflecting the views of the Cape Town Muslim community at large. In a recent study on attitudes toward sexual diversity among South African Muslims, 86 percent of Muslims surveyed across South Africa reported believing that homosexuality is a choice; at the same time, 66 [End Page 143] percent said they would be willing to engage in a dialogue about Islam and sexual diversity, although qualitative data suggests this dialogue would lean toward trying to rectify homosexual tendencies.3 Over 80 percent of South African Muslims surveyed cite the story of Lut or hadith as the reason for their beliefs that queer sexuality is incompatible with Islam. In light of this information, it seems imperative to develop a community-based pedagogy that aims at conscientization and political literacy in the Freirean sense.4 Paolo Freire emphasized the conceptualization of a problem over its solution as key to disrupting what he terms "the culture of violence" that is exacerbated by excess power of a privileged class and becomes a malady of the oppressed.5 Religion sometimes functions as an omnipotent source of information for contemporary issues. However, as gatekeepers to religious knowledge, imams hold the unique capacity and opportunity to address controversial modern issues through a humanistic and rights-based lens and facilitate community dialogues on issues of sexual diversity in the ummah to create meaningful social change. Social change in the Muslim community of Cape Town often requires a catalyst. In characterizing the apathy of the Muslim community under the apartheid regime, Muslim scholar and activist Farid Esack lamented: "In truth, the community at large was a complacent community, feeble in its responses and going whichever way the wind was going at a particular moment."6 However, social change around the acceptance of sexual diversity in Muslim spaces is taking place in various Islamic institutions around Cape Town. Using the concept of community-based pedagogy and drawing greatly on Freire's work, I address here the current engagements on sexual diversity in the Muslim community at two mosques in Cape Town. By chronicling key recent events that have challenged the Muslim community's views of sexual diversity and its compatibility with Islam, I explore the actions of two imams, both gatekeepers to textual Islamic knowledge but with diverse personal histories. Each imam draws pedagogical content from the experiences of their jam'ah7 (the first step to Freire's method of creating critical [End Page 144] consciousness and literacy), and both use established forums of community gathering to engage in such dialogue. This article explores the process of the conscientization of an oppressed community—in this case queer Muslims—by Imam Muhsin Hendricks of The People's Mosque and the development of political literacy for the mainstream Cape Muslim community by Imam Rasheid Omar of Claremont Main Road Mosque. I discuss the roles each imam has in shaping the dialogue around sexual diversity in the Cape Muslim community by identifying the strengths, challenges, and effects each has had in their respective religious spaces. The People's Mosque Masjidul Umam, or The People's Mosque (TPM), is part of a nongovernmental organization called The...

СПІВПРАЦЯ МІЖНАРОДНИХ ТА ВІТЧИЗНЯНИХ НЕУРЯДОВИХ ОРГАНІЗАЦІЙ ПРИ ПІДГОТОВЦІ УПРАВЛІНЦІВ ТА ДЕПУТАТІВ МІСЦЕВИХ РАД

The article notes that today a key place in civil society belongs to non-governmental organizations (NGOs), as they serve as a link between citizens (business) and government. During their activities in Ukraine, international NGOs have offered and implemented a wide range of services, as well as developed and implemented various projects aimed at developing various sectors of the economy and activating civil society. One of the points of the NGO's efforts is the education of local government officials and deputies of local councils, which is especially relevant in the framework of the implementation of decentralization reform, which has been taking place in Ukraine since 2014. At the same time, deputies must have knowledge and skills in very broad areas of government, and their political literacy directly affects the success of democratic change in Ukraine, especially changes at the local level, and the dynamic socio-economic development of local communities. In this case, non-governmental organizations and non-governmental foundations come to the fore, which in close cooperation can give deputies of local councils the opportunity to learn throughout their lives and update their knowledge in the areas of governance that they need today. One such organization is the All- Ukrainian NGO Institute of Political Education (IPE), which has been conducting non-formal education activities for local government officials and local council members for more than 10 years with the support of international NGOs. Thus, in the period 2011-2018, more than 1,000 deputies of local councils and public activists from different regions of Ukraine took part in the training within the project "Strengthening Local Democracy" (supported by NED). In 2020, IPO began cooperating with another international non-governmental organization - the DOBRE Program. In 2020-2021, more than 500 people (392 deputies and 141 local government officials) took part in the training with the support of this Program. Participants in training projects can now not only better manage their own status, rights and responsibilities as people's deputies, but also know the specifics of the budget process, land and communal spheres. In addition, the training included soft-skills units aimed at training deputies to better communicate their views, defend their position, communicate effectively with opponents, voters, and more. The study concludes that international NGOs form an educational platform for local government representatives, deputies of local councils, and Ukrainian NGOs on the basis of this platform create an educational environment aimed at activating Ukrainian society, strengthening the influence of civil society on relations with the authorities, promoting Ukraine's European integration and improving the lives of Ukrainian citizens.

