Many countries are strengthening their citizenship education. In citizenship development human development has to balance between a national orientation and a more global cosmopolitain orientation. In educational policy and in educational practice people are struggling to realize a kind of citizenship education that helps youngsters to participate in a global world. In citizenship education students are supported in their identity development. The affective processes are important. It’s not only about learning knowledge or skills, but about getting involved in social, moral and political practices. Teachers guide and counsel students in a socio-constructive way in this development. In this invited symposium 5 research projects from different part of the Western world will be presented.

Apart from learning a second language one of the most important aims of bilingual schools is the development of intercultural competence. Cultural awareness, e.g. openness towards other cultures, awareness about stereotypes on the own and the other culture etc., is part of it. A survey at the German-Italian comprehensive school in Wolfsburg (Germany) conducted in 2005 as a pilot study gives some insights in the acceptance, openness, and tolerance of adolescents in a bilingual school, as well as about their cultural stereotypes. A comparison of data from this study with data from Italian and German students from the sample of the IEA-Civic-Education-Study shows a significantly higher positive attitude towards immigrants among students from the bilingual school. Students whose parents both speak Italian at home have much more positive stereotypes on their own culture then the German speaking students. Whether this is a matter of the school concept in Wolfsburg or a general attitude of students with immigrant status will be analyzed in the main study, which will include different German-Italian schools in Germany, Switzerland and Italy as well as monolingual comparative schools.

Apart from learning a second language one of the most important aims of bilingual schools is the development of intercultural competence. Cultural awareness, e.g. openness towards other cultures, awareness about stereotypes on the own and the other culture etc., is part of it. A survey at the German-Italian comprehensive school in Wolfsburg (Germany) conducted in 2005 as a pilot study gives some insights in the acceptance, openness, and tolerance of adolescents in a bilingual school, as well as about their cultural stereotypes.

The school was founded in 1992 and is the first Italian-German school in Germany. In the 1960s and 1970s Volkswagen attracted a great number of foreign workers especially from Italy to come to Wolfsburg. The biggest community of foreigners in Wolfsburg is the Italian Community. The intention of the school was not only to keep the Italian language active, but also to support the integration of the foreign families. Therefore the goal of the school is to bring together children from different cultural backgrounds (German and Italian) and give them the opportunity to learn together as well as of one another and to use both languages for it. The basic idea of this school implies the development of a cultural sensitivity. Therefore it could be hypothesized that the attitudes towards different cultures are more positive among students from this school than among the average of students from German or Italian schools.

We also wanted to find out what stereotypes students from this school have towards the typical Italian and the typical German.

To use the same questions to measure positive attitudes towards immigrants helped us to compare the data from this study with data from Italian and German students in the sample of the IEA-Civic-Education-Study. Using the item parameters from the IEA-Civic-Education-Study and applying a partial credit scaling procedure we could estimate the scale values for the students in Wolfsburg that can be compared to the scale values in the IEA-Civic-Education-Study. Not surprisingly students in Wolfsburg show a significantly higher positive attitude towards immigrants. Whether this is a matter of the school concept of perhaps a matter of socially desired response in awareness of the school concept is not quite clear, however.

Using rating scales for stereotypes towards the typical Italian and the typical German we could find quite significant differences between the two groups of students with different cultural background. All students have quite positive attitudes but interestingly the German students have similar opinions about the typical German and the typical Italian. On contrary Italian students have much more positive stereotypes towards typical Italians. Living in one country and being attached to two different cultures in this case probably leads to a higher identification with the minority culture and therefore to a more positive attitude towards this minority. Also could the school concept, that focuses on dealing intensively with the characteristics of the Italian culture, be responsible for this result.

