Teaching Citizenship journal / Issue 35 / Spring 2013

TEACHING

Issue No 35 Spring 2013

Journal of the Association for Citizenship Teaching www.teachingcitizenship.org.uk

National Citizenship Education Conference 2013 A CPD day of workshops, seminars, exhibitors and speakers for Citizenship teachers Tuesday 9 July 2013 9.30 am – 4.00 pm University of London Union Malet Street, London WC1 To find out more and book your place, see: www.teachingcitizenship.org.uk/events

Contents

Spring 2013

Theme: International perspectives 06 Editorial Audrey Osler and Hugh Starkey introduce six challenging new research projects 08 Human rights education in Kurdistan-Iraq 08 Chalank Yahya reports on the potential of HRE to contribute to democracy and gender equity in the region 12 Investigating education for democratic citizenship in Norway Tingting Yang on learning about democracy and citizenship 14 Oslo Holocaust Centre: Challenging racism?

Momodou Olly Mboge explores the story of Norway’s Jewish people 18 An Icelandic saga Susan Gollifer and Þórdís Eyvör Valdimarsdóttir investigate students’ perspectives on education for democratic citizenship 21 Can a London school be Human Rights Friendly?

Sam Mejias on Amnesty International’s intervention in schools 24 Children’s understanding of citizenship in Greece Ioanna Noula reports on workshops in primary schools

Editorial notes

In this edition, Audrey Osler and Hugh Starkey, our guest editors, have brought together a range of authors to share some experiences from outside of the uk. As we wait (and wait, and wait) for news on our own curriculum review, this is a good time to look further afield to help us think about how else we might develop citizenship education, and what other models might inform the next phase of the subject’s development in England. Osler and Starkey are uniquely placed to explore this as their work on cosmopolitan citizenship has consistently drawn on case studies from around the world, and their work in turn is used by teachers and scholars in many countries.

In addition we have an interesting article from the rspca, exploring Features & Research 21 ways in which teachers may choose 26 Taking action for animals to engage with animal rights as a Animal welfare and Citizenship by Amy Beale way of investigating key concepts 29 The unimaginable cruelty of Auschwitz and processes from the Citizenship programme of study. This helps illus Helen Blachford, Eoghan D’All and Oliver Rose trate how the most valuable learning share their thoughts on a school trip with a difference in relation to animal welfare is not 30 Working with students as co-researchers necessarily learning about rights, Lee Jerome outlines how young people can become but about legislation, lobbying, collaborators, rather than simply respondents campaigning and responsibilities.

HUMAN RIGHTS FRIENDLY SCHOOLS PROJECT 34 Service learning WWW.FRIENDLYSCHOOLS.ORG We are also pleased to include 26 A pedagogical proposal for developing citizen another short article written by young people about the lessons they participation from Esther Luna González learned from a visit to Auschwitz.

We would particularly welcome othReviews & Regulars er contributions from young people, 37 Debates in Citizenship Education so if you have some articulate young Reviewed by Cheng-Yu Hung people with something to say in 38 ACTually... remember the legitimacy of learning unexpectedly your school or youth group, please Andrew McCallum’s recent book challenges teaching orthodoxy put them in touch. If you have some younger or less confident pupils, we and coins the phrase ‘not learning’, as discussed by Lee Jerome would be happy to interview them Design & Production Editor : Lionel Openshaw | Telephone +44 (0)7985 979 390 and/or help write their story.

Email lionelopenshaw@me.com | Web www.openshaw.uk.net Lee Jerome & Gavin Baldwin, Teaching Citizenship Editors Published by the Association for Citizenship Teaching, 63 Gee Street, London ec1v 3rs Email l.jerome@londonmet.ac.uk Email info@teachingcitizenship.org.uk | Telephone +44 (0)20 7253 0051

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HUMAN RIGHTS!

Index: POL 32/005/2010

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Teaching Citizenship is the official journal of ACT.

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www.teachingcitizenship.org.uk / Spring 2013 / Issue 35 / Teaching Citizenship / 3

Events & News

Compiled by Sheila Clark on behalf of ACT Council.

Share info and news about forthcoming events – email: sheilaclark.sedu@gmail.com.

New resources from Citizenship Foundation

Exploring the poverty trap

What can young people offer in the current economic climate?

The Citizenship Foundation and Give More have produced free classroom resources to help 11-18 yearolds identify how they can contribute. Visit the website: www.g-nation. org.uk/givemore.

There’s a new online resource from the Children’s Society to help you explore the issues facing the 3.6 million children living in poverty in the uk today. Check out ‘The Poverty Trap’ at: http://povertytrap. childrenssociety.org.uk.

how young people can contribute to a sustainable legacy through reaching outside the classroom, using and improving green space and fostering links with the wider community.

Democratic Life: making the case for Citizenship

Democratic Life is a voluntary coalition of committed individuals and organisations, who are calling for stronger citizenship education in England. It has 800 individual supThe Power of Our Voices is porters including parents, teachers, Amnesty’s latest lesson pack, which pupils and others and 40 organisaincludes assembly ideas and a comtions including act, the Citizenship petition about protest songs. The Foundation, Amnesty International, pack includes a multimedia resource the Hansard Society and Involver.

In the Chance to be Chancellor onthat promotes young people’s acThey have been working together line challenge, 14-18 year-olds create tive engagement in democracy, by over the past three years and our imtheir own Budgets for the nation. exploring the power of Protest Songs mediate goal is to secure cross party It’s their opportunity to join the deto promote human rights and social political support for citizenship bate on how the Government should change. For further details visit the continuing as a statutory National spend public money. Their ideas will website: www.amnesty.org.uk.

Curriculum subject. be immortalised in the Youth Budget Democratic Life continues to and presented to the Treasury before have regular contact and discusthe official Budget. Participants sions with the DfE, making the case can also submit their entries for the for citizenship to be reflected in chance to win an iPad. But hurry, the overarching aims of the curentries closes on 15 February. See: riculum and that there should be a www.chancetobechancellor.org.uk.

It’s expected that there will be Citizenship programme of study in thousands of events and activities the primary curriculum to ensure taking place throughout this special a stronger foundation for secondweek aimed at showcasing practical ary citizenship education.A year on ways to combat climate change, the from the government’s Expert Panel campaign aims to renew the ambireport on a revised curriculum, and tion to create a more sustainable, as we go to press, we are still left low-carbon future. To find out more guessing at what will be in the new about the Climate Week Challenge secondary National Curriculum.

Once again, the hugely popular Bar and to register to take part see: www. Given the target date of September National Mock Trial Competition climateweek.com/challenge, email 2014 for the new secondary curricuputs students into courtrooms to info@climateweek.com or telelum to be in schools for first teaching challenge their skills of advocacy phone on 020 3397 2601. in 2015, Ministers should be publishand communication. 14-18 year-olds The next Eco-Schools Conference ing their proposals in early 2013. encounter the legal system from the ‘Inspiring Generations – Creating a These proposals would then be subright side of the law. Registration Sustainable Legacy’ will take place ject to consultation. For latest news opens 19 May. For more see: www. on 13 Mar 2013 at Cockermouth. The see: www.democraticlife.org.uk. citizenshipfoundation.org.uk/bmt. conference will help you explore

Give your students the chance to be Chancellor!

The power of our voices

Climate Change Week 4 -10 March

Could your students win a criminal case?

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Sheila is a professional trainer, regional subject advisor, ACT Council Member, partner in an educational consultancy business and is involved in the teaching of Citizenship and PSHE at The King Edward VI School, Morpeth, Northumberland.

Five Nations Network gets set for digital age The Five Nations Network is a unique forum sharing practice in education for Citizenship and values in England, Ireland, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales. Since 2000 the network has enabled dialogue between teachers, educationalists, policy makers, curriculum planners, members of the inspectorate, representatives of ngos and young people from across the uk and Ireland.

The 13th annual conference in November 2012 looked at ‘Digital Citizenship’ and how we can prepare pupils for learning and life as citizens of a digital society, in a digital age. During the conference we heard from guest speakers Steve Beswick, Director of Education at Microsoft uk and Dr Shakuntala Banaji, Senior Lecturer at the London School of Economics and Political Science on her research into the impact of the internet on political participation.

Five workshops explored some of the digital and communications tools available to citizenship teachers and educators and their impact on teaching and learning. For more information about the network; and videos and materials from the conference, see www.fivenations.net.

CPD: The Global Teachers Award

CPD: The EU – what’s that?

The gta has been launched by a Consortium of 32 Development Education Centres across England.

This award supports teachers in developing the skills, confidence and practical approaches to incorporate global learning into the curriculum, and to promote active global citizenship in the classroom. The next events are on 28 March 2013 in Lancaster and 5 and 11 July 2013, 11 July 2013 in Hampshire. For further details and local training dates, or to register your interest, see: www. globalclassrooms.co.uk.

These free one day conferences, happening all around the uk will increase your knowledge about the European Union and European Parliament and will enable you to engage with European Parliamentary representatives. You can also expand your portfolio of classroom activities and share your ideas with others to enhance the citizenship curriculum for your 11-16 year old students. All delegates receive a free copy of the teaching resource The European Parliament: What’s That? and can request a free copy of Crisis Point. For further details see the website: www.learningplusuk.org/ eu-whats-it-all-about.

CPD: Come and explore Identity and Citizenship issues in Europe Elderberry AB from Sweden is administering a range of courses developed through partnerships with Gavin Baldwin who runs the pgce Citizenship Course at Middlesex University. These are funded through Commenius Gruntvig grants. Smile explores identity issues through using museums and Reading the City looks at the urban environment as an experiential learning resource.

Digital Extra focuses on e-learning for schools and museums and Sharing Landscapes addresses issues of teaching outside the classroom in urban, rural, local, national and European context. April 2014 is the last opportunity to participate in these courses under the present funding arrangements so apply soon.

For further information see www. eucourses.eu or contact David Powell at info@eucourses.eu.

International dates for the diary 22 March United Nations World Water Day 4 April International Mine Awareness Day 12 April International Day for Street Children 9 May Europe Day 11 May World Fair Trade Day 12 June World Day Against Child Labour 17-21 June World Refugee Week

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Editorial

Audrey Osler is founding director of the Centre for Citizenship and Human Rights Education at the University of Leeds and holds honorary and visiting positions at a number of universities in the UK, Norway and Hong Kong.

International perspectives on Citizenship education Guest editors Audrey Osler and Hugh Starkey introduce six research projects which challenge us to look afresh at education for democratic citizenship and human rights.

should inform education policy making including the curriculum. We now have an educational and political tool that can be used to support the development of a more democratic society where human rights are protected raditionally, citiand promoted. zenship education Students can draw on tends to focus on their own experiences and on the nation. Yet it those of classmates in explorisn’t difficult to ing international dimensions make the case in learning for citizenship. In that teachers and a global age it makes sense to learners also need conceptualise this learning as international and ‘education for cosmopolitan citglobal perspecizenship’ recognising diversity tives on the Key at all scales from the local to Stage 3 Citizenship the global, rather than focusing national curriculum themes: exclusively on national citizenDemocracy and Justice, Rights ship (Osler, A. & Starkey, H. and Responsibilities, and (2005) Changing Citizenship: Identities and Diversity. democracy and inclusion in Democracy and justice are education (Maidenhead, Open best understood when comUniversity Press). parisons are made with other Across the world, governsystems. So in 2012, many ments have introduced citiclasses will have followed zenship education to ensure the US presidential elections. that young people have the Study of rights and responsiknowledge, skills and disbilities includes understanding positions to understand and of children’s rights and human act in the wider world. We rights. Students can consider are privileged to work with how struggles for justice can skilled teachers and researchdraw strength from internaers enrolled on Master’s and tional declarations and conven- Doctoral programmes who are tions of the United Nations. dedicated to strengthening In 2010 the UK governeducation for citizenship and ment signed the Council of human rights. As our students Europe Charter on Education investigate various aspects for Democratic Citizenship of learning for citizenship in and Human Rights Education different contexts they create and agreed that its principles new knowledge and develop 6 / Teaching Citizenship / Issue 35 / Spring 2013 / www.teachingcitizenship.org.uk

understandings that are often surprising and sometimes challenging. We are pleased to present readers of Teaching Citizenship with six studies that have many points of relevance for teachers in England.

The 2003 invasion of Iraq and subsequent military involvement remains a controversial aspect of the uk’s foreign policy. The current civil war in neighbouring Syria continues to hold our attention.

Yet we hear little of educational developments in the region.