Моделирование деятельности региональных органов власти по формированию политической грамотности молодежи в республиканский период (1917–2017 гг.): на материалах Иркутской области

Моделирование деятельности региональных органов власти по формированию политической грамотности молодежи в республиканский период (1917–2017 гг.): на материалах Иркутской области

Identifying an Educational Response to the Prevent Policy: Student Perspectives on Learning about Terrorism, Extremism and Radicalisation

ABSTRACTSchool responses to the Prevent agenda have tended to focus primarily on ‘safeguarding’ approaches, which essentially perceive some young people as being ‘at risk’ and potentially as presenting a risk to others. In this article, we consider evidence from secondary school students who experienced a curriculum project on terrorism, extremism and radicalisation. We argue that a curriculum response which addresses the acquisition of knowledge can build students’ critical capacity for engagement with radicalisation through enhanced political literacy and media literacy. We further argue this represents a genuinely educational response to Prevent, as opposed to a more restrictive securitised approach.

Peranan media sosial dalam pengembangan melek politik mahasiswa

This research is used quantitative approach and descriptive method. Instrument used by the research is skala Survey of Study Habits and Attitudes questionnaire to describing media social using by students and Likert Scale questionnaire to describing student’s political literacy. Data analysis using Rank Spearman Order.The result show that social media used by students 48% good, 26% fair, and 15% poor. Student’s political literacy are 36% good, 43% fair, and 21% poor. The role of social media in the development of student's political literacy is 54,79% affected by social media, and 45,21% affected by other factors.

THE EXPENDITURES OF THE CITIES BUDGETS OF THE UKRAINIAN SSR ON THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE EDUCATIONAL AND CULTURAL INSTITUTIONS (1923–1928)

The searching for new ways to finance Ukrainian education, science and culture leads to the studying of the historical experience of the previous years. These lessons could be very helpful. Nevertheless, this topic is still less researched in the Ukrainian historiography.The article deals with the problems of the material support of the educational and cultural institutions in the cities of the Ukrainian SSR during the 1920s. The main attention is paid to the highlighting of the role of the cities budgets to the problem mentioned above. The process of the legislative regulation of the financing of the educational and cultural spheres and in particular – the division of the funding for the institutions of the social education, the vocational education and the political literacy between the state and local budgets is traced on the basis of the analysis of the normative legal acts of the Ukrainian Soviet authorities. The working out the operational and reporting documentation of the different departments, statistical data and the materials of the periodicals make it possible to reveal the practical consequences of transferring a large part of education spending to the local finances. In the early 20’s XX century this decision led to the reducing of the educational institutions, the number of teachers and, of course, the number of children covered with education.Studying the expenditure part of the cities budgets allows us to determine how much money was allocated to the development of the educational and cultural institutions in 1923–1928, to outline the priority of the financing of the certain spheres and to highlight the specific appointment of the educational expenditures.The research showed that budget spending on education had been steadily increasing. Ukrainian cities spent more than 80 million rubles on the item during that period. Most of these funds were absorbed by social education institutions. The institutions of the political literacy were on the second place and the institutions of the vocational education were the last. At the same time, more than half of all the educational expenditures were spent on the salary of the pedagogical and technical workers. The Ukrainian cities directed the average 19.5 % of the total cities budgets to the development of the education and culture at the end of the 1920s. However, it was not enough to satisfy all the needs of the urban citizens. This problem waspartly solved by the transferring of some institutions on the system of patronage, partly – by the introduction of tuition fees, but mainly – by self-taxation of the population of the Ukrainian SSR.

Assessment Of Political Literacy Among Female Students At The University Of Balochistan

Political literacy is sited at the periphery of political empowerment designs the real driver for good governance. This paper assesses the prevalence of political literacy based on political knowledge-attitude-practice among the female students in the University of Balochistan. We used KAP (knowledge-attitude-practice) analysis method to create the primary data. The qualitative factors analysis allow us to deduct the decline in the strength of political literacy when it moves from thought to action; sequenced as political knowledge factor found 79%, political attitude factor found 58%, and political practice factor found 34%.The paper suggests that political literacy higher in knowledge and least in practices warrants the ineffectiveness of legally granted political empowerment to women in Balochistan. The policy makers may utilize this study for the effective women’s political empowerment to achieve good governance vis-a-vis incurring economic development in and around Balochistan.

