Journal of Social Science Education (JSSE - Universität Bielefeld)
Not a member yet
830 research outputs found
Sort by
Education through democracy – Civic activation of the youth : Self-reflection on program evaluation methodology
Get PDFPurpose: The objective of the paper is to present the effects of the evaluation study of the Polish project “Youth Vote +: Social and civic activation of young people”1 – a comprehensive education program in the field of civic engagement, based on three practical pillars: conscious electoral participation (Pillar 1), involvement in civic activities (Pillar 2) and political discussion and opinion expression (Pillar 3).
Methodology: We developed an evaluation study that was aligned with the nature of the program. To capture the change in civic competence and skills, we used quantitative (a retrospective pretest design and one-group pretest-posttest design) and qualitative (focus group interviews) methods. The former enabled us to achieve robust measurement of increases in competence, while the latter gave us better insight into participants’ perceptions of the project.
Findings: The evaluation study documented the effectiveness of the program regarding a behavioral dimension, but cognitive development was insufficient relative to goals. The study also allowed for critical evaluation of the program and its modifications
Transforming rural education in Colombia through family participation: The case of school as a learning community
Get PDFPurpose: This article studies the impact of the implementation of learning communities in a rural context of Colombia, specifically concerning the improvements related to learning and social cohesion.
Design/methodology/approach: This longitudinal case study analyses the process and the impacts of the transformation of a school in 2015 and the subsequent years of 2016 and 2017. The data analysed include standardized external tests, a documentary analysis of the school and interviews with students, family members and the schoolteacher.
Findings: The results obtained indicate academic improvement within the school with results that exceed the national average of Colombia. The results also report how violence has been reduced by 80%. All of these outcomes were motivated by the participation of the community in the school.
Practical implications: The conclusions drawn are relevant as they show a success case that overcame the difficulties related to the lack of accessibility and quality of rural education in Colombia
Researching global citizenship education: Towards a critical approach
Get PDFPurpose: This article contains a reflection on researching in global citizenship education with a critical approach that aims to transcend the paradigm of methodological nationalism.
Design/methodology/approach: Starting from outlining different dimensions of global citizenship (education), and looking at the current research situation in GCE, we propose a methodological turn that overcomes the nation-state paradigm as a base for critical research on GCE. Subsequently, using the concept of transnational capital as an analytical tool, we show – in the example of two biographical case studies in an international school in a large city of West Germany – how to put a critical research on GCE into action.
Findings: The article demonstrates, on the one hand, how a critical approach to research aspects of global citizenship education can be taken, starting from a transnational research stance. On the other hand, it presents new perspectives and challenges for critical research in GCE
Book Review: Bourn, D. (ed.) (2020). The Bloomsbury Handbook of Global Education and Learning
Get PDFMaking social studies in standards-based curricula
Get PDFPurpose: The aim of this article is to critically explore the complex relations among the triad comprising standards-based curriculum, the curriculum concept of ‘competences’ and the subject of civics in Swedish curricula.
Design/methodology/approach: The theoretical framework is based on Bernstein’s (2000) two models of pedagogy, the competence model and the performance model. Following Deng and Luke (2008), we analyse the conceptions of ‘knowledge’ in the subject of civics and explore how a civics syllabus in a standards-based curriculum can be understood and expanded in relation to a classical typology of social studies by Barth and Shermis (1970).
Finding: The syllabi of civics includes a clear orientation towards social efficiency. Moreover, the abilities, the concept used instead of competences, are strongly linked to the subject matter. Civics is thus understood as a mélange of abilities and in-built subject-specific content. We identify a new category in the typology of social studies, which is social studies as performance-based generic competences
Hungary:: Past and present of social science education in Hungary
Get PDFPurpose: We intent to provide a comprehensive picture of Hungarian social science education, to review the constituents of social science literacy, a systematic analysis of the curriculum and its changes since 1989 and of the available research in this field.
Design/methodology/approach: The findings are based on the analysis of educational documents (e. g. curricula) and the review of the research publications in the field.
Findings: Social science education is cross-curricular in Hungary. Among the different knowledge fields history has a decisive and dominant role. Other social science topics are mostly abandoned in everyday teaching practice. There is a growing centralization of the educational arena (e.g. government approved limited number of textbooks) and a growing emphasis on national identity and patriotism and a decreasing emphasis on Europe. The cross-curricular nature of social science education would require well trained teachers who are able to think critically and in a complex way themselves, however teacher training and classroom practice also support the hegemony of history teaching
Youth activism, engagement and the development of new civic learning spaces: Issues about impact
Get PDFPurpose: We develop a positive but critical appreciation of the nature and meaning of impact as current constituted as UK universities prepare for the government-led evaluation of research quality in REF2021.
Methodology: We describe and then discuss impact (generally, and then specifically in relation to one recently completed project). That project was funded by the Leverhulme Trust and titled Youth activism, engagement and the development of new civic learning spaces (see:https://www.york.ac.uk/education/research/cresj/researchthemes/citizenship-education/leverhulmeyouthactivism/)
Findings: Currently, there is potential for corporate arguments about impact to have a negative effect on UK universities. It would be preferable to consider impact in relation to general arguments about strengthening societal culture by generating greater respect for knowledge and clarifying its relationship with society; and by knowledge based arguments in that a specific evaluation of impact would allow us to know more about the nature of the research-practice interface
Edwards, D. Brent Jr. (2019): Global Education Policy, impact evaluations, and alternatives. The political economy of knowledge production. : Cham, Switzerland: Palgrave Macmillan. 162 pages. £20.04. ISBN 978-3-319-75142-9 (ebook).
Get PDFStructuring Arguments in Civic Education - An Explorative Mixed- Methods Study
Get PDFPurpose: The aim of this article is to show the underlying structure of developed argumentations in five role-plays recorded in civic education in a vocational school.
Method: Two models were developed to analyse discursive moves and to analyse complexity levels within students’ arguments.
Findings: The models show the quality of argumentations in terms of structure from the two different perspectives of discursive moves and of complexity levels. An association between discursive moves and complexity levels may be assumed.The ability of elaborating arguments and connecting them in more complex ways could not be significantly developed in this setting.
Research implications: The results illustrate the performance of the whole class. Further comparative analyses and the analysis of individual learners are needed to draw even more conclusions
Social studies teachers’ reflections after participating in an experimental study on deliberative teaching
Get PDFPurpose: This article examines teachers’ reflections during and after their participation in a teaching experiment focusing on how different teaching methods affect student learning in the social studies/civic education.
Method: In the field experiment, classes and teachers were randomly assigned to a teaching syllabus based on the theoretical ideal of deliberative teaching or a conventional syllabus that served as a control. Building on Guskey’s model of teacher change (1986/2002), the participating teachers were interviewed to investigate the occurrence of possible change sequences.
Findings: The results showed that the teachers were not interested in changing their teaching practices due to the result of the study. While the teachers were keen to develop the material from the experiment, they preferred to do so in their own way based on their personal beliefs about what constitutes good social studies teaching