Chalank Yahya reports on the introduction of two new subjects, citizenship education and human rights education, into schools in post-conflict Kurdistan-Iraq. Chalank raises the question of whether a change in the curriculum can help contribute to sustainable democracy, influencing behaviours and attitudes. She considers whether human rights education can help challenge ‘harmful cultural practices’ and ‘conservative religious leaders’ that effectively prevent girls from full participation in school and society.

Tingting Yang, from Beijing Normal University, China, reports on a study visit to Norway, where she examines the intentions of educational policy-makers and students’ opportunities for practising democracy at school, through the subjects of social studies; religion, philosophies of life and

In a global age it makes sense to conceptualise learning as ‘education for cosmopolitan citizenship’ recognising diversity at all scales from the local to the global, rather than focusing exclusively on national citizenship

Hugh Starkey is Professor of Education at the Institute of Education, University of London, and founding co-director of the International Centre for Education for Democratic Citizenship.

ethics (Rle) and pupil council work. Although Norway boasts a strong democratic ethos in school and society, the revised curriculum focuses increasingly on basic skills, including reading, writing, oral skills and computer skills. She suggests that there is a need to refocus on skills for living together, including respect for diversity, critical thinking and listening.

Momodou Olly Mboge set out to investigate the potential of the Oslo Holocaust Centre to support education against racism and discrimination in contemporary society. Study of the Holocaust includes examination of gross denial of human dignity and the subsequent impetus this gave to the development of 20th century human rights. It also provokes questions about on-going racism, injustice, denial of rights and exclusionary mechanisms in contemporary society.

Momodou observes that the

Students can consider how struggles for justice can draw strength from international declarations and conventions of the United Nations

Centre helps visitors to reflect on the dangers when society labels and stigmatizes the ‘other’ but argues that antiracist programmes must go further, preparing learners to be activists, struggling for a just and democratic society.

Susan Gollifer and Þórdís Eyvör Valdimarsdóttir from Iceland report on research with a class studying African-American literature.

In 2011 Iceland introduced new curriculum guidelines which stress democracy and human rights as one of six foundational pillars for schooling. The authors worked with the literature class to understand students’ perspectives of democracy and rights. They stress the benefits of investing the time to listen to and learn from students.

Without this, they argue, there is a danger we will only superficially address learners’ interests and concerns.

Ioanna Noula reports the results of workshops she conducted with 11-12 year old students in five Greek primary schools, to try to understand how they construct the concept of citizenship. Using photographs as stimulus materials, she found the students felt that they benefited from discussing contemporary issues when given a collective task, such as describing a particular situation illustrated in a picture.

Sam Mejias poses the question of what happens when the world’s largest human rights organisation attempts to fundamentally change the way a school operates. He finds both successes and frustrations in implementing Amnesty International’s Human Rights Friendly Schools Project in a London school. ▪

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Theme: International perspectives

Human rights education in Kurdistan-Iraq Can it promote gender equity?

Chalank Yahya reports on the potential of Human Rights Education to contribute to democracy, development and social justice – specifically gender equity – in the autonomous region of Kurdistan-Iraq. cross the globe, education is recognised as having the potential to contribute to the processes of democratisation and development. In post-conflict societies, programmes of citizenship education and human rights education (hre) are often introduced with the express aim of developing skills for learning to live together, enabling students to recognise and practice principles of justice and peace. Here I report on my investigation of the potential of hre in schools to contribute to democracy, development and social justice, specifically gender equity, in the autonomous region of Kurdistan-Iraq. I sought to explore education professionals’ perspectives on whether hre can serve as a transformative tool in promoting human rights standards, specifically those relating to gender equality in the context of diversity such as exists in the region.

We need to acknowledge the reality that tribalism plays a big role in our Kurdish society, in combination with traditions and religion...

Women are viewed as second-class citizens and sometimes used as a commodity to be exchanged in marriage

The context Kurdistan-Iraq is often referred to as transitional or post-conflict society. The region experienced considerable conflict and instability in the later twentieth century and early years of the twenty-first, resulting in severely damaged infrastructure at home and a notable Kurdish diaspora across the globe. Kurdistan-Iraq gained ad hoc autonomy in the aftermath of the Gulf War in 1991 (Stansfield, 2003). Since 2003, and particularly with the new Iraqi Constitution (2005) further political developments mean that 8 / Teaching Citizenship / Issue 35 / Spring 2013 / www.teachingcitizenship.org.uk

today the Kurdish region is recognised as a constitutional entity within the federal State of Iraq, enjoying internal political, socio-economic and judicial autonomy (Constitution, 2005). Despite the rapid political developments of the last two decades, the region nevertheless continues to feel the impact of instability in neighbouring jurisdictions (including the current civil war in Syria) as well as on-going tensions with Baghdad.

As well as political challenges, the Kurdish region faces on-going socioeconomic and cultural challenges, including gender inequality and gender based violence. Since the 2000s, civil society networks have increased their activities and put pressure on the local authorities to address gender inequality. One key area for development is the role of formal education and specifically schooling in equipping the young generation with skills to learn to live together in a peaceful and inclusive way.

Educational structures in Kurdistan-Iraq have been shaped by the Iraqi education system, since the region was administered by the former Iraqi regime for decades. Iraqi education was considered to be very good until the beginning of the 1980s. However, on-going conflicts and the former authority’s emphasis on military expenditure have negatively influenced education quality.

Curricula were not updated or brought in line with international standards and the maintenance of schools was neglected (unesco, 2010).

With the emergence of the Kurdish administration, steps were taken to improve education in the region. In 2009, the Kurdish education system underwent a reform process (Curriculum, ��������������������������������������� 2009)��������������������� . This reform extended the number of years of basic compulsory schooling and introduced two new subjects, citizenship education and hre, into the curriculum.

Chalank Yahya has an MSc in Human Rights and Multiculturalism from Buskerud University College, Norway. Her research in Kurdistan-Iraq was supported by a scholarship from the Falstad Centre.

UNHCR Helene Caux renovated school in Erbil, the capital of Kurdistan-Iraq

Education and gender equality It is widely recognised that schools both produce and reflect broader social norms and inequalities, related, for example, to poverty, structural inequalities, historical disadvantage, institutional discrimination of women and minorities, gender-based violence and traditional practices which harm or impact unjustly on women and girls (Tomaševski, 2005).

Gender equality initiatives are premised on the belief that education can enable equity between diverse social groups and between the sexes (Stromquist, 2006).

Education is not merely knowledge production, but an instrument to enable critical thinking and the changing of mentalities (Freire, 1970). My interest is not only in formal equality (parity in access and participation rates), but also in substantive equality (equal opportunity in and through education) (Subrahmanian, 2005).

dignity and worth of the human person’ and ‘the equal rights of men and women’. Article 26 of the udhr specifies the aims of education, which include also the right to learn about human rights and fundamental freedoms. This is the first international official articulation of the right to hre. This right is confirmed and explicated in subsequent human rights instruments, including the 1989 Convention on the Rights of the Child (article 29). The most recent hre instrument is the United Nations Declaration on Human Rights Education and Training (2011), which strengthens the international commitment to human rights norms and to enacting these norms through education (UN, 2011).

It is difficult, for example, to encourage boys and girls to sit next to each other in school, if parents object and if male and female teachers choose to have separate staffrooms

Human rights education and gender equality in the Kurdish setting I set out to investigate teachers’ and educational professional’s perspectives on hre and its implementation in KurdistanIraq, focusing specifically on gender The right to human rights education relationships. I conducted semi-structured While the right to education is commonly interviews with 12 education professionals, understood, the concept of the right to hre and engaged in some classroom tends to be less familiar, even among educa- observations. All participants were from tion professionals and policy-makers (Osler the Erbil governorate. My research took and Starkey, 2010). The right to hre is set place in July 2011 and in February 2012. out in the 1948 Universal Declaration of I discuss below some key findings from Human Rights (udhr) which underlines ‘the the project. www.teachingcitizenship.org.uk / Spring 2013 / Issue 35 / Teaching Citizenship / 9

Theme: International perspectives Human Rights Education in Kurdistan-Iraq / Chalank Yahya

Tensions between the understanding and the practice of human rights education Generally speaking, respondents place considerable emphasis on the role of human rights in creating a just and sustainable society. They recognise the importance of human rights but express concerns both about the understanding of human rights in contemporary Kurdish society and about teachers’ limited knowledge and lack of training in human rights education. “In general, not only in Kurdistan, but across the Middle East, we are not aware of our rights. We do not really understand what is meant by human rights. Therefore, a good awareness campaign is needed” (male education inspector, 2011).

Despite the new emphasis on hre in the 2009 curriculum reform, the new subject lacks trained teachers. The hre textbooks seem to be dry in terms of content. They contain long extracts from international instruments, such as the udhr, but with little or no guidance or explanation as to on what they mean or how they might be made accessible and relevant to students: “hre as a subject in our education system does not have as much emphasis as it should. We lack expertise in this discipline and we do not have specialized teachers. For the time being, social studies teachers are instructed to teach this subject. … The question remains: to what extent are our current teachers able to convey the human rights message to pupils?” (female social studies teacher, 2012).

Another challenge raised by a number of respondents is that of teaching rights in contexts in which rights are denied, both in society and in school. Efforts to reform the education system have occurred rapidly, and in many places, school building programmes and the provision of basic facilities have not kept pace with demand. So many children are forced to study in poor conditions where,

We need to start at home, within families ... we need to start to treat our girls equally and to enhance their self-esteem

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in winter, schools may have to close because of inadequate lighting or heating.

In order to bring the subject alive, a number of respondents suggested more active learning methods, including group work, the use of stories and the involvement of non-governmental organizations to help teachers make the link between human rights principles and everyday experiences.

Religion, tradition and gender equality Perhaps the greatest challenge in realising substantive gender equality are in addressing harmful cultural practices, overcoming the influence of conservative religious leaders and tribalism in the mindset of local communities. A number of respondents expressed their frustrations in addressing gender-related issues. It is difficult, for example, to encourage boys and girls to sit next to each other in school, if parents object and if male and female teachers elect to have separate staffrooms: “We need to acknowledge the reality that tribalism plays a big role in our Kurdish society, in combination with traditions and religion, which all work against the idea of gender equality. Women are viewed as second-class citizens and sometimes used as a commodity to be exchanged in marriage” (male education inspector, 2011).

Whilst respondents stressed the role of school in creating a bridge to reach children’s families, they faced many obstacles in challenging traditional and religious norms: “I think that we need to start at home, within families. We need to start to treat our girls equally and to enhance their self-esteem.

This is a very important factor in my view.

As teaching staff and school, we cannot thus far break the wall between schools and families” (male teacher, 2011).

Mixed sex schools: a solution or a problem?

In response to the question of what steps schools need to take to enhance equality in gender relationships, most respondents raised the idea of co-education. However, different opinions were given with regard to existing mixed sex schools: “From our experience of this school and through organizing extra-curriculum activities, we notice a genuine increased participation from both sexes in being successful and being creative.

This justifies that girls and boys should study and perform activities together as a part of further developing their personalities, getting used to the idea of treating each other normally” (male school principal, 2011).

Despite there being relatively few mixed sex schools, some respondents expressed reservations concerning the idea of girls and boys studying together: “Our culture is not ready yet in mixing these two sexes at this sensitive age [teenage]. I can bring you to a mixed-sex school and just look at the walls in classes; it is all filled up with love messages between boys and girls … They do not understand yet how to treat each other respectfully as a sister-brother or as just friends. As a result the numbers of mixedsex schools are decreasing day after day …

Many parents are against the idea of sending their daughters to a mixed school, even if it is close to home” (male hre education inspector, 2012).

In a fast-moving economic and social climate, it is important that Kurdistan-Iraq is able to make best use of human resources, especially the contribution women and girls can make to strengthening democracy and development. I suggest hre can contribute by enabling all citizens, young and old, to see how all can benefit by applying the principles of solidarity and equity. Yet the Kurdish government will need to listen to professionals and engage with their concerns if the new

hre subject is to be successfully implemented. Gender equity is not just about women and girls, it is rather a holistic approach in addressing social justice for the benefit of all. ▪ References Constitution. (2005). The Constitution of The Republic of Iraq. Iraq: National Legislative Bodies.

Curriculum. (2009). Kurdish Curriculum Document. Kurdistan: Ministry of Education, KRG. Freire, P. (1970). Pedagogy of the oppressed (New rev. ed. ed.). London: Penguin, 1996.

Osler, A., & Starkey, H. (2010). Teachers and human rights education. Stoke-on-Trent: Trentham.