A qualitative study of human rights education: An insight from the United Kingdom and Malaysia bridging the curriculum needs of students

Abstract This study aimed to investigate teachers’ opinions in terms of human rights education (HRE). The study was conducted in four schools including two faith schools and two secular schools in England and in Malaysia. Semi-structured interviews of eight teachers, four from England and four from Malaysia, were used as a qualitative instrument to collect data for this study to know the needs of students in terms of HRE. The data of interviews were fully transcribed and scrutinized and, for each question, the responses were categorized. A further coding process then took place to identify categories that could be grouped together. This study provided the most promising findings to develop HRE among students. The findings revealed that in England, students study human rights in relation to moral responsibility, social involvement and political literacy; in Malaysia students start their topics by knowing themselves, friends and family, school and community. The results also revealed that in England, a belief in God underpinned HRE in the faith school but not the secular, whereas in Malaysia such a belief underpinned the curriculum regardless of type of school.

Stemadvies via het Internet: Politiek begrip in een digitale informatiemaatschappij

Abstract Voting Advice via Internet: Political literacy in a digital information society The central aim in our NWO ‘Comprehensible Language’ project (2012-2016) was to investigate to what extent Voting Advice Applications (VAAs) intentionally and unintentionally affect political knowledge and political attitudes. In this article, we present an overview of four years of research. First, we investigated reasons for use of VAAs, distinguishing three types of users: checkers (well-informed, enjoying to check the VAA), seekers (looking for political information to base their vote on) and doubters (looking for information but cynical about politics). The proportions of these groups differ for first vs. second order elections. Second, we investigated whether VAAs increase users’ political knowledge. We found that users report an increase of internal efficacy due to their VAA use, but we did not find an increase in actual political knowledge. Third, a field experiment showed systematic effects of framing variation on the answers to VAA assertions, which might suggest different underlying knowledge representations. Finally, think aloud research showed that users experience considerable problems with understanding the assertions semantically and pragmatically, as well as with interpreting the results screen. Additionally, we found that users view the result screen as an end point rather than as a starting point for deliberation. We discuss some implications for theory and practice.

Imagining renewable energy: Towards a Social Energy Systems approach to community renewable energy projects in the Global South

Rural community energy projects in the Global South have too frequently been framed within a top-down technologically-driven framework that limits their ability to provide sustainable solutions to energy poverty and improving livelihoods. This framing is linked to how energy interventions are being imagined and constructed by key actors in the sector, via particular sociotechnical imaginaries through which a set of increasingly universalised energy futures for rural communities is prescribed. Projects are too frequently reverse-engineered through the lens of particular combinations of technologies, financial models and delivery mechanisms, rather than by attending to the particular energy needs/aspirations of individual communities. Assumptions over the association between energy access and livelihood enhancement have also reinforced a technocratic determination of appropriate system scale and a search for universalised ‘scaleable’ delivery models. There is, however, no necessary causation between scaleability and outcomes – appropriate implementation scales are not purely determined by technical or financial considerations, rather it is the social scale via which optimum forms of local participation and ownership can be achieved. To operationalise this concern for social space we propose a Social Energy Systems (SES) approach that is advanced via exploration of the interactions between three distinct but mutually edifying variants of energy literacy – energy systems literacy, project community literacy and political literacy.

Roles of Democratic Volunteers in Developing Political Literacy

One of priorities on political development post- reformation movement is improving civic political literacy. The meaning of the literacy has been broadened. It is not merely related to exclusive political knowledge, but also refers to promote the effectiveness and participation of civic in daily basis political movement. This paper describes the role of democratic volunteers as facilitators of political education or community based-voters education in previous general election in 2014. Further, the paper is also aimed at describing the roles of the democratic volunteers in implementing public political education and conducting other efforts in developing civic political literacy.

The narrative of ‘equality of chances’ as an approach to interpreting PIAAC results on perceived political efficacy, social trust and volunteering and the quest for political literacy

The article focuses on the theoretically and empirically addressed question of whether workforce literacy strategies in research and policies may tend to exclude relevant fields of literacy, which have emancipatory chances for participants, but which regularly fail to include low qualified or literate adults (Hufer, 2013), namely the area of basic civic education or political literacy. First, a theoretical discussion makes use of recent publications. The relevance of basic civic education will be discussed using contemporary theories, which point at a crisis of democracy and explain this by the spread of income and capital (Piketty, 2014) and its legitimation (Rosanvallon, 2013). Further detail is provided by using Rosanvallons criticism of the term ‘equality of chances’. The everyday unfairness, covered by the narrative of equal chances, leads to peoples’ disengagement from reciprocal relations and disintegration of solidarity within a society. This theoretical approach will then be supplemented by empirical data. The empirical research question is: Do adults with low literacy skills agree less often on feelings of political efficacy and social trust than adults with high literacy skills? Do they engage less often in volunteering than adults with high literacy skills? This is based the PIAAC 2012 dataset which relates literacy on the one hand with variables of political efficacy, social trust and volunteering on the other hand. Results will be compared with volunteer and youth surveys. Furthermore, the connection of a “Nouvelle Droite” (contemporary right-wing populism) and peoples’ low feelings of political efficacy will be reflected in order to refute the stereotype that marginalized groups automatically become voters of right-wing populists.

