Showing papers in "Citizenship, Social and Economics Education in 2013"
TL;DR: This paper explored the community structures and identified significant members in the student network, and shed light on understanding of the formation of young activists' sense of civic identity in the Internet age, and argued that the role of adult activists and role of social media are inadequately researched in civic education studies.
Abstract: An extraordinary large-scale student movement in Hong Kong successfully forced the government to withdraw a patriotic education proposal in 2012. The student group has attracted serious scrutiny from the pro-government camp because of the students' unusually young age and remarkable mobilising power. This study aims to explore the community structures and identify significant members in the student network, and to shed light on understanding of the formation of young activists' sense of civic identity in the Internet age. Techniques of social network analysis were employed. It is argued that the role of adult activists and the role of social media are inadequately researched in civic education studies. Moreover, it is further argued that the post-colonial city presents a kind of phobia of talking about the adult–student relationship in civic action, which may risk hindering rigorous discussion of youth civic engagement.
22 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors compared the financial literacy of high school students and found that personal financial literacy is becoming increasingly important in the modern world, especially for young people, and compared the two groups.
Abstract: Personal financial literacy is becoming increasingly important in the modern world, especially for young people. In this article, the authors compare the financial literacy of high school students ...
18 citations
TL;DR: The authors compared the development of Taiwanese and English Citizenship Education (CE) curricula and teachers' perceptions about the liberal and communitarian constructs underpinning the curriculum in both countries, and found that the English curriculum leans towards a communitarian type of active citizenship, but teachers in England mention a gap between the theory and practic...
Abstract: This article compares the development of citizenship education (CE) in Taiwan and England, as well as teachers' perceptions about the liberal and communitarian constructs underpinning the curriculum in both countries. Due to distinct social and political environments, the Taiwanese and English CE curricula demonstrate an interesting contrast. Until 1987, the Taiwanese curriculum grew under an authoritarian regime which had implemented the citizenship curriculum in 1945; in England, however, CE was not added to the school timetable until 2002, after a long debate about the controversial and potential influence of the subject. This article first offers an overview of the development of CE in Taiwan and England. Following this preliminary understanding, interview accounts with 20 CE teachers are included to share insights based on actual practical experience. The English curriculum leans towards a communitarian type of ‘active citizenship’, but teachers in England mention a gap between the theory and practic...
15 citations
TL;DR: In this article, a group of 10 young students who claimed a certain political interest and attended a social studies course in Danish upper secondary school were selected for interview and a life story approach was used in the interviews and in the analytical approach.
Abstract: This article focuses on students' first political learning and explores the research question, ‘What dynamic patterns of political learning can be explored among a sample of young, diverse Danish students' first political interests?’ The authors use theories of learning in their analytical approach to students' stories. A group of 10 young students who claimed a certain political interest and attended a social studies course in Danish upper secondary school were selected for interview. A ‘life story approach’ was used in the interviews and in the analytical approach. The findings show that, contrary to many ‘single-agent’ studies in the tradition of political socialisation, all of the students display a complex pattern of political influence. The influence from various agents like school, family, the media and peers is also rather complex. The students are not passive recipients of influence, but active constructors of their political life. Their emotions and social environment are highly important for th...
12 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors take Iris Marion Young's defence of communicative democracy as a framework for exploration and critique and apply Young's reservations about deliberation as an appropriate description of interaction between citizens and as a model for learning in citizenship education.
Abstract: Citizenship education and education in the arts are not usually regarded as related. In this application of normative political theory to the nature and purpose of creative and arts-based education, the authors argue that they share some of their basic features and can complement each other in practice. Distinguishing artistic education from aesthetic education, the authors take Iris Marion Young's defence of communicative democracy as a framework for exploration and critique. This enables the authors to apply Young's reservations about deliberation - understood as rational discourse that leads to the best argument winning - as an appropriate description of interaction between citizens and as a model for learning in citizenship education. Through selected examples, the authors show how Young's notions of greeting, rhetoric, storytelling and gift-giving can foster forms of democratic citizenship, through the arts, which escape the dangers of the neo-liberal forms of citizenship implicated in an economy of exchange.
12 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors compare how Swedish school principals understand basic values that are important in fulfilling the Swedish national curriculum, Curriculum 1994 (a new curriculum which came into operation in autumn 2011), considering Bronfenbrenner's ecological systems theory.
Abstract: The purpose of this study is to compare how Swedish school principals understand basic values that are important in fulfilling the Swedish national curriculum, Curriculum 1994 (a new curriculum, Curriculum 2011, which came into operation in autumn 2011, has only minor differences compared to the common text in Curriculum 1994), considering Bronfenbrenner's ecological systems theory. Two rounds (in 1998 and 2009) of somewhat different interview questions were conducted in the southern part of Sweden, and the data analysis technique of content analysis was chosen. The main results show a need to add levels into the original Bronfenbrenner ecological systems theory regarding basic values in the Swedish compulsory school system.