Stromquist, N. P. (2006) Gender, education and the possibility of transformative knowledge. Compare, 36 (2), 145-161.

Stansfield, G. R. V. (2003) Iraqi Kurdistan, Political development and emergent democracy.

London: Routledge Curzon.

Subrahmanian, R. (2005) Gender equality in education: Definitions and measurements.

International Journal of Educational Development, 25 (4), 395-407.

Tomaševski , K. (2005) Girls education through a human rights lens: What can be done differently, what can be made better.

Human Rights and Poverty Reduction, 1 - 8. www.odi.org.uk/events/docs/529.pdf (accessed 14 August 2012).

United Nations (1989) Convention on the Rights of the Child. Geneva: United Nations. www2.ohchr.org/english/law/pdf/crc.pdf.

Unesco. (2010). Unesco Iraq office: Literacy initiative for empowerment in Iraq 2010 - 2015, Literacy need assessment report. Iraq: unesco.

United Nations. (2011). United Nations Declaration on Human Rights Education and Training. New York and Geneva: United Nations.

the Kurdish government will need to listen to professionals and engage with their concerns if the new HRE subject is to be successfully implemented

www.teachingcitizenship.org.uk / Spring 2013 / Issue 35 / Teaching Citizenship / 11

Theme: International perspectives

Investigating education for democratic citizenship in Norway Norwegian students consistently score higher than the international average in studies measuring democratic knowledge and skills, yet Norway has no subject named citizenship in the school curriculum.

Tingting Yang investigates how they learn about democracy and citizenship.

I was puzzled by this apparent contradiction and therefore decided to investigate this question while spending time as a visiting doctoral student at Buskerud University College, Norway. I wanted to understand both policy and practice, so I decided first to compare Norwegian policy documents with European policies, focusing specifically on the Council of Europe’s Charter on Education for Democratic Citizenship and Human Rights Education (2010). I then interviewed some Norwegian educators on their understandings of democracy in school.

Within Europe, there is a broad consensus that the health and stability of democracies, and the strengthening of human rights, does not only depend on the good governance of the nation-state, but equally, on the virtues of individual citizens (European Commission, 1998; Council of Europe, 1998). Consequently, considerable attention is paid within European policy statements to the education of young citizens, especially citizenship education or what is commonly known across Europe as education for democratic citizenship (EDC).

The 47 member-states of the Council of Europe (CoE) have each made a strong moral commitment to education for democratic citizenship and human rights. As one of the original 10 founding members of the CoE in 1949, Norway has a track record in this field and has shown strong support to other European nations in helping to establish the Council of Europe’s European Wergeland Centre (EWC) in Oslo, which acts as resource centre on education for intercultural understanding, human rights and democratic citizenship. Yet there appears to be a policy gap between what is enacted in Norway and the international commitments made.

EDC policy framework in Norway Since there is no explicit citizenship curriculum in

Norway, I had to trawl through a wide range of policy documents relevant to education for democratic citizenship, including the 1998 Education Act (amended in 2010), government-commissioned reports, and a series of curriculum documents. As I don’t read Norwegian, I was restricted to those policies which have an official English translation.

The Norwegian Education Act (2010: para1.1) outlines the key objectives of education and training related to education for democratic citizenship as ‘respect for human dignity and nature, on intellectual freedom, charity, forgiveness, equality and solidarity, values that also appear in different religions and beliefs and are rooted in human rights’. The words ‘charity’ and ‘forgiveness’ are especially interesting, reflecting s strong Christian tradition in Norway.

In Norwegian school curricula, the closest subjects to EDC are social studies; religion, philosophies of life and ethics (Rle) and pupil council work, which are all thought to play a part in teaching democracy and citizenship. Social studies includes history, geography, social sciences and the purpose is to help students create understanding and belief in fundamental human rights, democratic values and equality as well as encourage the idea of active citizenship and democratic participation (Directorate for Education and Training, 2011).

Religion, philosophies of life and ethics (Rle) is designed to support students in understanding and interpreting their lives, and gaining ethical awareness and understanding across religious faiths and cultural borders. Interestingly, this subject replaced the former school subject of religion. The teaching of religion was challenged in the Norwegian courts by a group of parents in 1997. These parents argued that a compulsory religious and predominantly Christian curriculum is in conflict with the principle of freedom of religion. When the parents failed to get a judgement in their favour in the national courts, they took the case to the UN Human Rights Committee and to the European Court of Human Rights. In response to judgements by these bodies Norway was forced to revise its religious education and introduce the new Rle subject and the Purpose Clause of the Education Act (Osler and Lybæk, in press) to bring it in line with these international human rights standards.

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Tingting Yang is a PhD student in the Faculty of Education, Beijing Normal University. From August 2012 - January 2013 she was a visiting doctoral student in Buskerud University College, Norway. Email her at: ytld1982@163.com.

Pupil council work is intended to develop students’ understanding of democracy, their ability to participate in democratic life, and to support them in active citizenship ‘through activities in pupil groups and participation in influence and decision-making processes’ (Directorate for Education and Training, 2011).

All these subjects make very fine statements and claims about democracy, but there is very little evaluation or systematic research in Norway of what is actually happening on the ground. When comparing these Norwegian documents with the Council of Europe Charter EDC and HRE, I found many similarities, but I was troubled by the lack of evaluation of EDC in Norway.

I therefore decided to interview some teacher educators and staff members at the European Wergeland Centre (EWC) to explore their perceptions of a possible gap in policy and practice between what is advocated at both European level and national levels and the actual practice of EDC in Norway. Interviews with five teacher educators and two EWC staff members lead me to the following tentative conclusions: Strengths in Norwegian EDC • Norway stresses a strong democratic tradition and the social environment in schools. There exists a relatively non-hierarchical structure, along with cooperative learning processes in school. Schools tend to focus very much on the students’ independence as learners and as future citizens.

• Since teachers are not subject to external inspection, considerable responsibility is given to the individual teacher who is accountable to the school principal.

In Norwegian schools, teaching methods, ideas and content appear flexible and rich.

• Teachers are generally highly-trained and believe in democratic education. They show respect to their students and encourage students to be independent. The relationships between students and teachers and between students and students tend to be harmonious.

Generally speaking, students like to be at school.

• Norwegian schools tend to mirror society in terms of democratic ideals. Parents tend to show strong support to the school and to teachers. Teachers generally believe there is consistency between learning at school and everyday life and between school values and family values.

Weaknesses in Norwegian EDC • The concept of democracy in education is somewhat ill-defined and too broad for educators and teachers to effectively implement it. There is no overall strategy to promote EDC. • In school, there is no definite and specific curriculum or subject called ‘democratic citizenship’. So students’

learning about democracy depends very strongly on the interests and strengths of the individual teacher.

Students’ EDC entitlement is somewhat random (not systematic) and not fully guaranteed.

• Students learn about democracy, but have relatively few opportunities to apply their knowledge.

Consequently, they may believe in abstract ideas, like equality, but may not necessarily argue for equal rights, such as freedom of religion, for those who are different from themselves.

• Some Norwegians may show a negative or exclusionary attitude toward immigrants. Not everyone is willing to recognize that Norway is a multicultural society.

• In Norway, there are too many substitute teachers and a severe shortage of qualified teachers. It is difficult to assess EDC since there is no mechanism to evaluate teacher efficiency.

Some educators I interviewed were extremely proud of education for democratic citizenship in Norway and perhaps overly optimistic about it. By contrast, others were more critical. As a Chinese citizen and visitor to Norway, my analysis is necessarily based to a large degree on these educators’ self-assessment of their situation and is influenced by my own outsider positioning.

Just because a policy exists does not mean it will correspond with the actual practice. Perfect policy does not make perfect practice. I believe it is urgent that Norway develop a clear EDC strategy. Although Norwegian students score well on knowledge in EDC, there remain some problems in education for democratic citizenship in Norway. The depth and breadth of teaching democracy and citizenship ultimately depends on the knowledge, commitment and training of the individual teacher.

Norwegian students are not necessarily able to fully access their right to EDC and to HRE, as guaranteed in the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child.

Since the national curriculum was revised in 2006, Norway has focused much more on basic skills, including reading, writing, oral skills and computer skills.

But what the students need to participate in society are not only basic skills and knowledge about democracy, but also skills for living together, including respect for diversity, confidence, critical thinking, listening, expressing their ideas and communicating with others.

Active citizenship in a multicultural society depends on an ability to respond positively to differences. Young Norwegians need more democratic practice and experience at school. It is my hope that these ideas will be put on the table and enacted in all Norwegian schools in the near future. ▪ [For notes/references see this article on act wesbite.]

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Theme: International perspectives

Challenging racism?

Oslo Holocaust Centre Momodou Olly Mboge explores how the story of Norway’s Jews and their treatment at the hands of their fellow citizens was largely hidden from young people growing up in mainstream Norwegian society during the second half of the twentieth century. he Center for Studies of Holocaust and Religious Minorities, referred to here as the Oslo Holocaust Centre (ohc), which opened in 2006, aims to address this hidden history.

Symbolically, it is housed in the former home of Vidkun Quisling, the Nazi collaborator whose name has become synonymous with ‘traitor’.

The ohc has a clear mandate to shed new light on a dark period of Norway’s history. Yet its very existence also raises questions about the ways in which minorities are perceived in contemporary Norwegian society and the ways in which young people learn to live together. Here, I reflect on the potential of ohc to challenge racism in today’s Norway, drawing on research for my Master’s thesis (2012).

single race, culture and religion. Yet it’s society has always been diverse. The dominant group has striven to maintain a sense of a homogeneous national identity anchored on a common Norse past. This has resulted in minority groups, including the indigenous Sami and other national minorities, as well as the Jews, being persecuted or forced to abandon their identities and assimilate into the majority culture (Eriksen, 1997).

The 1814 Norwegian constitution effectively banned Jews from entering the country.

By the mid-nineteenth century this ban was lifted yet, as Bruland & Tangestuen (2011, p. 588) observe ‘only a few Jews entered, and most chose not to stay’. More Jews settled in the first half of the twentieth century, yet their numbers were modest, comprising between 2,000 -3,000 in a total population approximating 3 million. More than 750 Norwegian Jews were deported to Nazi concentration camps where they were murdered.

Racism today Today Norway is commonly presented as a peace nation where human rights and diversity are respected and valued. The image is of a spectacular natural environment and beautiful fjords. Democracy, diversity and human rights are commonly claimed to be at the core of Norwegian national identity and History, identity and citizenship character. Yet, some seventy years after the I contend that history, and particularly the end of the Second World War, many sensitivstories we tell of our past, have a direct imities remain in discussing both this period of pact on the way we see ourselves as citizens. history and the subject of racism (Gullestad, These stories contribute to our sense of 2004). It is difficult to see how Norway can belonging and the degree to which we feel engage in contemporary debates about race, included in the national story. As Norway’s religion, immigration and integration withcitizenry becomes increasingly diverse in out first coming to terms with the racism terms of race, culture and beliefs, it is impor- expressed towards Norwegian Jews in the tant that the history of the nation is inclusive mid-twentieth century. and that it acknowledges past diversity.

For the purposes of this article I take Norway is often perceived as a homogeracism to be: ‘[a] set of practices, structures, neous society whose people are made up of a beliefs, and representations that transforms 14 / Teaching Citizenship / Issue 35 / Spring 2013 / www.teachingcitizenship.org.uk

Minority groups, including the indigenous Sami and other national minorities, as well as the Jews, [ have been] persecuted or forced to abandon their identities

Momodou Olly Mboge has an MSc in Human Rights and Multiculturalism from Buskerud University College, Norway. He lives in Norway with his family.

This research was supported by a scholarship from the Falstad Centre.

Email him at: mogedel.mboge@gmail.com.

certain forms of perceived differences, generally regarded as indelible and unchangeable, into inequality. It works through modes of dispossession, which have included subordination, stigmatization, exploitation, exclusion, various forms of physical violence, and sometimes genocide … It is … interwoven with other forms of inequality, particularly class, gender, sexuality, and nationality’ (Mullings, 2005, p. 684).

Challenging racism is complex both because of silences and because of outright denial (van Dijk, 1992). The words ‘race’ and ‘racism’ are notable by their virtual absence in Norwegian academia, media and official discourse. Race is seen to have a ‘negative ring’ and the preferred language is that of ‘ethnic groups and minority identities’ (Gullestad, 2004, p. 177).

