Journal of Social Science Education (JSSE - Universität Bielefeld)
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Young People and the European Dimension in a Norwegian Context. Migration and National Critical Events as Challenges to Citizenship Education
Get PDFThe article discusses the ‘European dimension’ in a Norwegian context with focus on the relevance for young people in particular. Against a backdrop of literature discussing Norwegian majority self-understanding in relation to Europe, the article discusses some examples that are relevant for addressing the overall theme, namely recent work-migration to Norway and the terrorist attacks of 22. July 2011. As different as they may be, both these cases are raising urgent issues related to socio-cultural diversity, inclusion and resilience and it is suggested that this may be addressed more in citizenship education
Education in Responsibility in Order to Secure Human Rights in Times of Crisis
Get PDFEducation in and awareness about human rights is generally seen as one of the less contentious elements of citizenship education. However, it would seem that, for the concept of human rights to have a real impact in today\u27s world, theoretical knowledge of human rights standards should be complemented by an understanding of the ethical concept of individual responsibility. This concept could, moreover, prove to be a valuable tool in conceiving creative answers to some of the consequences of the crisis Europe has been facing. This crisis has affected especially the protection and realisation of socio-economic rights, as many States were left with increasingly less budgetary space to meet increasingly urgent societal demands. Over the last few decades, and already prior to the current crisis, many have called for a greater stress on ‘duties and responsibilities’, as it was perceived that ‘rights-talk’ alone did not provide all the answers. From a legal perspective, as well as from the side of human rights advocacy groups, however, these appeals were often met with scepticism and hostility. In answer to the often justified criticism, it is essential to make a distinction between the ‘legal’, the ‘moral’ and the ‘ethical’ realms. While an unnuanced greater focus on moral duties is potentially dangerous, education based on the proposed notion of ethical ‘responsibility’ would seem, on the contrary, essential for the survival of human rights and, hence, of the democratic society
The Temptation of Documentation: Potential and Challenges of Videographic Documentation and Interpretation
Get PDFInsights into the civic education classroom can be gained through videographic documentation. Videographic material offers, as I argue in this article, great possibilities: Through a reconstructive approach insights into dimensions of civic education such as spatial organisation, symbolic representation and non-verbal communication may emerge. In this way, a deeper understanding of informal political learning in school can be obtained. These aspects have not yet been considered in depth with videographic documentation primarily employed to date in teacher training contexts and lesson evaluation.The case study I present here was inspired by the documentary method and both the potential and limitations of videographic interpretation are discussed in this context. The study also suggests that what is not offered by videographic documentation includes insights into the individual and collective integration of experiences in civic education lessons
Cosmopolitan capabilities in the HE classroom
No full textThis study, concerning the development of cosmopolitan citizenship, draws on theories of human development and capabilities (Sen 1999; Nussbaum 2000) from a social justice perspective, where individual wellbeing is articulated as having the freedom to live a life of one’s choosing. In the context of an English to Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) classroom this involves paying attention to pedagogical strategies, power dynamics and curriculum content as a means of developing valued beings and doings (or capabilities and functionings as they are described in the literature). Sample activities are presented and evaluated to see to what extent they achieve the desired end. These include critical pedagogical interventions, students’ artefacts and extracts from focus group interviews, class reports and reflective journals. Results from the textual data offer research evidence of successful curriculum change, demonstrating that the learning that takes place there can make a difference: in terms of the learners’ identity development, capability enhancement and cosmopolitan citizenship
From Teacher-Centred Instruction to Peer Tutoring in the Heterogeneous International Classroom: A Danish Case of Instructional Change
Get PDFThis case study documents a seminar redesign from a teacher-centered instruction format to the collaborative ‘reciprocal peer tutoring’ (RPT) at Aarhus University, Denmark. Departing from Bourdieuian concepts and the notion of “superdiversity” by Vertovec, we argue that teachers have to meet student requirements within Danish Higher Education (HE). This student body is quite diverse, international and multilinguistic with different cultural expectations and knowledge standards.At the same time, the Danish HE tradition with its low degree of formality and an affinity towards collaborative learning, allows for non-traditional instruction styles as an answer to such heterogeneity. The object of our documentation is thus a seminar before and after didactical restructuring in a Danish setting.We document both the in-classroom methods of instruction before and after the implementation of RPT and the methods and instruments used to monitor this change. For this, we provide insight into student group reports, students’ learning reports, a lesson time table, seminar evaluations, focus group interviews, teacher-student communication and course descriptions.Our study contributes on several levels: firstly, we provide course responsibles with a detailed insight into how a seminar redesign to RPT can be achieved. Secondly, we provide a basis for introducing such change by documenting the positive assessment as an outcome of the monitoring. We thereby address diversity and in-classroom heterogeneity on a didactical level
Liberal Liability. Understanding Students’ Conceptions of Gender Structures
No full textResearch has shown that teaching gender theories tends to be an educational challenge and elicits student resistance. However, little is known about students’ learning processes in social science. This study aims to explore these learning processes by drawing on feminist pedagogy and conceptual change theory. The results show that when students are asked to perform analysis from a structural gender perspective, they recurrently introduce other explanatory frameworks based on non-structural understandings. The students’ learning processes involve reformulating questions and making interpretations based on liberal understandings of power, freedom of choice and equality. We argue that this process is due to the hegemonic position of the liberal paradigm as well as to the dominant ideas about science. Clarifying the underlying presumptions of a liberal perspective and a structural perspective may help students to recognise applied premises and enable them to distinguish relevant explanations
Can Resilience be built Through a Citizenship Education Curriculum?
Get PDFThe global financial crisis has impacted upon the way of life of young Europeans with great severity. Across most European countries youth unemployment has remained stubbornly high for many years, compounding the effects of the crisis on the social and psychological well-being of young people. Given that crises are highly likely to occur in the future are there ways to help prepare young people to build resilience to meet an unpredictable future? For a long-term approach to building youth resilience the role of the school is highly significant. Consequently this article asks - what are the elements in a school curriculum that can build resilience for times of crisis? The article explores the case of the Australian Curriculum: Civics and Citizenship as a possible approach to building resilience amongst school students. The curriculum identifies knowledge, skills and values that students may acquire through this curriculum that build resilience
Economic Citizenship and Socio-Economic Rationality as Foundations of an Appropriate Economic Education
Get PDFIn this article we argue that social science education needs to convey more than operational mechanisms of society. Especially in socio-economic education, questions of business ethics, i.e. phenomena of economics and society need to be integrated and reflected, decidedly focusing on the moral content of economics. With the introduction of economic citizenship as the ideal economic actor to be the purpose of economic education, this paper proposes that economic education needs to connect economic expertise and moral judgment and should also allude to the necessity of every market action’s conditional legitimization by society.We propose to discuss different ‘sites’ of morality as a heuristic approach to the different areas of economic responsibility. The individual, organizational and political level of responsibility helps to categorize the different moral issues of economic activity and serves as a great pattern to explain economic relations to scholars and students