Regarding the stereotypes towards typical Germans, there is nearly no difference between the German students and the Italian students. Both have quite positive attitudes towards the typical German. This is the case especially for stereotypes that regard individual prerequisites like creativity, intelligence, responsibility and the willingness to work hard. Also regarding Joyance and Openness of the typical German (friendliness, broad-mindedness, joviality, spontaneity) no significant difference between German and Italian students can be observed. A significant difference is there only between the two groups of students regarding their stereotypes towards an altruistic behaviour of typical Germans (peaceful, unselfish, honest, courageous, tolerant, sensitive). Here, Italian students have a quite negative view, that could also be due to their experience or the experience of their parents as part of a minority culture in Germany.

The Finnish young people are living in a society in which education is highly valued. In spite of a good educational system, Finland has urban schools in which the problems of equality and diversity challenge the educators to pay special attention to citizenship education that promotes not only local but also global citizenship. Osler and Starkey (2005) identify cosmopolitan citizenship informed by human rights as a goal of citizenship education. This kind of citizenship is a worldview that celebrates human diversity. Cosmopolitan citizens act locally, nationally and globally. They accept shared responsibility for humanity’s common future. The education of global citizens must start at the level of the local community and extend outward. The data has been gathered from 4 urban schools in two different cities in Finland. Two of the schools are elementary schools and two are secondary schools. The schools have been selected based on their good results in educating diverse populations with multiple challenges. All the principals are respected leaders in their own communities. We have interviewed the principals of the schools (two males and two females), and some key informants from their schools. These informants include two teachers, two parents, and  two students from each school. In addition to qualitative data, we have gathered quantitative data from teachers (N=84) and students (N=429) of the schools. The quantitative surveys have measured cultural, spiritual and ethical sensitivity of the students and teachers. The case studies from each school are analyzed using a hermeneutical approach (Gadamer 1976) to better understand the multifocal perspectives in them. A special interest in our data will be shown to the different ways principals, teachers, parents and students refer to local or global citizenships in their school edcation.

The Finnish young people are living in a society in which education is highly valued. In the Finnish welfare system, the guiding principle in educational policy making has been to provide equal educational opportunities to all children regardless of sex, economic status or social class. In spite of a good educational system, Finland has urban schools in which the problems of equality and diversity challenge the educators to pay special attention to citizenship education that promotes not only local but also global citizenship. Osler and Starkey (2005) identify cosmopolitan citizenship informed by human rights as a goal of citizenship education. This kind of citizenship is a worldview that celebrates human diversity. Cosmopolitan citizens act locally, nationally and globally. They accept shared responsibility for humanity’s common future. The education of global citizens must start at the level of the local community and extend outward. According to Korthagen & Kessels (1999), two types of moral knowledge are possible in the practice of teaching. First, the episteme type of knowledge refers to moral knowledge where a teacher uses general concepts that are applicable to a wide variety of situations to solve a specific moral dilemma. The stance believes that acting ethically means acting in accordance with well-justified ethical principles. The real test of this approach is the way the educator is able to respond to specific real-life ethical problems in school. The danger here is, as stated by Noddings (1992), that caring can gradually be transformed into abstract problem solving. In a caring relationship, relationships and empathetic understanding are more important than abstract principles. Noddings (1992) argues that in school-life every interaction provides one with an opportunity to enter into a caring relation. In each caring encounter, one can identify a one-caring and a cared-for. She states that the one-caring steps out of one’s own personal frame of reference and into the others (p. 24). Teachers who meet their pupils as ones caring are taking a moral stance that have an effect on their professional knowledge. This moral stance can lead to a caring perspective on moral decision-making. Second, the other type of moral knowledge is practical and intuitive in nature. It is moral knowledge that is less conscious, very situation-specific and related to the context. Aristotle calls this kind of moral knowledge “phronesis,” according to which “Every statement concerning matters of practice ought to be said in outline and not with precision…” because “…statements should be demanded in a way appropriate to the matter at hand” (Aristotle 1975, Nic.Eth., Book VI, 1103b-1104a). Applying this Aristotelian view to teaching leads us to focus on the specifics of each case. This is because, according to Brennan (1977), ethical principles are "open-textured," that is to say, it is impossible to explicate an ethical principle in such a way as to identify all the various kinds of actions that will and will not count as instances of acting on the principle (pp.112-133). Simply knowing the principles does not tell the educator whether his or her interpretation of a problem is desirable or justifiable. Therefore, teachers own descriptions are at the heart of their moral judgment (Tirri & Husu 2002).