Norwegians perceive themselves as victims of past (Danish) colonialism as well as Nazi occupation. There is a widespread perception that racism is rare in Norway today. It is not viewed as structural. Instead it is seen as an individual trait or an aberration, practiced by far-right nationalists. When immigrants talk of racism it is perceived as threatening because ‘the innocent national self-image and the associated collective memory is at stake’(Gullestad, 2004, p. 182).

Increasingly, concerns about diversity are expressed in cultural and religious terms.

Lentin (2005, p. 379) observes that the West has become obsessive with a perceived ‘incompatibility of diverse groups’. A number of political leaders, including the uk’s David Cameron and Germany’s Angela Merkel have found it politically expedient to attack multiculturalism (Council of Europe, 2011). Effectively, the problems confronting European nation-states are ‘put down to the allegedly unmanageable diversity of contemporary postcolonial, immigration societies’ (Lentin, 2005, p. 380).

Museums as sites of citizenship teaching and learning I maintain that museums, and particularly national museums, are sites for identity and citizenship formation, and that such learning must necessarily include study and discussion of racism. The museum is one of those institutions where citizenship learning and teaching can take place to complement formal learning in schools.

During the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries museums were instrumental in the education of model citizens ready to accept unquestioningly the authority of the state (Barrett, 2011). All kinds of

It is difficult to see how Norway can engage in contemporary debates about race, religion, immigration and integration without first coming to terms with the racism expressed towards Norwegian Jews in the mid-twentieth century

A concentration camp uniform on display at the Oslo Holocaust Centre, Norway www.teachingcitizenship.org.uk / Spring 2013 / Issue 35 / Teaching Citizenship / 15

Theme: International perspectives Oslo Holocaust Centre / Momodou Olly Mboge

museums exist with specific roles and mandates some of which have national or local focus. Museums are involved in identity formation: they give people a sense of shared belonging by telling a common story: ‘the museum is where history is kept … The very act of representing history in a building like a museum assigns significance to those events’ (Ashley, 2005, p. 6). At the same time museums are sites where identities are challenged and contested. The museum thus has the potential to undermine hegemonic certainties and challenge the processes of labelling which take place as part of racist discourses.

Is the ohc successful in challenging racism today?

The old post-war narrative of Norway’s involvement in the Second World War emphasised the heroes who resisted the Nazi occupiers. The result was an omission of the Norwegian Jewish story from Norway’s past. The Norwegian Jewish experience was effectively silenced and the Jewish minority excluded from the national story. Effectively, they were treated as if they were not Norwegian citizens (Bruland, 2011).

The ohc’s alternative narrative serves as conduit for renegotiating Norway’s national history. The ohc aim is to reflect the truth regardless of how painful this may be. In presenting to visitors both adult and young, foreign and citizens, the Ohc provides ‘redress [to Norwegian Jews] whose rights were not recognized at some point in the past’ (Purbrick, 2011, p. 170). The Centre, through its exhibition, research and work with Norwegian schools, aims to teach and maintain awareness of the Holocaust in Norway and beyond. The Centre also researches human rights issues, genocide and anti-Semitism historically and currently. An aspect of its research involves the study of

Museums are involved in identity formation: they give people a sense of shared belonging by telling a common story ... At the same time museums are sites where identities are challenged and contested

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religious minorities in a racially and culturally diverse Norway. The Ohc has educational programmes that aim to foster cultural and historical consciousness; it uses pedagogical exercises for school-going visitors to achieve its aims.

Against this mandate, one might ask how successful has the Centre’s work been in challenging racism in Norway? My research suggests the Ohc has, to a certain degree, an impact on visitors, forcing them to think about the dangers of racial discrimination.

From the interviews I conducted, I saw that visitors understood and appreciated the historical lessons being conveyed to them.

Some, although not all, were able to make connections between the narrative they were presented and contemporary issues of stigmatisation and racism in Norway. However, to my mind, the Ohc needs to do more than just remind or send moral messages to visitors; it needs to inspire activism and solidarity among all Norwegians, regardless of race or culture, to fight racism.

From my interviews with staff members, it is not very clear if the organisation is being successful in changing attitudes and fostering activism. Anti-Semitism and racist sentiments against immigrants are entrenched in Norway. Politicians of the far right are still using derogatory language in describing those seen as non-ethnic Norwegians especially on the internet (Eriksen, 2012). I would suggest that current Ohc education programmes for young visitors might be further developed to emphasise solidarity and respect, and to cultivate activism so that these characteristics become a reality among a diverse and equal citizenry in Norway rather than remain largely at the level of rhetoric.

The story of the Norwegian Jews is important in the contemporary discourse on immigration and multiculturalism.

A typographic installation at the museum listing victims of persecution

There are similarities in the way today’s immigrants and minorities in Norway are portrayed in the media with some of the conspiracies that were manufactured about the Jews and other minorities in the past (Fekete, 2012). The Ohc’s exhibition which shows the consequences of racism and cultural discrimination helps visitors to reflect on the dangers society faces when it labels and stigmatizes the ‘other’.

It’s important in debates on immigration, multiculturalism, rights and democracy for citizens to have a multi-perspective and dialogical outlook to discern and critique dominant national narratives. Without such tools, omissions or distortions in stories are likely to go unchallenged. For social cohesion to be a reality in Norway, it must be realized that ‘multiculturalism does not have to entail defence of isolationism or backward and oppressive practices, rather it may be a politics of recognition including struggle against social inequality’(Eide, 2010). ▪

21st-century Europe. Strasbourg: Council of Europe.

Eide, E. (2010). Strategic Essentialism and Ethnification: Hand in Glove? Nordicom Review, 31(2), 63-78.

Eriksen, T. H. (1997). The nation as a human being-a metaphor in a mid-life crisis? Notes on the imminent collapse of Norwegian national identity In K. Hastrup & K. F. Olwig (Eds.), Siting Culture (pp. 103-123).

London: Routledge.

Eriksen, T. H. (2012). Something rotten in the kingdom of Norway. OpenDemocracy.

Retrieved from http://www.opendemocracy.net/thomas-hylland-eriksen/ something-rotten-in-kingdom-of-norway.

Fekete, L. (2012). The Muslim conspiracy theory and the Oslo massacre. Race & Class, 53(3), 30-47. doi: 10.1177/0306396811425984 Gullestad, M. (2004). Blind slaves of our prejudices: Debating ‘culture’ and ‘race’ in Norway. Ethnos: Journal of Anthropology, 69(2), 177-203. doi: 10.1080/0014184042000212858 Lentin, A. (2005). Replacing ‘race’, hisReferences toricizing ‘culture’ in multiculturalism.

Ashley, S. (2005). State Authority and the Patterns of Prejudice, 39(4), 379-396. doi: Public Sphere: Ideas on the Changing Role of 10.1080/00313220500347832 the Museum as a Canadian Social Institution. Mboge, M. O. (2012). Narrating history in the Museum and Society, 3(1), 5-17. museum: the Oslo Holocaust Centre, multiculBarrett, J. (2011). Museums and the public turalism and human rights education. MSc sphere. Chichester: Wiley-Blackwell. thesis. Faculty of Teacher Education & Bruland, B. (2011). “Collaboration in the deSchool of Business and Social Sciences. portation of Norway’s Jews: Changing views Buskerud University College, Norway. and representation”. In R. Stauber (Ed.), Mullings, L. (2005). Interrogating Racism: Collaboration with the Nazis: public discourse Toward an Antiracist Anthropology. Annual after the Holocaust (pp. XII, 305 s.).

Review of Anthropology, 34(1), 667-693. doi: London: Routledge.

10.1146/annurev.anthro.32.061002.093435 Bruland, B., & Tangestuen, M. (2011).

Purbrick, L. (2011). Museums and the The Norwegian Holocaust: changing embodiment of human rights. Museum and views and representations. Scandinavian Society, 9(3), 166-189.

Journal of History, 36(5), 587-604. doi: van Dijk, T. A. (1992). Discourse and the 10.1080/03468755.2011.631066 denial of racism. Discourse & Society, 3(1), Council of Europe. (2011). Living together: 87-118.

Combining diversity and freedom in

The Oslo Holocaust Centre needs to inspire activism and solidarity among all Norwegians, regardless of race or culture

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Theme: International perspectives

An Icelandic saga

Investigating students’ perspectives on education for democratic citizenship Susan Gollifer and Þórdís Eyvör Valdimarsdóttir explore how Iceland introduced new curriculum guidelines in 2011 which stress democracy and human rights as one of six foundational pillars for schooling at all levels.

et it might be argued that neither Icelandic policy-makers nor teachers know a sufficient amount about students’ current understandings of democracy and human rights. Building on work with a group of students who are taking a course in African-American literature, we set out to explore their understandings of democracy, equality and social justice. We report on data collected from student interviews and journals we asked them to keep while following this programme.

Icelandic policy framework Revised curriculum guidelines for Icelandic schools at all school levels emphasise six foundational pillars on which all aspects of schooling should be based: literacy; sustainability; democracy and human rights; equality; health and welfare and creativity.

Although education for democratic citizenship (EDC) is not named as a core subject in the new curriculum, one objective of the upper-secondary school is: ‘to encourage the overall development of all pupils and their active participation in democratic society by offering studies suitable to the needs of each pupil’ (Ministry of Education, Culture and Science, 2012:7). The new curriculum guide explicitly promotes active and responsible citizenship in each of the six core pillars (see table overleaf). The terms democracy and citizenship, although frequently referred to, are not clearly defined in the new

‘‘

Even though we won’t admit it to ourselves, I think us Caucasians have certain expectations ‘Act White; Look White; Be White’ if you pass all three, you will be accepted into society.

’’

Student journal entry

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curriculum guides. At the upper-secondary level they are most commonly associated with life skills classes.

Our case study Our case study focuses on an upper-secondary grammar school for students aged 16 to 20. This stage of education is roughly comparable with Years 12 and 13 and the first year at university in England and Wales.

The students graduate from the school with a university entrance examination (Stúdentspróf). The school has around 650 students and 50 teachers, and caters for students from all over the country. Students demonstrating high academic performance are prioritized for admission. The typical profile of a student at this school is white, of Icelandic heritage, middle-class and generally living in a more affluent area of the capital city, Reykjavík.

The African-American literature elective is offered to third and fourth year students.

It aims to introduce students to the life and culture of African-Americans through works by diverse authors. These include Black Boy by Richard Wright and Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston.

Recurrent themes, such as the search for identity and personal freedom, are studied.

Students examine historical topics such as slavery and segregation, as well as past and present racial and sexual discrimination.

The course aims to develop student capacity to show initiative, draw their own conclusions, and work independently and collaboratively, using both written and spoken English.

Osler and Starkey (2005) talk about three dimensions of citizenship. As a status, citizenship describes the relationship of the individual to the state. As a feeling it represents belonging to a community of citizens, whilst as a practice, it reflects individuals

Þórdís Eyvör Valdimarsdóttir is current head of English at an Icelandic upper-secondary school. Email her at: thordisev@kvenno.is. Susan Gollifer is a doctoral student at the School of Education, University of Iceland, investigating human rights education in upper-secondary schools in Iceland. Email her at: susangollifer@yahoo.co.uk.

practicing ‘citizenship as holders of human rights, working individually, perhaps, but usually with others to change the way things are’ (p. 14). Students following the AfricanAmerican literature class were encouraged to consider citizenship as a status, a feeling and a practice.

Our goal was to understand student perspectives on citizenship and democracy so as to inform teaching and learning in the upper-secondary school. We asked students to keep a journal in which they were encouraged to reflect on their learning. We also interviewed 10 students, inviting them to reflect on the impact of the class, focusing on ways in which they feel it has influenced the way that they think (their attitudes) or behave (their actions). We have analysed the interviews using four questions used by Osler and Starkey (2005) to assess citizenship education projects. Using these questions, we present examples of what we have learned from the students, focusing specifically on knowledge about democracy; identities and citizenship; inclusivity; and skills for citizenship.

Is there a focus on specific information about democracy, human rights or European values?

Students have studied the slave trade and related political events, including the American War of Independence and Civil War. They also have studied the development of the United States Constitution and Bill of Rights and discussed individual freedoms; civil rights; and Eurocentrism, discrimination and racism: “It teaches us [the] history of how African Americans have been treated and how they still are today, and it just shows to me that there is still so much racism in the world – that’s just really wrong” (female student).

The students report that at previous levels of schooling and in other classes, they focus on historical facts but rarely examine events through a social justice lens. We observe a tension between their awareness of the tendencies to stereotype and internalise racist perceptions and a lived reality in which visible diversity is not the norm but an exception: “We are not really raised by the idea of racism in Iceland. We don’t really

know the concept” (male student).