An Evidence-Based Approach to the Use of Social Media to Promote Political Literacy among Youth in the Sultanate of Oman

This paper presents the findings of a review of literature to understand the issues facing the Sultanate of Oman in this area, and to identify international examples of best practice in the use of social media to promote political literacy among young people. Evidence-based recommendations for the Government of the Sultanate of Oman are developed, which include the provision of social media literacy training at school and university level, as well as the establishment of an online citizen engagement portal. By adopting international best practice in the use of social media to promote political literacy and citizen engagement among young people, it is believed that the Sultanate of Oman can provide a model for other Middle Eastern Arab states, helping to reduce the potential for political conflict in these countries and promoting participatory approaches to policy-making which reflect the growing demands of young citizens.

In-Between Fatalism and Leverage: The Different Effects of Socioeconomic Variables on Students' Civic and Political Experiences and Literacy.

Purpose: This article explores the classical relationship between socioeconomic status and political domains, and the need to include different variables (contextual and individual) to measure the effect of economic and cultural capitals on youth participation and knowledge. Method: A multivariate analysis of covariance was performed on a sample of 732 Portuguese students, from Grades 8 and 11, in order to analyse how different socioeconomic variables related to family and schooling contexts have an effect on their political knowledge and experiences. Findings: The article highlights the differential role of socioeconomic variables on political knowledge and participatory patterns. Low economic capital instigates participation, while high cultural capital is related with higher political literacy. However, both forms of capital interact with the schooling context, revealing more complex patterns of behaviour and knowledge in students attending public and private schools.

PENGARUH PEMBELAJARAN PENDIDIKAN KEWARGANEGARAAN DALAM MEMBINA MELEK POLITIK SISWA SMA NEGERI 2 PURWOKERTO

This research generally aimed to describe the effects of civic learning in nurturing students’ political literacy, and specifically aimed to examine and discover the effects of civic components application that consisted of civic learning and competences toward the level of students’ political literacy. The process of this research was conducted through quantitative approach. The research method used descriptive method of survey technique. From this research results, it could be generally concluded that: First, civic learning through various democratic learning methods that strengthened the effects of civic education in nurturing students’ political literacy. Second, the better quality of students’ civic competences the higher level of students’ political literacy. Third, an effective and meaningful civic competences was directly able to improve students’ political literacy.Key words: civic education and political literacy.

Development of the civil society as a factor of the implementation of «good governance» principle in Ukraine

Principles of «good governance» have been investigated in the article and the impact of civil society development on their effective implementation has been determined. In a broad sense, “good governance” is understood as democratic, responsible, effective, transparent and accountable governance. It has been emphasized in the study that “good governance” is an effective form of public participation in the implementation of public policies, establishing proper coordination and cooperation between the government and the society on the principles of “subject - subject” partnership relations. Unlike the public administration, which implements already made decisions, “good governance” takes care of policy of society’s participation in decision-making and transparency of the process of the decision-making. Principles of “good governance” have been analyzed in the article, as there are defined in the European Strategy for Innovation and “good governance” at the local level, UN Program “Governance and sustainable development of human potential” and the UN Program for Human Settlements (UN-HABITAT). Based on this analysis, the influence of the civil society development on the effective implementation of the principles of “good governance”, quality of decisions adopted and approved decision, which were made with the involvement of civil society, have been proved. Taking this into account, the complex problems that characterize the state of civil society in Ukraine have been examined in the article. They include: lack of institutional, financial and human resource capacity of non-governmental organizations; underdeveloped civil and political culture, low political literacy; high level of the public support for the paternalistic nature of the state; distrust between the authorities and the public society; inadequate implementation of mechanisms for public participation in the formation and implementation of public policy. The following conclusion has been made that these problems prevent the effective implementation of standards and the principles of “good governance” in Ukraine and they must be solved. The next solutions have been suggested in the article: to support the creation of high political, civil and legal culture of the population, who understand its rights and levers of influence over the authorities; to change the government’s attitude to the public society being a partner, not the opponent; to intensify the process of privatization of all spheres of social life, the development of different forms of public authorities and social initiatives; to expand public levers of influence at the government. As a result, the assumption has been made that the implementation of these steps will influence positively the further development of civil society and the effective implementation of the principles of “good governance” in Ukraine.