Data and methods

The data has been gathered from 4 urban schools in two different cities in Finland. Two of the schools are elementary schools and two are secondary schools. The schools have been selected based on their good results in educating diverse populations with multiple challenges. All the principals are respected leaders in their own communities. We have interviewed the principals of the schools (two males and two females), and some key informants from their schools. These informants include two teachers, two parents, and two students from each school. In addition to qualitative data, we have gathered quantitative data from teachers (N=84) and students (N=429) of the schools. The quantitative surveys have measured cultural, spiritual and ethical sensitivity of the students and teachers. The qualitative interviews have been narrative case studies, in which the principals, parents, teachers and students of each school have reflected the characteristics of their principal, the ethos of their school and the reasons for the good learning results in their schools. In recent years there has been a growing interest in case methods, including those pertaining to ethical and moral issues. Cases can reveal the working of human minds, motives, needs, stances, misstances, frustrations, faults, etc. Cases also reflect the professional and cultural contexts within which events occur. The case studies from each school are analyzed using a hermeneutical approach (Gadamer 1976) to better understand the multifocal perspectives in them. A special interest in our data will be shown to the different ways principals, teachers, parents and students refer to the episteme type of moral knowledge with general principles in education of global citizens. Furthermore, we will analyze the applications of “phronesis” type of moral knowledge in the school context and identify situations in which this kind of approach is needed to contrast or complement the episteme type of knowledge. Furthermore, a special interest in our data will be shown to the different ways principals, teachers, parents and students refer to local or global citizenship in their school education.

Results and implications

The results of the study will provide knowledge of the nature of morality in urban school communities.  We will identify the educational cases that can profit from the episteme type of moral knowledge in citizenship education. Also the cases that use “phronesis” type of moral knowledge are analyzed and discussed. The perspectives of teachers, students and parents are compared with each other to better understand the morality of the whole community. The results of the study are used in in-service education of principals and teachers who work in urban schools. The Finnish practices are also compared with other European practices.

The aim of the research was to examine the relationship between studying in a high school media literacy (Communication) study track in Israel, and the system of civic-democratic perceptions, attitudes and behaviors of adolescents. The school serves as a socialization agent in developing media literacy skills that are vital for democratic citizenship in the information age through critical pedagogy.

 The sample included 262 students in four public high schools. Students in the Communication track comprised the experimental group and students in the Social Sciences and Exact Sciences tracks comprised the control group. A closed questionnaire that examines civic-democratic perceptions, attitudes and participation among adolescents (Ichilov, 2000; Torney- Purta et al., 2001) was administered to all students. Six teachers of Communication participated in the study. They were examined by a Qualitative research tools included interviews, and observations of theoretical and practical lessons.

Findings: 1.Communication students were found to perceive the classroom climate as open for discussing political issues more than the control group. 2.Communication students’ perception of the curriculum as advancing democratic values was statistically significantly higher than the perception of students in the other study tracks. 3.Communication students participated significantly more in voluntary organizations than students in the other tracks. 4.A relationship was found between teaching methods implemented in the classroom and school involvement indices.

Discussion: The study corroborated the research assumption that the Communication track makes a positive contribution to democratic involvement in school, and this contributes to increased political involvement. The media literacy was found as a crucial skill for democracy life, emphasizing the contribution of the relationship between critical pedagogy and citizenship orientation among adolescents (Ten Dam & Volman, 2004).