“You only, maybe, see it on TV, but if there is a black person in your class … there’s not that much prejudice in first or second grade, against a black person.

That just doesn’t happen, I think. I mean, I haven’t seen it. So I think that [prejudice] just doesn’t actually happen until middle school” (female student).

Does the course explore/affirm various identities, including European identity?

We note a tendency among these students to distinguish between an Icelandic identity and an immigrant identity, creating a ‘them’ and ‘us’ dichotomy. We suggest this mirrors dominant media discourse which creates negative and deficient images of the immigrant. One immigrant ‘deficiency’ is an inability to speak Icelandic, promoted as an important feature of cultural heritage: “There were so many Polish criminals who came into Iceland and it was easier to be here than to be in Poland” (male student). “You never talked, maybe, openly about it but there was a lot of prejudice against Polish people and they were often working in cleaning the school or in the cafeteria” (female student). “Like the people cleaning ... they don’t speak Icelandic” (male student).

We observe a tension between their awareness of the tendencies to stereotype and internalise racist perceptions and a lived reality in which visible diversity is not the norm but an exception

Does the course address issues of equality such as economic, social, cultural and gender equality and does it have active methods and encourage participation?

Students indicated that they had increased awareness of equality issues, in particular in relation to their peers. “It has changed my behaviour towards people, I try not to judge people on their colour or something like that, or where they go to school ... but it’s really hard to live like that ... and not to discriminate against people” (female student).

This is an important statement in that it implies not only recognition of discriminatory practice but also a shift from an abstract understanding of equality to its practical application. It also reflects a tension between being aware of one’s own exclusionary practice and attempts to change.

Students were very aware that their social awareness is informed by society and family, perhaps even more so than www.teachingcitizenship.org.uk / Spring 2013 / Issue 35 / Teaching Citizenship / 19

Theme: International perspectives An Icelandic saga / Þórdís Eyvör Valdimarsdóttir & Susan Gollifer Promoting EDC in curriculum reform in Iceland (References are to Ministry of Education, Science and Culture, 2012) Democracy & Literacy Sustainability Human Rights ‘The main objective ‘Education for ‘When a matter of of literacy is for sustainability ethical opinion arises pupils to become encompasses in a democracy, active participants creating a society people take a stand in transforming and of collective rewriting the world’ responsibility where and moreover, they (page 17) individuals develop take an active part in shaping society’ as active citizens’ (page 19) (page 18)

schooling: “It comes from everywhere, from your parents and your friends and your news” (female student). “I don’t think school changes us that much” (male student).

Our review of student journals also reveals examples of trying to make sense of internalised prejudice through critical reflection. Reflection and dialogue informed by reading are strongly emphasised on this course, as is a culture of mutual respect between students and their teacher. Students clearly valued this approach to learning.

“Because we are not only reading or doing things like that, we are talking and learning from each other” (female student). “Because we are so different from each other, we have so different opinions on everything, to me it is really interesting to find out what people think and I am learning to change my opinion, not to be ignorant about how life is” (female student).

Does the course develop skills for democratic participation, including skills for working through transnational links?

Students referred to using the internet as a tool for expressing opinions and showing solidarity for global concerns through involvement in ngos. “That’s why I started … work for Amnesty International because the problem is you feel so small … you just can’t do anything so you just don’t do anything” (female student). “I think that almost everyone now has the availability to have a substantial influence on global things through the internet because now everyone has a voice and can make a video and go to YouTube” (male student).

Equality ‘In all school activities everyone should take an active part in creating a society of equality and justice’ (page 20)

‘‘

We are not really raised by the idea of racism in Iceland. We don’t really know the concept.

’’ Male student

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Health & Welfare ‘...all school activities should encourage health and systematically nurture welfare and wellbeing’ (page 21)

Creativity ‘Creation is an important basis for a vision of the future and for creating such a vision, for participating in creating democratic society and a role of one’s own in it’ (page 22)

However, reflecting on the development of democratic participation skills, what’s significant are the barriers identified by students to their potential acts of citizenship and their sense of powerlessness. “I feel really small” (female student). “People are so critical when you put something of your own opinion on the internet ... and people are so quick to judge you. It’s almost out of fear that you don’t voice your opinion” (female student).

This case study represents a first step towards learning from the perspectives of students. We have sought to highlight the benefits of investing the time to listen to and learn from students. Without knowing about our students’ views and perceptions of democracy and rights, there is a danger that we will only superficially address their interests, concerns and life experiences.

Data such as this can be used to raise teacher awareness and support groups of colleagues in planning. We believe this approach will support us in developing responsive study programmes and pedagogic practices that are rights-based; inclusive; collective and based on deliberative dialogue. We apply these democratic principles in our work. ▪ References Ministry of Education, Science and Culture, (2012). The Icelandic National Curriculum Guide for Upper Secondary School: General Section, 19 May 2011 – English version.

Icelandic version available at http://eng. menntamalaraduneyti.is (accessed Sept 2011).

Osler A. and Starkey, H. (2005). Changing Citizenship: Democracy & Inclusion in Education, oup uk.

Sam Mejias was awarded a Bloomsbury Scholarship to undertake this research.

He completed his PhD at the Institute of Education, University of London, in October 2012.

Can a London school be Human Rights Friendly ?

Sam Mejias asks what happens when the world’s largest human rights organisation attempts to fundamentally change the way a school operates? sought answers to this question during a two-year research study of Amnesty International’s Human Rights Friendly Schools (hrfs), a project that aims to place human rights at the centre of school life1. My study explored both the dynamics of an ngo-school partnership and the demands placed on a school that adopts a wholeschool approach to human rights education. In this article, I discuss some of the outcomes of the partnership and explore the influence of rights-based education policies on the delivery of citizenship education in England.

The rise of the whole-school approach in England Ideas of implementing reforms across the whole school are not new, nor are innovative forms of global citizenship and human rights education supported by organisations such as Amnesty, Oxfam, Save the Children and unicef. Support for whole-school approaches to citizenship and human rights has been available to British schools since the launch of unicef uk’s Rights Respecting Schools Award (rrsa)2. This award scheme encourages schools to work towards implementing the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, focusing on school ethos and management as well as the curriculum.

Since 2004, over 1600 primary and secondary schools have registered for the award. An evaluation suggests that the programme can dramatically improve school performance by reducing conflicts and bullying, improving

relationships between students and creating an atmosphere more conducive to learning (Sebba and Robinson, 2010).

Like unicef, Amnesty International’s whole-school approach is based on the concept of integrating rights-based and democratic citizenship practices into wider school policies. hrfs identified four key areas of school life considered critical for successful implementation. Amnesty felt that school governance should be rights-based and promote democratic participation not simply for students, but for all members of the school community (including adults, parents, and non-teaching staff). Community relations focuses on relationships between the various members of the school community. Finally, the curriculum and extra-curricular areas address the processes and practices occurring within and outside classrooms, extending to informal activities and interactions in the school environment as well as formal teaching and learning practices.

It is not unreasonable to ask, if unicef has a whole-school human rights project in so many schools, then why should Amnesty?

While it is true that the approaches are strikingly similar, there are some important differences. First, hrfs has a global focus. It was piloted in 14 countries and has been expanded to 24 countries. This meant that Amnesty’s development of the project required an international framework and was not tailored to the specific educational context of England. One of the benefits of Amnesty’s global focus was that schools across the world implementing hrfs became linked through an Amnesty-supported online network, where they could learn about the different ways in which the project was being implemented country-to-country.

Secondly, the award structure of rrsa places the onus of implementation on schools that qualify for levels of the award after

Amnesty International’s whole-school approach is based on the concept of integrating rights-based and democratic citizenship practices into wider school policies

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Theme: International perspectives Human Rights Friendly Schools / Sam Mejias evaluation by unicef uk. hrfs on the other hand was envisioned as a way for Amnesty to utilise its existing resources to support schools.3 What we don’t know about projects such as rrsa and hrfs are how such ambitious agendas sit alongside and support existing school policies and practices. There is also very little understanding of best practices for external schools partnerships, particularly those promoting active citizenship approaches.

Opportunities, Challenges and Outcomes My research on hrfs took place in a large London comprehensive school with a 98% Black and Minority Ethnic student population. The school’s headteacher was known for her progressive educational vision and had been responsible for initiating a large school-wide student voice programme to support the citizenship curriculum. An annual International Student Conference was a feature of the school. Students, speakers and performers from around the world were invited to come together to promote cultural exchange. Partnering with Amnesty was seen by the school as a way to support these existing initiatives whilst improving the knowledge and delivery of human rights education strategies. hrfs achieved some notable successes over the two years it ran in the case study school. It brought together the school’s separate rights-based, international and student voice work under one larger framework so that members of the school community were able to clearly link these existing projects to a wider school ethos of human rights and active citizenship. This ethos was further solidified with the creation of a school rights charter that was signed by every student and teacher and displayed in the main hallway.

The school’s proactive use of its identity as an Amnesty International partnering school helped it respond to conflicts between students, particularly amongst students from different ethnic and cultural backgrounds. Responding to an incident in which several students had created a Facebook page inciting racial hatred because of disputes between students, school leaders used the school’s links with Amnesty to teach students about tolerance and rights of

These are ambitious, complicated goals, driven by a sense that human rights could potentially be the key to a transformative and lifechanging educational experience

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immigrant populations in the surrounding community. In this instance, Amnesty became a powerful and highly visible symbol of the moral values that the school felt should underpin relationships between students.

The school faced challenges in the implementation of hrfs that are familiar in the context of any school reform. One notable hindrance was a lack of time and staff commitment. For an initiative purporting to be implemented across the school, there was strikingly little awareness about the project or what it was about. Amnesty’s name recognition helped it to be seen as an important school initiative. It was easy for students and teachers to make the connection between Amnesty and the school’s global citizenship and student voice work, but knowledge of the aims and structures of hrfs was largely absent. Similarly, the time needed to put Amnesty’s complex and comprehensive guidelines into practice across the school was not made available to the school personnel responsible for implementing the project4.Consequently work in the four key areas identified by Amnesty took place in ad hoc fashion, with some areas receiving considerably more attention than others. The most obvious example of this was the disproportionate focus on student active citizenship, when in fact hrfs was also meant to usher in significant changes in school governance and management and in teacher pedagogy.

Perhaps more worryingly, there was very little evidence that students, teachers and other members of the school community were actually learning about human rights either in classrooms or as part of continuing professional development. In other words, there was a very high awareness across the school of its status as an Amnesty International partnering school, but understanding of concrete human rights principles and their applicability to the school context were at best vague.

Seeking Utopia, Navigating Reality My study of hrfs found that implementation was driven by a strongly utopian perspective by both Amnesty and school personnel. Amnesty designed a highly complex, time- and human

into their lessons, or to learn about how to apply human rights to their own teaching practices. And in a year in which the school was undergoing an Ofsted inspection, hrfs became most useful as a way to demonstrate the school’s high quality external partnerships, and in that sense became largely tokenistic.

Implementing what amounts to a radical new set of school policies is always going to be a considerable and challenging task, regardless of the nature of the reform. The end results of the project showed that whilst hrfs put the school on a path to becoming more rights-respecting and democratic, lasting changes require consistent and committed vision, organisation and patience.

HUMAN RIGHTS FRIENDLY SCHOOLS PROJECT For citizenship teachers, WWW.FRIENDLYSCHOOLS.ORG the whole-school human rights education movement resource-intensive project that was meant provides a strong policy framework for to affect positive changes across the school the promotion of active citizenship across whilst supporting existing school policies. the school, and a way to think about and School leaders believed that working with experience the school as a project in learning Amnesty could not only improve the school’s democracy. The role of citizenship teachers delivery of its citizenship education, student in supporting projects like hrfs is critical, voice, and international programmes, as they are experts on which the school must but that it could improve overall school rely if changes are to take root. ▪ performance by addressing many of the common issues that affect schools, such Reference as bullying and inclusion, community Sebba, J., & Robinson, C. (2010). Evaluation of cohesion, behaviour management and unicef uk’s Rights Respecting Schools Award. student engagement. These are ambitious, Final Report. London: unicef uk. complicated goals, driven by a sense that human rights could potentially be the Endnotes key to a transformative and life-changing 1. http://www.amnesty.org/en/humaneducational experience. rights-education/projects-initiatives/rfsp While utopian idealism was in 2. http://www.unicef.org.uk/rrsa considerable supply, it was almost always 3. http://www.amnesty.org/en/ tempered by the pragmatic realities of human-rights-education school life. Most teachers did not have 4. http://amnesty.org/en/library/info/ enough time to incorporate human rights POL32/001/2012/en

HANDS UP FOR

HUMAN RIGHTS!

