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Helen Haste October 24, 2008

Why it is critical that we are critical: contesting 'commonsense' about citizenship and civic education. Helen Haste October 24, 2008. Not only HOW… WHY? WHETHER?. “Young people are not voting…”. Why this is a ‘moral’ panic: Nature of democracy

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Helen Haste October 24, 2008

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  1. Why it is critical that we are critical: contesting 'commonsense' about citizenship and civic education Helen Haste October 24, 2008

  2. Not only HOW… • WHY? • WHETHER?

  3. “Young people are not voting…” Why this is a ‘moral’ panic: • Nature of democracy • Questions about equipping people for effective adulthood

  4. Broadly, our agenda is that young people should voluntarily buy into a system of democracy and so ensure their active participation.Within this, ‘critical awareness’ is designed to make young people take responsibility for what they have chosen to believeRarely do we educate for ‘resistance’

  5. Four general models • Strengthening national identity and common values (eg in defence against a stated or covert ‘threat’) • Strengthening social capital and commitment to individual responsibility through community cohesion • Ensuring freedom and the rights of individuals and groups • Knowing how to access and use the conduits of power.

  6. In what version(s) of these are we as educators complicit? • What is being ignored, denied or sidelined as these goals are pursued? • What is, in fact, achievable in/through education?

  7. Challenges to assumptions • What do we learn from ‘new’ democracies • Single issue politics and the breakdown of the Left-Right spectrum • Challenges to liberalism, especially from communitarianism • The emergence of new technologies and the transformation of democratic processes

  8. Rethinking the nature of ‘participation’

  9. Patterns of engagement Conventional participation (voting, working for party, contacting member of Parliament, signing petitions) Making one’s voice heard (protest, boycotts) Helping in the community

  10. Action factorsDerived from items relating to likely future actions and the attributes of the’good citizen’ • Active monitoring • Conventional participation • Making one’s voice heard • Joining organisations • Helping the community and environment

  11. How important is each of the following in being a good citizen? (1) % Not at allimportant % Not very important % Veryimportant % Fairlyimportant % Don’t know 90 Obeying the law 73 Participating in activities to benefit people in the community 69 Taking part in activities toprotect the environment 67 Voting in elections 60 Taking part in activities promoting human rights 56 Talking with your family andfriends about political and social issues in the news Base: All young people aged 11–21 (897), March – May 2005 Source: Nestlé Social Research Programme / MORI

  12. How important is each of the following in being a good citizen? (2) % Not at allimportant % Not very important % Veryimportant % Fairlyimportant % Don’t know 55 Following political issues in the newspaper or radio and television 48 Participating in a peaceful protest against a law you believe unjust 46 Knowing about the country’s history 21 Joining a political party Base: All young people aged 11–21 (897), March – May 2005 Source: Nestlé Social Research Programme / MORI

  13. IEA study; what teachers thought pupils should be taught: Protecting the environment: over 90% in 25 countries Promoting human rights: over 90% in 23 countries Participating in peaceful protest: > 60% overall, > 80% in 11 countries Be aware of the importance of ignoring a law that violates human rights? >55% in 26 countries, > 85% in 8 countries Belonging to a political party: less than 20% in 26 countries (exceptions were Cyprus and Romania)

  14. Rethinking how we think about values, beliefs and motivation behind civic engagement

  15. Thinking of values not as fixed ‘ideologies’ but as the tools for actively making sense of one’s experience and environment

  16. KnowledgePraxisAffect

  17. Technology and change; revolutionising democracy?Engaged v. disengaged youth?Media v. civic engagement?

  18. How change happens More of the same Quantity into quality The knight’s move

  19. Democratisation of communication and end of the ‘top-down’ model of controlled conduits • Access to information and to communities • Growth of virtual communities • Empowerment through both the active generation of information, and its communication

  20. BUT…….

  21. What we should NOT be doing… • Trying to use the new tools (or toys) for what we were trying to do before • Assuming that technology is an elixir for democracy or youth participation • Thinking that a technology ‘gap’ is either about hardware or skills

  22. We should question our assumptions about our current practices and goals, both with regard to the objectives of civic education and the means by which we think we can achieve these • We should never assume ‘more of the same’, but consider how developments (political, technological, methodological) may transform not only HOW we do something, but WHY we do it.

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