The aim of the current research was to examine the relationship between studying in a media literacy study track (hereafter: the Communication track) in high schools in Israel, and the system of civic-democratic perceptions, attitudes and behaviors of adolescents (Ichilov, 2000; Torney-Purta, Lehmann, Oswald, & Schulz, 2001). The literature stresses the need for constructing the role of citizen among adolescents in the process of their integration into democratic society, underscoring the organic relationship between communication, education and democracy. We assume that the school serves as a socialization agent in developing media literacy skills that are vital for democratic citizenship in the information age.

            The goals of studying media literacy, by varied learning experiences and assessment methods are based on an educational philosophy that adopts the constructivist approach that aims to solve complex problems based on reality using a wide range of technological means (Salomon, 1997), and strives to develop awareness, analysis, meta-cognition and action skills while empowering the learner (Thoman, 1999). These goals may be achieved through critical pedagogy that pertains to aspects of moral judgment and social involvement, and strives to lead students to develop awareness about the various substantive structures of knowledge.

The Study

Media literacy in the current study was taught using the curriculum “Communication for High School – Print and Broadcast Media” (The Ministry of Education, 1993) (hereafter: the Communication curriculum). Evaluating learner achievements combined matriculation exams with a production project accompanied by a work portfolio.

            The system of civic-democratic perceptions, attitudes and behaviors was examined using the following democratic citizenship indices (Torney –Purta et al., 2001): (1) Morals and social-political justice that pertain to fundamental social and political freedoms; (2) Involvement in the school; (3) Political involvement; (4) Citizen-state relations pertaining to the concept of citizenship in a democratic society.

            The sample included 262 students in four public high schools. Students in one 11^th grade class and four 12^th grade classes in the Communication track comprised the experimental group and students in the Social Sciences and Exact Sciences tracks comprised the control group. A closed questionnaire that examines civic-democratic perceptions, attitudes and participation among adolescents (Ichilov, 2000; Torney-Purta et al., 2001) was administered to all students. Six teachers of Communication participated in the study.  The qualitative research included content analysis of the curriculum, interviews, and observations of theoretical lessons in Communication and of lessons in radio and video production.

Findings and Disscution

Communication students were found to perceive the classroom climate as open for discussing political issues more than the control group. This finding was explained by the use of critical pedagogy (Ten Dam & Volman, 2004). Critical pedagogy encourages taking a stand, empathy, commitment and the ability to identify and overcome social injustice by the attention given in the curriculum to political influence with respect to current issues discussed in class. Content analysis of the curriculum and classroom observations indicated that the Communication curriculum emphasizes critical pedagogy through discussions relating to current issues that enable the expression of different opinions. The discussions address the students’ reality and issues relevant to them, alongside the transmission of knowledge about legal and formal issues.

            The study pointed to a relationship between the teaching method used in the classroom and student perceptions of the classroom climate. Teachers in schools A and B, more than teachers in schools C and D, were found to use teaching methods that encourage collaboration and freedom of expression among the students, conduct discussions that promote the expression of different points of view and support the expression of minority opinions as well as a multi-dimensional presentation of current topics. Indeed, Communication students in schools C and D perceived the classroom climate to be more closed than those in schools A and B did.

            A statistically significant finding was that students in the Communication track, more than students in the other tracks, perceived the curriculum as promoting democratic values. This can be explained by qualitative findings that showed that the Communication curriculum and the teachers of this track stress collaboration among students and encourage freedom of creative expression reflected primarily in the production of a final project in the area of video, radio or print media. This component of literacy may support and cultivate an educational environment in which students practice skills such as leadership, freedom of expression, decision-making in conflict situations and building consensus that are required when participating in a democratic society (Worsnop, 1994).

            Another statistically significant finding was that students in the Communication track in schools A and B perceived the curriculum as promoting democratic values more than their peers in schools C and D. This may be explained by the finding that schools A and B, more than schools C and D, emphasized exposure to media, that more media forms were studied and more analytical teaching methods were implemented.