The role of citizenship teachers in supporting projects such as HRFS is critical, as they are experts on which the school must rely if changes are to take root

Index: POL 32/005/2010

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Theme: International perspectives

Children’s understanding of citizenship in Greece The workshops At the start of each workshop I showed the pupils a series of slides illustrating issues related to current affairs. The pupils were then asked to give their opinion and contribute to a discussion. The pictures showed examples of topics such as pollution, unemployment and political protest in both local (Greek) and global contexts. The themes and pictures were chosen in order to initiate a discussion and also give the opportunity to explore pupils’ knowledge of issues related to citizenship like environmental pollution, the financial crisis, immigration, unemployhe workshops aimed to ment as well as their understandings enable pupils in primary of the relevant concepts of human education to articulate dignity, human rights, social coheways in which they sion, democracy and equality. I also conceptualize citizenship. wanted to see whether there were I focused on the context differences in their responses to local of a diverse society both as opposed to global issues. at the micro-level of During the second part of the the local community workshop pupils had to work in as well as the meso and groups. They were given a piece of the macro-levels of the paper with the pictures, which had state or international and been discussed in the first part of the supranational entities. workshop and they were asked to I also attempted to examine select one of them and formulate a pupils’ perceptions of otherness. It is more concrete argument with regard important to note that otherness is a to the particular issue. They were discourse that has come to the fore given a number of words related to in the recent financial crisis and the the concept of citizenship (rights, context of austerity where it is used ethnic identity, decision making, to stigmatise recent migrants. voluntarism, democracy, responMy final aim was to investigate sibilities, power, political party, pupils’ knowledge of current affairs society, government, human rights, since this is stipulated as one of the and ideology) to assist them. Finally core competencies for Education pupils were asked to create a poster for Democratic Citizenship and that would raise awareness about Human Rights Education (EDC/HRE) the topic that they had treated in the (Council of Europe, 2010). previous part of the workshop.

This article by Ioanna Noula reports on the results of workshops conducted with 11-12 year old pupils in five primary schools in Greece. The workshops are part of a broader research project which aims to investigate the way pupils in primary education in Greece construct the concept of citizenship. The schools were selected so as to include private, public, urban, suburban and rural schools.

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At the end of each workshop pupils were given an evaluation sheet where they were asked to rate on a six-point Likert scale different aspects of the workshop. The evaluation sheet also included open questions where pupils could give their opinion about the workshop overall and compare it to their usual Civic and Political Education classes.

Learning The vast majority of pupils who participated in the workshops irrespective of their gender or socio-economic background thought that the activities overall were “interesting” or “very interesting”. The evaluation forms confirmed that the workshop helped them express themselves and participate in the class. A great number of pupils also found that the activities were not difficult and they also considered that the teacher was helpful.

The part of the workshop that pupils liked most was the groupwork and the poster in particular.

In their answers they justified their preference emphasizing the fact that they had the opportunity to collaborate. They also said that it helped them express themselves, be creative, have fun and feel satisfied by the result of their work.

On the other hand there were a small number of pupils that were disappointed not to be able to make a poster in collaboration with their group. They would have preferred to work together with the other members of the team. They also felt that there was not enough time to finish their task.

Ioanna Noula is a PhD student at the University of Thessaly, Greece and the Institute of Education, University of London. Her research was funded by the Greek Ministry of Education and Religious Affairs, Culture and Sport and the European Social Fund.

Email her at: ioannanoula@yahoo.com.

otherness is a discourse that has come to the fore in the recent financial crisis ... where it’s used to stigmatise recent migrants With regard to the first part of the workshop most pupils make very clear in their evaluation forms that the discussion was a rather boring activity for them or at least that it was not as good as the more practical activities in the second part since it only involved discussion. They also pointed out that the pictures seemed to have rather similar content.

A small number of pupils stated that the activity that they liked most was the discussion. They felt that this activity gave them the opportunity to express themselves and to speak about things that they knew about. Most of the time in school they are expected to memorize facts and be marked. The pupils particularly enjoyed discussing the topics of the environment and bullying. These seemed to be more familiar to them.

Many pupils found particular slides very amusing especially one showing exam cheating and others showing piles of garbage because the collectors were on strike.

Comparing the workshop to their usual classes of ‘Civic and Political Education’ most pupils agreed that they much preferred the workshop as providing them the opportunity to express themselves. They also found it fun and easy while at the same time educational. Some pupils from the private school where there is a very traditional approach to teaching

and learning added that they particularly enjoyed the communication with their classmates, their freedom of expression and the fact that they did not have to use their textbooks.

discussion to ensure respect for pupils’ opinions and feelings.

Finally, I learnt that when examples are given of the same topic at local and global levels it is important to prepare questions that help pupils Conclusions and participate and avoid the impression recommendations that they are just repeating their During the course of the workshop arguments. It is important to listen my role was twofold. On the one carefully to what they say about the hand I was the facilitator, mainly subject presented on the slide in managing time, trying to address the order to grasp the essence of their right questions, making sure that the understandings. Too many questions flow of the discussion was mainfrom the teacher/facilitator about tained or explaining the tasks. the underlying issues can detract On the other hand the nature of this from the opportunity to express workshop and the topics treated opinions. A listening approach is called for a careful approach from likely to help the flow of the discusan educational perspective. This was sion and avoid boring pupils. ▪ especially due to the fact that most of the schools visited included children Reference from a variety of ethnic and socioCouncil of Europe. Committee of economic backgrounds.

Ministers. (2010). Council of Europe On many occasions it was difCharter on Education for Democratic ficult to manage the tension between Citizenship and Human Rights the role of the researcher and that of Education: recommendation CM/ the teacher. As researcher I wanted Rec(2010)7 adopted by the Committee to collect data about pupils’ capacity of Ministers of the Council of Europe on to develop coherent narratives. As 11/05/10 and explanatory memorandum. a teacher I needed to moderate the Strasbourg: Council of Europe Publishing.

MINISTRY OF EDUCATION & RELIGIOUS AFFAIRS, CULTURE & SPORTS

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Feature

Taking action for animals Animal welfare in citizenship education In this article Amy Beale explores the various connections that can be made between the work of the RSPCA and the requirements of the Citizenship curriculum.

Eschewing the simplistic assumption that discussion about animal ‘rights’ is the same as dealing with ‘rights and responsibilities’ in the curriculum, she demonstrates the more meaningful ways in which teachers can build on the natural interest many young people will have in animals and animal welfare, in order to explore core Citizenship learning.

Society may have the right to ‘use’ animals, but with that right there is a responsibility to meet the animal’s needs and ... prevent suffering

s local and global citizens we have a responsibility to consider how we interact with, and impact on the lives of, animals – whether in the wild, in our homes, on farms or in research establishments.

In order for young people to understand the role of animals within their lives and society, and make a positive contribution to their welfare, the rspca believes animal welfare education should be an integral part of children’s formal education. The curriculum for some subjects include a few explicit references to the role of animals within our lives and our responsibility to treat them and/ or the environments within which they live with respect, far more references are made to the role of the curriculum in preparing young people to become active and responsible citizens. ‘Democracy and Justice’ and ‘Rights and Responsibilities’, in the Citizenship Curriculum provide a wealth of opportunities to explore Animal Welfare issues and law.

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Rights and Responsibilities?

Do humans have the right to use animals?

Do animals themselves have rights? These and other questions have been considered by society for hundreds of years. Views have varied throughout history and between cultures. When considering these issues we should first understand the terms ‘animal welfare’ and ‘animal rights’.

Animal welfare is based on the understanding that animals, like humans, are sentient and as a result have the capacity to feel and suffer. Animals can be used for human ends – like farming, pets and experiments – if they are as well looked after as the circumstances allow and not subject to unnecessary suffering. Animal Welfare organisations work to improve the welfare of animals in all situations and believe humans have a responsibility to treat animals with respect. The rspca works to ‘prevent cruelty, promote kindness and alleviate suffering to all animals.’

Animal rights suggests that all animals, including humans, have an intrinsic value and that humans are not more important than other animals. Animal rights organisations believe humans should not use animals – by farming them, perhaps by keeping them as pets or using them for scientific purposes.

Therefore they believe all animals have the right to be free.

These are both relevant and engaging topics which can stimulate interest and debate in the classroom and many organisations, such as the rspca, produce education materials for schools to use. If for example, you are considering how we value animals this can be highlighted and explored by considering the use of animals in research.

The rspca supports the three Rs approach of refining, reducing and replacing animals in experiments. Enabling pupils to compare this with the tactics of a ‘direct action’ animal

A secondary Science teacher for many years, Amy Beale has worked as an Education Training and Development Adviser for the RSPCA, training and supporting teachers in the South East of England in the delivery of animal welfare education.

Find free Citizenship resources, lesson plans etc. at: www.rspca.org.uk/education.

rights organisation can be an excellent foundation for learning about taking informed and responsible action as well as thinking critically about different viewpoints.

Our understanding of animal behaviour, feelings and suffering continues to change in light of new scientific evidence – our understanding of Animal Welfare is therefore progressive. Ultimately the judge of these questions is society and this is reflected in the law and changes to it. There was a time when wearing fur was common, fox hunting was a weekend leisure pursuit, and dancing bears were seen as folly by circus spectators; but views on these practices have changed over the years. Society may have the right to ‘use’ animals, but with that right there is a responsibility to meet the animal’s needs and therefore prevent suffering.

Animal welfare legislation Laws governing our relationship with wild and domestic animals have been in place since the 19th century with the advent of the Cruel Treatment of Cattle Act. Since then, we have seen advances in animal welfare that have served to protect animals from acts of human cruelty.

The most groundbreaking piece of legislation in our history has been the passing of the Animal Welfare Act in 2006. The Act brought together and updated all the main animal legislation that had existed since the 1911 Protection of Animals Act. The Animal Welfare Act updates the current offences of cruelty and fighting of animals, but crucially it also introduces the welfare offence. For the first time it has introduced legislation for pet owners – giving them a legal duty of care to meet the five welfare needs of their pets. This means pet owners are now legally obliged to care for their pet properly - by providing for these five basic needs:

• somewhere suitable to live; • a proper diet, including fresh water; • the ability to express normal behaviour; • for any need to be housed with, or apart from, other animals; • protection from, and treatment of, illness and injury.

The law also applies to those who are responsible for animals, such as those who breed animals or keep working animals. In England, the rspca has been working with the government to develop legislation for circus animals and also for primates kept as pets. This will form ‘secondary legislation’, attached to the Animal Welfare Act. The rspca works closely with decision makers and local authorities, Westminster and the National Assembly in Wales. The rspca lobby government, politicians and their staff with information about animal welfare issues based on sound science. The rspca highlight issues of concern and advises on how they can make improvements. The rspca and other Animal Welfare organisations act as a challenging voice but can also advise the home office or Government via involvement in working groups.

Campaigning is a vital part of raising awareness of current animal welfare issues, registering support and bringing about change. In terms of the Citizenship curriculum campaigning illustrates the key process ‘taking informed and responsible action’.

Examples of successful campaigning can be seen such as the eu banning of ‘conventional battery’ cages for egg-laying hens on the 1st January 2012. Informed consumer choices can be very much about active citizenship. The welfare of the 900 million farm animals reared each year in the uk for food production is a very emotive and important issue. Other Animal Welfare campaigns that might be of interest include the campaign to end long-distance transport of

Campaigning is a vital part of raising awareness of current animal welfare issues, registering support and bringing about change. In terms of the Citizenship curriculum campaigning illustrates the key process ‘taking informed and responsible action’.

A school council can engage with issues concerning animal welfare in their local community.

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Feature Taking action for animals / Amy Beale live animals in favour of a ‘carcass-only’ trade. Another ongoing issue is the use of wild animals in circuses. In March 2012 after much campaigning, the government in Westminster announced a phased-in ban on wild animals in circuses in England with a licensing scheme to be implemented in the interim. The rspca is maintaining a high level of campaigning to ensure the government firm up their commitment to a deadline for a ban and improve and strengthen the proposals.