7 citations
TL;DR: This paper explored how teaching about identity in Australia has been framed by the recent historical and political context and argued that teachers need help in developing the skills and confidence to see the emerging Australian Curriculum as a framework and not a straitjacket which prevents them from exploring unarticulated identity issues.
Abstract: This article explores how teaching about identity in Australia has been framed by the recent historical and political context. It analyses the influential characterisation of Australian identity during John Howard's period in office between 1996 and 2007. The findings of Australian education researchers relating to young people's sense of what it means to be Australian are reviewed. The author goes on to discuss the curriculum content, language, and underpinning intellectual frameworks of key areas of the emerging Australian Curriculum. Methodologically, the article draws upon the tools of critical policy and discourse analysis. The History, Geography, Civics and Citizenship curricula and related cross-curricular priorities are analysed in relation to their articulation of learning about identity. Some conclusions are drawn as to how Australian teachers can best be supported to address issues relating to identity in their school contexts. The author argues that teachers need help in developing the skills and confidence to see the emerging Australian Curriculum as a framework and not a straitjacket which prevents them from exploring unarticulated identity issues. He further concludes that there need to be curriculum opportunities to explore the political dimensions of identity issues in critical and participative ways.
7 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the connections between ethics, economics, and policy towards higher education, using a number of perspectives, are discussed, and it concludes that social choices will rely on the application of both economic and ethical theory if social harmony and cohesion are to be maintained; and that the development of an educated population through policies which are economically sustainable and socially just, and with the university as an essential public good is a key to this.
Abstract: This comment was given to an international panel on the economics of education at the invitation of the Beijing Forum, China, on 3 November 2012. It was published in Chinese in Volume 11, 2013, of the Peking University Education Review. It considers the connections between ethics, economics and policy towards higher education, using a number of perspectives. It concludes that social choices will rely on the application of both economic and ethical theory if social harmony and cohesion are to be maintained; and that the development of an educated population through policies which are economically sustainable and socially just, and with the university as an essential public good, is a key to this.
7 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors discuss findings from the project "Political Literacy in Japan and England" and follow up on work published in this journal in 2011, which involved two sc...
Abstract: The authors discuss findings from the project ‘Political Literacy in Japan and England’. They do so to follow up on work published in this journal in 2011. The now completed project involved two sc...
6 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors conducted interviews with staff and pupils at one school, and relevant school documentation was scrutinised, in order to map and understand the place of citizenship education in one of England's independent schools.
Abstract: Numerous studies have identified the nature and effect of the various versions of the national curriculum for citizenship education in state schools in England. However, considerably less attention has been given to independent schools in England, even though they do not have to follow the national curriculum and their pupils will go on to play significant roles in society. Interviews were conducted with staff and pupils at one school, and relevant school documentation was scrutinised, in order to map and understand the place of citizenship education in one of England's independent schools. The main purpose of the study was to gain some understanding of how independent school pupils perceive and are prepared for their roles as citizens of influence.
5 citations
TL;DR: The authors argue that global citizenship fails to take our local context into account, and thus serves as a contradiction to our immediate epistemologies, and argue that cosmopolitan ideals should continue to teach based on cosmo-global ideals, despite the shortcomings of global citizenship as a concept.
Abstract: This article examines why we should continue to teach based upon cosmopolitan ideals, despite the shortfalls of global citizenship as a concept. The author first defines and critically engages with both cosmopolitanism and global citizenship, before identifying where these concepts originate from and tracking their progression throughout time. The article then discusses the different views and values attached to each of these concepts, aiming to distinguish what differences there are between the two. Simultaneously, the author uses examples both from academic literature and his own experiences to date in order to place the theory of these two concepts within the context of modern-day life. Ultimately, however, the author argues to highlight the practical differences which separate cosmopolitan ideals and global citizenship as a concept, concluding that global citizenship fails to take our local context into account, and thus serves as a contradiction to our immediate epistemologies.
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors show second-language pupils' experiences in school and their understanding of school through analysis of how they tell about the multi-lingual primary school and i...
Abstract: The purpose of this article is to show second-language pupils’ experiences in school and their understanding of school through analysis of how they tell about the multi-lingual primary school and i ...
TL;DR: In this article, the author argues that it is more appropriate to teach citizenship through other subjects than to limit it to one statutory subject, and he is based on three importa...
Abstract: In this article, the author argues that it is more appropriate to teach citizenship through other subjects than to limit it to one statutory subject. The author's argument is based on three importa...
TL;DR: In this article, an analysis of the external evaluation reports of 298 Portuguese schools for the academic years 2006-07, 2007-08 and 2008-09 was carried out to identify local community involvement in school life and the processes and limitations on the involvement of two groups of actors -parents/guardians and pupils.