            The study found that students in the Communication track participated significantly more in voluntary organizations than students in the other tracks. The explanation proposed here for this finding is that the critical pedagogy on which the Communication curriculum is based on the idea that participants should have the opportunity to express and design a constructive activity while implementing ideas, and learn by working with a variety of media channels, thus contributing to democratic activity in the school (Hobbs, 1998a).

            In summary, the study corroborated the research assumption that the Communication track makes a positive contribution to democratic involvement in school, and this involvement contributes to increased political involvement. In addition, in-school involvement is effective in increasing the perception of citizenship that in turn cultivates awareness of social-political justice that includes basic social and political freedoms, and stresses values of equality and social and political justice for different social groups. This viewpoint also contributes to increased political involvement.

In a study of over 1000 British young people we found that certain aspects of democratic classroom climate were associated with current and intended future action in the civic domain and with beliefs about citizenship. We also found that experience in the community, and the

perceived quality of life in the community of origin, predicted action and values.  Strong outcomes of having been engaged in recent action included increased confidence, a desire to do more of the same kind of thing, and also a change in personal values.  The educational

implications of these findings are discussed.

In discussions of civic education and how to effect it, there is much speculation about the conditions and antecedent factors which foster (or not) active civic engagement, and values relating to the civic domain, amongst young people.  The IEA study, for example, showed that an open classroom climate is important (Torney-Purta et al., 2001), and other work has shown the value of active participation in community work (eg Yates & Youniss, 1999, Hahn, 1999).

This paper reports a British questionnaire study involving 1136 young people aged 11-21, which addressed current action, likely future action, concepts of ‘the good citizen’,  and social and political issues that concern them.  The study explored the relationship between these variables and classroom climate, the quality of life in their home community, opportunities for civic activity, and the effects of having taken part in recent civic action.

Classroom climate:  there were 8 items relating to this, including consultation, opportunities for working in the community, and freedom of expression.  The most powerful effect was for ‘students [being] consulted about the development of policies and rules which was associated with trusting the government, seeing the good citizen as active, feeling efficacious about one’s own actions as a citizen, and future voting and civic behaviour.   ‘Students [being] involved in planning their classwork’ was also associated with a sense of efficacy and with expected and normative civic action.  Current civic action was however associated more with being encouraged by the school to become involved in the local community, and being encouraged to make up their own minds.

Quality of home community:  the items ‘There is a lot going on for young people in my community’ and ‘Most people know each other’ were predictive of the expectation to work in a community organisation, and to take part in several actions relating to making one’s voice heard, including protesting.  It was also associated with a sense of efficacy in the civic domain and in trust in the government. 

Community experience: Even more important however were items relating to the opportunities that the home community provides; ‘I help people in my local community through an organisation or club’ and ‘I help people in my community through activities organised by my school or college’.   These items were associated with a wide range of expected future actions including voting, making one’s voice heard, participating in community organisations, and also political party activity.  They were also associated with a strong sense of personal civic efficacy and the desire to have an effect on school and community problems, and with being upset by events in the news.   These items reflect current action, and they strongly suggest that being involved is both motivating to young people, and equips them with a sense of efficacy.

The effect of participation:  Respondents were asked the extent to which participating in civic actions had increased their self-confidence, made them want to do more of the same kind of thing, and changed their values and beliefs.  Between 80% and 90% said that the following increased their confidence , and  made them want to do more of the same kind of thing, and between half and two thirds  said that these actions changed their values and beliefs:

• taking part in a protest march or rally

• giving unpaid time to help people in need in the community

• being regularly active in a neighbourhood, community or ethnic organisation

• writing to a newspaper or taking part in a phone in programme to express their views.

Confidence , and a desire to do more, were also increased for those who had stood for election in their school, college or club.  Values and beliefs were changed also for those who had refused to buy a product because they objected to the conditions under which it was produced and/or what it was made from.