A different example of the impact of campaigning is the fight to maintain higher standards in uk law for the use of animals in experiments. The law which currently regulates the use of animals in experiments across the European Union (eu) was 25 years old and in desperate need of updating. In October 2010, following years of debate and intense negotiation, agreement was finally reached between the European Commission, the European Parliament and the Council of the European Union on the text of the new legislation. The new legislation represents a significant advance for many Member States and should lead to improvements for tens of thousands of animals. The revised eu legislation however is actually less stringent than the current uk law in a number of areas. If the uk were to amend its own regulations in line with the minimum requirements of the Directive, this could mean weaker standards and less protection for uk laboratory animals in some respects – a significant backwards step. However, Member States have been given the freedom to retain aspects of their current national laws that go beyond the basic requirements of the new eu legislation. The rspca wants the uk government to act upon this, ensure our laws are not weakened and are monitoring events and have set out their major concerns to the Home Office.

A different example of the impact of campaigning is the fight to maintain higher standards in UK law for the use of animals in experiments

Ethical Dilemmas Is it ever possible to help all of the animals, all of the time? Sadly not, and in reality very few animal welfare issues have simple solutions. Consequently this raises plenty of challenging ethical dilemmas and, ultimately, tough decisions have to be made.

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examples of such dilemmas.

One key dilemma for anyone who cares about animals, is whether or when it is acceptable for one individual or group of animals to be harmed – or even killed – for the benefit of others. We all know that vaccination against disease protects millions of our animals from suffering, and sometimes death. The rspca itself is a major consumer of veterinary vaccines (along with other products such as medicines and flea treatments) and strongly encourages pet owners to make the trip to the vets, for their pets’ jabs. However, there is also a direct animal welfare cost to this – the vaccines must be tested for safety and effectiveness before they can be given to our pets, farm animals or wildlife and currently these tests can involve causing significant pain and distress to other animals in laboratories. This is a major dilemma. It is estimated that more than 100 million animals are used in experiments each year across the world. Before granting a licence to carry out research using animals, the Home Office has to be satisfied that the harm caused to the animals is outweighed by the potential benefits of the project. This ‘harm/benefit analysis’ is part of ethical review. The Home Office also has to be satisfied that there are no non-animal alternatives available and that the number of animals used, and their suffering, is minimised.

Other dilemmas include vets making complex judgements about an animal’s future quality of life when considering whether to use expensive or high-tech veterinary treatment for pets such as organ transplants, cancer therapy or the use of artificial limbs and prosthetics. The treatment and rehabilitation of wildlife may include feeding a diet of other live animals that they would naturally eat or decisions about using trackers to collect data to make future rehabilitations and releases more successful. Or finally the priority with which busy rspca inspectors should deal with incidents or complaints involving animals not currently protected by welfare laws, such as crabs and lobsters, or spiders such as tarantulas.

Pertinent, engaging and sometimes divisive, animal welfare legislation is a hot topic – one that will undoubtedly be argued over for generations to come. ▪

Feature

Helen Blachford is Curriculum Leader for PSCHE at Priory School, Portsmouth. Email her at: hblachford@priory.portsmouth.sch.uk.

The unimaginable cruelty of Auschwitz

Helen Blachford accompanied three colleagues and thirty four Year 10 and 11 pupils on a joint History/RE visit to Auschwitz during the autumn half term. They found the visit incredibly moving and it left a lasting impression. Two of the Year 11 pupils, Eoghan D’All and Oliver Rose share their thoughts on the trip and why learning about the Holocaust should remain an essential part of the curriculum.

that morning, they were acting differently.

Auschwitz 1 was the first camp we visited, and it left very little to the imagination. It was all laid out in front of you for you to see; entire rooms with glass walls, behind which were belongings, hair, shoes, and even prosthetic limbs. We were give a tour of several buildings, even being shown the chambers where inmates were tortured using unimaginable cruelty. The gas chambers were perhaps the most affecting part. The walls were covered in scratches. All through the tour, he main reason we went to Krakow was to an eerie silence hung over our group. learn more about the Holocaust in Poland, After Auschwitz 1, we went to Auschwitz 2, also and the effect it had on both those directly known as Birkenau. Whereas Auschwitz 1 was relatively involved and on the population as a whole. compact, Birkenau was huge, sprawling and desolate.

To do this, we went to Auschwitz. We felt By now, the snow had become a blizzard. that we should go to Auschwitz at least once, Unlike Auschwitz 1, this camp left us with our to give us some perspective on things; we also imaginations, which to some people was far worse. For felt that it would be important to see both the example, at the end of the tracks which ran through the best and worst that people are capable of. camp, stood the last remaining carriage used to transOur trip to Schindler’s factory showed the port the prisoners like cattle. It was tiny, and we could best, considering the circumstances. only begin to imagine the long journeys of up to three Auschwitz showed the worst. days in such cramped conditions. Furthermore, we were On the day we went to Auschwitz, it was snowing shown the toilets, long rows of nothing more that bare heavily. This created a really bleak atmosphere, which holes, where prisoners would be humiliated by sadistic matched the camp itself. It made us think about what guards. The prisoners were only allowed to use these it must have been like for those inhabiting the camp. twice a day, at specific times. The living quarters did not We were wrapped up in three, four or even five layers contain nearly enough beds, and the guide informed us and were still freezing. The prisoners would have been that people would be forced to fight to the death just for afforded a maximum of two layers to survive the harsh a top bunk.

Polish winter. This created a feeling of great discomfort, Overall, this visit had a harrowing impact on us. even before we had seen anything inside the buildings.

However, we feel it is something that everybody should In fact this feeling of discomfort began even before we do at least once. After all, those who forget history are arrived at Auschwitz. From the moment people woke up doomed to repeat it. ▪

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Feature

Working with students as co-researchers In this article Lee Jerome outlines six reasons why researchers (including teachers) should think seriously about inviting young people to become collaborators in research, rather than simply respondents. He argues it makes for better research and fulfils an educational purpose in the process. he idea that research in schools can benefit from working with students as co-researchers or as researchers in their own right has gained credibility in the recent years. This acknowledgement sits comfortably within the broader development of what has been loosely termed Student Voice – a term which has been used to describe a range of strategies for promoting children’s participation in decision-making in schools. The Ajegbo Review recommended the development of Student Voice as one of the strategies school should adopt to embed citizenship education in the life of the school and Hannam conducted research, (Hannam, 2001), which concluded that pupil participation was at least compatible with (and possibly supportive of) high standards of academic achievement. More generally Mary Kellett has trained primary school pupils as researchers and helped them to identify their own agendas for research in their schools. The publications arising from these collaborations illustrate how young people’s involvement allows issues to emerge which adult researchers may miss (Carlini & Barry, undated, Kellett et al., 2004).

In a research project I recently completed, evaluating the Citizenship provision in two secondary schools, I devised a rationale

for researching with young people (rather than performing research on them) based on six principles: 1. Young people can act as ethnographic researchers.

2. Young people can design child friendly research instruments.

3. They have easy access to respondents.

4. Young people can bring insights to the interpretation of data.

5. Research serves an educational purpose for the young people involved.

6. Research honours Article 12 of the uncrc and recognises student voice.

In the rest of this article I outline the rationale for this approach and some of the benefits of working with young people in this way. I hope that it will inspire some readers to devise similar programmes in school, or to share experiences where projects are already up and running.

1. Young people can act as ethnographic researchers There is likely to be significant value in involving young people as active partners in the research process at the earliest possible stage, so that the research benefits from the young people’s perspectives and understandings of the issue being researched and the research strategies and instruments can be shaped by them. Such an approach allows the research design to benefit from the kinds of in-depth understanding usually available only to ethnographic researchers who are able to embed themselves in the research context for a significant length of time.

Entering my case study schools I was aware of the limitations of the time available to me as an outsider to try to get to grips with the complicated relationships and ways of working in the schools. Recruiting a group of young people who knew the ropes, understood the subtle status issues between

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By attending to the voices of... students as presented through their [research] participation, schools have obtained an insider perspective on student issues and the ways in which their policies and practices impact on students

Lee Jerome is Head of Initial Teacher Education at London Metropolitan University, Chair of the Council at ACT and Editor of Teaching Citizenship.

subjects and teachers, and who had experienced the ethos of the school enabled them to act as ethnographers, in a way that I could not. Bland and Atweh discuss this aspect of working with students in the following terms: “By attending to the voices of... students as presented through their [research] participation, schools have obtained an insider perspective on student issues and the ways in which their policies and practices impact on students. For instance, statements made to... student researchers about racism and teacher attitudes towards indigenous students... were very unlikely to have been made to teachers” (Bland & Atweh, 2007: 343).

These advantages also seemed apparent in my own research, and interestingly, they became most apparent in the later conversations about racism and diversity. It was useful for me to see the ways in which the young people struggled to interpret their interview data, and also struggled to articulate this in the research group, and ultimately this gave me an understanding of the ways in which young people in the school engaged with the issue and experienced race.

Ethnography usually seeks to develop an insider perspective and to gain data from natural settings which provide some sort of access to the shared cultural meanings of the group. Given that the students were already insiders, they had access to the setting and to the shared meanings of the school already.

One of my roles in the research group’s discussions therefore became helping them to think afresh about what they knew, saw and heard. My participation in these ‘insider’ conversations helped me to appreciate the role of teachers in shaping students’ perceptions – the fact that this emerged as a major theme in the findings was almost entirely due to my co-researchers’ perspective.

2. Young people can design child friendly research instruments The active involvement of students in constructing research instruments is likely to ensure that questions are phrased in ways which will be understood by their peers.

This is akin in some ways to conducting an on-going and immediate process of piloting in which questions are phrased and

Interviewees were often much more at ease with the student researchers than I would have expected them to be with me as an adult from outside the school

rephrased according to young people’s own understanding, which is likely to make the questions more accessible and therefore more valid. This helps to ensure that a questionnaire measures what it is supposed to measure (construct validity) as well as being easily understood and unambiguous.

Inspired by Kellett’s account of training young children fairly formally in research methods (Kellett, 2005a), I devised some short training sessions, which resulted in a research instrument for subsequent use in each school. Because the Citizenship provision in each school was different and the young people were interested in different issues, the research instruments were unique to the context. The training session on questionnaires resulted in a draft questionnaire in each school and in one school I also had time to train the student co-researchers in interview techniques. We devised questions together, addressing the issues that had arisen from the questionnaire results, and they practised using their digital voice recorders and trying out the questions. We reviewed the initial phase of interviews after a week and then they collected 25 formal interviews from across the year groups in the school.

Whilst the input of students did not render the questionnaire design foolproof, it did reduce the number of problems in the research instruments. The wording which worked less well was almost entirely devised by me, whereas the questions devised by the students worked well. This was particularly evident in the interviews, where some of the research group became quite adept at phrasing and re-phrasing questions and asking follow up questions to make sure they collected data they felt was useful.

3. Young people have easy access to respondents Young people have access to other students in school and can collect data, for example through peer interviews, which would be time consuming for one researcher to collect alone, and which may benefit from a less formal peer to peer conversation, rather than a formal interview with an adult researcher unknown to students. The issues associated with establishing good relationships

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Feature Working with students as co-researchers / Lee Jerome and eliciting relatively honest responses in such formal situations have been discussed at length in the literature and although enlisting students as peer researchers does not solve all the problems associated with influencing respondents, it does seem to solve some of the problems associated with the formality of interviews and the issues of power imbalances.

The issue of access was not merely linked to the availability of fellow students for interview, it was also evident from many of the recordings, that interviewees were often much more at ease with the student researchers than I would have expected them to be with me as an adult from outside the school.

Some of the exchanges felt very informal, and there was joking and laughter, which freed up the conversation. Having said that, the student researchers did report finding it more difficult to get young pupils to open up beyond short answers, and this was an area we began to discuss during our de-brief in the middle of the interview period. Their discussion indicated that they were very aware of the issues arising in interviews and were able to adjust their style appropriately.

In some cases, for example, interviewers re-phrased questions, provided examples to prompt respondents into elaborating on short responses and made the interview feel more discursive than interrogative.

assume all respondents will be uniformly interested in such additional engagement.

I summarised the questionnaire data in graph form for the students and they identified what they considered to be the most important issues to feed back to the school’s management, and which issues they felt should be explored in greater detail in interviews. It was particularly useful to me to hear what sense they made of the numerical data, for example, as an outsider once one has noted that there are differences between year groups in terms of how much students enjoy the subject, it is difficult to know exactly what to make of it. The student researchers developed hypotheses, related it to their own personal experiences of year 7 and year 9, and tested their ideas out in interviews.

To this extent it was helpful to get immediate responses to data, which were able to roam beyond the confines of the specific questions asked.