Abstract: This article discusses the ways in which the community is involved in Portuguese school management. It is based on an analysis of the external evaluation reports of 298 Portuguese schools for the academic years 2006–07, 2007–08 and 2008–09. The corpus analysed allowed the identification of two main aspects of the participation processes: (1) local community involvement in school life and (2) the processes and limitations on the involvement of two groups of actors – parents/guardians and pupils. Although the growing involvement of different actors in school management activities has been verified, the participation processes are not consolidated in the same way in different school organisations and in the different territories in which they are located. The presence and involvement of different actors in the schools studied is congruent with a larger understanding of the school community including pupils, teachers, parents/guardians and other actors from the local community to which the school belongs. Thi...
TL;DR: The authors explored cultural discontinuities between Canadian teachers and Chinese students enrolled in Canadian offshore schools through a self-study of teacher and teacher education practices, and discussed strategies and techniques to ameliorate teacher-student interaction, conceptions of teaching and learning, assessment norms and voluntary and involuntary plagiarism.
Abstract: Through a self-study of teacher and teacher education practices, this article explores cultural discontinuities between Canadian teachers and Chinese students enrolled in Canadian offshore schools. The methodology of self-study provides a means to think about, understand and develop teachers' practice in contexts where intercultural diversity impacts on best practice. Strategies and techniques to ameliorate teacher–student interaction, conceptions of teaching and learning, assessment norms, and voluntary and involuntary plagiarism are discussed. The strategies and techniques presented have the potential to contribute to the development of culturally relevant teaching pedagogy which aims to negate cultural discontinuities between teachers and students.
TL;DR: In this paper, an exploratory study was undertaken to study levels of comprehension of certain themes of sustainable development in adolescents in Spanish and Mexican high school students in aspects relating to waste and recycling, several forms of pollution and contamination, ideas on scarcity of natural resources, and population increase.
Abstract: Environmental education has been included in the school curricula of many countries in the last 15 years. Implementation has been not as successful as expected due to various constraints reported in several research projects. Its achievement remains uncertain and more research is required in all areas of education. In order to propose a curriculum change, research is needed on how and what students really understand and know concerning sustainable development. An exploratory study was undertaken to study levels of comprehension of certain themes of sustainable development in adolescents. Interviews were conducted with 40 Spanish and Mexican high school students in aspects relating to waste and recycling, several forms of pollution and contamination, ideas on scarcity of natural resources, and population increase. Data illustrate that students are aware of environmental issues, but lack knowledge of how ecological, social and economic aspects are related in sustainable development, showing that information...
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors focused on the financial education of children and found that religious students displayed higher financial literacy in comparison to secular students, and students of high SES showed a higher level of financial literacy compared with low SES students.
Abstract: This article focuses on the financial education of children. Education is a key factor in achieving economic development and socio-economic equality. Financial education can provide children with some of the additional knowledge and skills required to this end. Second and third grade Israeli students (n = 121), enrolled in three differently situated schools (in terms of religiosity level and socio-economic status (SES)), filled in a multiple-choice questionnaire constructed especially for this study, designed as a pre-test before starting a course on financial education. The analysis included an ANOVA test and t-tests. Results revealed an overall low level of financial literacy amongst Israeli children. Religious students displayed higher financial literacy in comparison to secular students, and students of high SES showed a higher level of financial literacy compared with low SES students. Mistaken preconceptions were also revealed. The insights gained will contribute towards developing more effective financial education for children, thereby improving their chances of future success.
TL;DR: In this article, the authors examined the impact of students' citizenship status on science education relative to labor market and university expectations in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and found that expectations and understanding of the labor market, and university needs differ by students' national and non-national citizenship status in Saudi Arabia, in particular.
Abstract: This study comparatively examines the impact of students' citizenship status on science education relative to labor market and university expectations in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Specifically, the 2007 Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) provides science education teaching, learning and achievement data from the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and each of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries, including Bahrain, Dubai (United Arab Emirates), Kuwait, Oman and Qatar. Evidence suggests that the science knowledge and skills taught and learned in Saudi and other GCC schools contribute to the human capital of the students as future labor market participants and impact their future opportunity expectations relative to science. However, the results show that expectations and understanding of the labor market and university needs differ by students' national and non-national citizenship status in Saudi Arabia, in particular.
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors describe an economics-based game they have developed to instruct student teachers in the value of games and gaming for developing reasoning and decision-making skills in economics in K-12 students (5-18-year-olds).
Abstract: The authors describe an economics-based game they have developed to instruct student teachers in the value of games and gaming for developing reasoning and decision-making skills in economics in K-12 students (5–18-year-olds). The game is designed to progress through each grade level so that by high school students have a thorough appreciation and understanding of how the world economy is interconnected. Gaming is a feature that both authors are using as part of their curriculum within their social studies methods courses. In particular, the authors are encouraging the use of more sophisticated modes of instruction for elementary teachers in order to redeem the value of the social studies within the elementary curriculum.