The paper will explore the relationship of these variables and also consider these in relation to one finding that was particularly striking; the item ‘I am often upset by events in the news’, turned out to be one of the strongest predictors of both action and value items; we will explore how this item relates to the salient antecedent conditions for engagement.

The educational implications of this work suggest the importance of involvement in community activity, as well as certain aspects of classroom climate. We would argue that focusing on classroom climate is important but  not enough, however we will also argue that community activity must be geared to providing experiences that engage young people’s values, offer them opportunities for being effective, and also stimulate their reflection on the civic dimensions of the activity.  We would also argue that a critical approach – rather than one which primarily is designed to support the status quo – is essential for effectively using community work for education in the civic domain.

The relevance of these questions for the contemporary debates about liberalism and communitarianism (eg Putnam 2000) is considerable, though this cannot be extensively addressed in the conference paper.  These issues are explored in Haste & Hogan, 2006.

References:

Hahn, C. (1998) Becoming political.  Albany,NY: SUNY Press

Haste, H. & Hogan, A.  (2006) Beyond conventional civic participation, beyond the moral-political divide: young people and contemporary debates about citizenship.  Journal of Moral Education, 35(4), 473-493

Putnam, R.  (2000) Bowling alone; the collapse and revival of American community.  New York: Simon & Schuster

Torney-Purta, J. et al. (2001)Citizenship and education in twenty eight countries. Amsterdam: IEA.

Yates, M. & Youniss, J. (1999) Roots of civic identity, Cambridge; Cambridge University Press

As of 2006, Dutch schools are formally obliged to work on citizenship education. Educational legislation and regulations state that schools should develop ‘active citizenship and social integration’. The Minister of Education is aware of the fact that schools do already work on citizenship development in their curriculum and in their school culture. The new initiative attempts to support this work and to stimulate more being done in schools on citizenship development and in a more coherent framework.

This paper first examines developments in Dutch education, and draws on the results of various empirical studies we have conducted. We then set out our own particular critical pedagogical view on citizenship education. The outline of the paper is:

Different concepts of citizenship and changes in Dutch education

·        Changes in educational discourse on values and norms

·        Developing a critical-democratic pedagogy

·        Individualization in modern society

·        Social awareness and democracy

·        Empowering humanity

·        Moral education, critical pedagogy and democratic education

Critical issues in Dutch citizenship education

·        Difference between development of values and norms

·        Citizenship education in Dutch state schools

·        The school as a community

·        The multicultural society and values and norms in education

·        Critical-democratic citizenship in education

As of 2006, Dutch schools are formally obliged to work on citizenship education. Educational legislation and regulations state that schools should develop ‘active citizenship and social integration’. The Minister of Education is aware of the fact that schools do already work on citizenship development in their curriculum and in their school culture. The new initiative attempts to support this work and to stimulate more being done in schools on citizenship development and in a more coherent framework.

Dutch society and educational policy considers that education has an important task when it comes to ‘solving’ these social issues. Citizenship education is seen as a task for every school and for every teacher. Recent educational policy also stresses the importance of more autonomy for schools (Veugelers, 2004). Therefore, the initiative to implement citizenship emphasises the fact that schools have to make the general curriculum goals more concrete and make their own decisions about how they incorporate citizenship education in the curriculum.

This paper first examines developments in Dutch education, and draws on the results of various empirical studies we have conducted. We then set out our own particular critical pedagogical view on citizenship education. The outline of the paper is:

Different concepts of citizenship and changes in Dutch education

·        Changes in educational discourse on values and norms

·        Developing a critical-democratic pedagogy

·        Individualization in modern society

·        Social awareness and democracy

·        Empowering humanity

·        Moral education, critical pedagogy and democratic education

Critical issues in Dutch citizenship education

·        Difference between development of values and norms

·        Citizenship education in Dutch state schools

·        The school as a community

·        The multicultural society and values and norms in education

·        Critical-democratic citizenship in education