5. Research serves an educational purpose for the young people involved Working with young people to encourage them to think critically about the collection and analysis of data has the potential to empower them as individuals in terms of their own critical citizenship skills, and potentially for further involvement in the life of the school. This is significant in relation to the ethical dimension of the research as the 4. Young people can bring insights to participants gain some educational benefit the interpretation of data from their participation and the school at The interpretation of data is likely to benefit least has the potential to tap into a group of from the student researchers’ knowledge informed student researchers. of the context, for example, they will be I explained to the participating students aware of the significance of teacher reputaand their teachers that one of the planned tion and of other relevant issues, which may benefits of participation would be that fall outside of the Citizenship focused data the project would help them to reflect on collection strategies adopted. In addition it Citizenship and develop skills of advocacy, seems a potentially useful process for the re- as defined in the Citizenship programmes searcher to check their tentative interpretaof study. It certainly appeared to me that the tions with a group of student co-researchers, students were able to engage with increasing to gain feedback on the degree to which such confidence in interviews, and were able to interpretations or explanations appear to be present their views cogently to the managevalid or plausible from the perspective of the ment group in the school. The data collected very people with whom the research is conalso indicates that the student researchers cerned. This has the potential to yield some seem to have been able to organise and exof the benefits of checking for accuracy with press their thoughts in relation to aspects of respondents, or providing full feedback to all Citizenship with increasing clarity through respondents for their comment, but does not the research.

32 / Teaching Citizenship / Issue 35 / Spring 2013 / www.teachingcitizenship.org.uk

Working with young people to encourage them to think critically about the collection and analysis of data has the potential to empower them as individuals

6. Research honours Article 12 of the uncrc and recognises student voice Finally such an approach honours the spirit of Article 12 of the un Convention on the Rights of the Child (uncrc), which promotes the involvement of young people in decisions that affect them. This has led to some sensitive investigations of the ethical imperative to include children more actively in research and the need to address the power inequalities within research relationships (David et al., 2005, MacNaughton & Smith, 2005). Although this last point relates specifically to children’s rights, it does reflect a broader debate in research ethics about the role of respondents in research. Some authors resist conceptualising people as ‘subjects’ of research and strive to view them as ‘participants’ in research (Fontana & Frey, 2003) and this has given rise to approaches to interviews, for example, which ‘play’ with the boundary between interviewer and interviewee. Given that my research project was concerned in part with young people’s experiences and interpretations of citizenship education, it seems particularly significant that some young people should be actively involved in formulating and conducting the research to ensure that they were genuine participants.

Because the research project in the school culminated in the students presenting their findings and recommendations to the school management group, this did enable them to formulate and express their opinions on citizenship education. As part of their presentation, they were also able to report back on some levels of dissatisfaction they felt, which were also evident from interviews, relating to the ways in which the school council had been operating. Thus in both schools, the students were able to express their opinion of the mechanisms that existed to enable them to express their opinions in the school – a process one might refer to as meta-student voice. ▪

Such an approach honours the spirit of Article 12 of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child ... which promotes the involvement of young people in decisions that affect them

References Bland, D. & Atweh, B. (2007) Students as researchers: engaging students’ voices in PAR Educational Action Research, 15(3), pp. 337-349.

Carlini, A. & Barry, E. (undated) ‘Hey, I’m nine not six!’ A small-scale investigation of looking younger than your age at school (Open University, Children’s Research Centre).

David, T., Tonkin, J., Powell, S. & Anderson, C. (2005) Ethical aspects of power in research with children, in: A. Farrell (Ed) Ethical Research with Children (Maidenhead, Open University Press).

Fontana, A. & Frey, J.H. (2003) The Interview: From Structured Questions to Negotiated Text, in: N.K. Denzin & T.S. Lincoln (Eds) Collecting and Interpreting Qualitative Materials (London, Sage).

Hannam, D. (2001) A pilot study to evaluate the impact of the student participation aspects of the citizenship order on standards of education in secondary schools (London, Community Service Volunteers).

Kellett, M. (2005) How to Develop Children as Researchers (London, Paul Chapman).

Kellett, M., Forrest, R., Dent, N. & Ward, S. (2004) ‘Just Teach Us The Skills Please, We’ll Do The Rest’: Empowering Ten-Year-Olds as Active Researchers, Children and Society, 18(5), pp. 329-343.

MacNaughton, G. & Smith, K. (2005) Transforming research ethics: The choices and challenges of researching with children, in: A. Farrell (Ed) Ethical Research with Children (Maidenhead, Open University Press).

The findings from these research projects have been published in Lee Jerome (2012) England’s Citizenship Education Experiment (London: Bloomsbury).

www.teachingcitizenship.org.uk / Spring 2013 / Issue 35 / Teaching Citizenship / 33

Feature

Service learning: a pedagogical proposal for developing citizen participation The challenge of active citizenship education requires the creation of new educational and participative spaces, says Esther Luna González. ivil society in all its various forms and guises – the neighbourhood, neighbourhood groups and associations, work groups etc.– can be transformed by an appropriate educational strategy into a revitalised and revalued space which offers an ideal context for the educational development of a collective identity at different levels and in a variety of contexts (Luna, 2010).

As Gentili (2000) and Luque (1995) indicate, local communities, neighbourhoods and cities are generally recognised as privileged spaces for the development of active citizenship, and for the promotion of participation and involvement. However, for a community to be a development site for a sense of belonging and for the exercise of an active citizenship it is also necessary that the community sees itself as such. It is necessary to promote the participative capacity from within the educational spaces themselves, facilitating in the process knowledge of and access to the community’s resources, and favouring involvement in community processes while at the same time stimulating connections between the individuals and the groups of which the community is composed.

What is involved is the creation of what Kisnerman (1986:70) terms a “community feeling”, a feeling which is characterised by a convergence of interests, needs, values and shared responsibilities with the others who share the same social space (Luque, 1995).

Without doubt what is involved is a new challenge for educational action in which

It is a methodology and a way of learning ... derived from a new model of the relations between school and community which offers ... the opportunity to develop participative citizenship

Secondary school students of Freta School (Mataró, Spain) explaining in a Mataró courtroom how their service learning projects help promote social inclusion, as part of their Citizenship studies

34 / Teaching Citizenship / Issue 35 / Spring 2013 / www.teachingcitizenship.org.uk

different educational levels and institutions come together, as Inglehart (1996) points out, with the responsibility of educating citizens who will have a high level of autonomy and an interest in participating fully and critically in public life. Pateman (1970) and Folgueiras (2009) also believe that citizen participation has an educational function in that it allows the individual to gain democratic experience and to develop a feeling of community.

What is service learning?

Service learning is an innovative methodological proposal which answers the challenge of encouraging citizen participation in the community. This methodology is characterized by a learning process which transcends the traditional limits of classroom based activity. It is a methodology and a way of learning which is derived from a new model of the relations between school and community, one which offers to all those involved in this relation (pupil, teacher, family, community representatives, etc.) the opportunity to develop participative citizenship competences committed to the collective project of creating a society which is more just, more egalitarian, more inclusive and more diverse (Cabrera & Luna, 2008).

Service learning may be defined as an educational process which emphasizes academic learning linked to some form of

Esther Luna González (PhD) is a Lecturer at the University of Barcelona and a researcher in the field of conflict management, citizen participation and service learning. She has visited various universities in Europe and the US in order to develop this research from an international perspective. Email her at: eluna@ub.edu.

community service project. It is in the dual dynamic “academic learning-work in the community” where both parties benefit from a mutual learning process that the power and attractiveness of service learning lays.

In order to indicate the key characteristics of service learning we will cite the opinions of three recognized specialists in the field: Exley (2005), Furco (2003) and Tapia (2006).

All three authors make important conceptual contributions. Of these contributions we would single out five, which could be considered to define and characterize the service learning methodology: It is student centered, to the extent that it the student who takes the initiative in learning actions, diagnoses needs, selects the theme or social problem around which the project is organized, plans the necessary actions to be taken, and carries out follow up and project evaluation. The teacher becomes the adviser who accompanies and orients the learning process.

It meets a real need, which implies an intention of solidarity. Service learning projects take as their point of departure a real need in a community. The student needs to become aware of the needs of the community via a number of sources (newspapers, interviews, surveys, archives, invited speakers, etc) in order to identify a topic or need around which an activity could be organized.

The student becomes involved in some kind of activity whether this be inside an organization of some type, or whether what is involved are actions planned from within the school itself.

It is planned within the curricular programme, in such a way that the development of the project involves the achievement of previously established learning objectives.

Service learning projects not only aim to meet a social need, they also aim to improve the quality of school based learning, which means they have a systematic educational intent. According to Smink and Duckenfield (1998) there are two ways of facilitating the curricular integration of service learning activities: through the elaboration of projects which incorporate learning objectives (from the school to the community) or analyze community needs and develop projects which, if carried out, involve the

actualization of curricular objectives (from the community to the school).

Carry out a service learning project which responds to identified needs in the local environment and which, at one and the same time, encourages the student to develop skills associated with action planning, follow-up and evaluation. Any analysis of a given reality would lose its force, and a great deal of its educational potential for making the student a socially aware citizen if the student did not carry through some kind of practical action as a response to the analysis.

Critically reflect on outcomes and processes during the course of the project in order to bring together the curricular objectives and the service learning experience.

It is precisely this kind of reflection which can allow the student to transcend simple experience and convert it into an opportunity for real learning. Service learning projects should ideally be a seamless process of action-reflection as is envisaged through the concept of experiential learning.

Students play an active role in their own learning and as such, they build their own learning drawing from experience

Psycho-pedagogical basis: tradition and changes Freire, Tyler & Taba described the pedagogical principles of social constructivism. Such principles play a key role in service learning.

Service learning allows students to learn through experience and gives the teacher the role of guide, or coach. The teacher-coach will therefore involve and engage students in planning their learning experiences.

Service learning is also associated with Dewey, Piaget, Vigotsky and other constructivists’ theories where learning happens as a result of the interaction with the context.

Context is also the place where one builds his/her own meanings and these, contemporarily, contribute to restructuring initial schemes. Students play an active role in their own learning and as such, they build their own learning drawing from experience.

Teachers guide, orient, enable and support the student’s learning process. Teachers do not have the knowledge; they walk students along and give support during their service learning experience.

Collaborative learning is another pedagogical principle involved. Students share their experiences and focus on www.teachingcitizenship.org.uk / Spring 2013 / Issue 35 / Teaching Citizenship / 35

Feature Service learning / Esther Luna González group discussion and group values, all in all, considering the existence of different learning styles (Ferreiro, 1998).

Learning through experience or Experiential Learning is also present in service learning since it involves active participation in a community project. It is characterized by reflective observation through questions whose answers should lead to further reflection and analysis. In his Theory for Experiential Learning, Kolb states that service learning provides a specific experience that can stimulate conceptual growth and learning if the experience is accompanied with a critical analysis of how service learning can be part of the school’s curricula (Tyson, 2004).

Case work studies, project works and problem-solving based learning are other key principles in service learning. The latter has clear educational aims to be achieved through a set of actions, interactions and resources that may lead to solving a problem.

It also works considering students’ interests and motivations in order to cater for significant learning of the surrounding context and reality. It departs from a situation that might lead students to a cognitive conflict and it also guides them towards looking for a solution to overcome such conflict and go back to the initial problem. It also promotes solidarity, group interaction and cooperation, since they are all necessary to accomplish the task at hand (Bottoms & Webb, 1998).

It could therefore, be argued that service learning is a new pedagogical approach that includes several traditional pedagogical principles. The novelty of service learning is due to its: — curricular integration; — reciprocal and balanced relationship with the community; — cooperative and interwoven work system with the different social institutions in the community; — educational co-responsibility. ▪

It’s the student who takes the initiative in learning actions, diagnoses needs, selects the theme or social problem around which the project is organized, plans the necessary actions to be taken, and carries out follow up and project evaluation

References Bottoms, G., & Webb, L.D. (1998). Connecting the curriculum to “real life.” Breaking Ranks: Making it happens. Reston, VA: National Association of Secondary School Principals.

Cabrera, F. y Luna, E. (2008). Diálogo 36 / Teaching Citizenship / Issue 35 / Spring 2013 / www.teachingcitizenship.org.uk

escuela-comunidad: el aprendizaje-servicio.

En Soriano, E. (Coord.). Educación para la ciudadanía intercultural y democrática (pp.191226). Madrid: La Muralla.

Exley, R.J. (2005). A Critique of the Civic Engagement Model. In B. Speck & S. Hoppe (Eds.). Service-Learning: History, Theory, and Issues (pp.85-97). Westport, Connecticut: Praeger Publishers.

Ferreiro, R. (1998) El ABC del aprendizaje cooperativo: una alternativa a la educación tradicional. México: S.E.P. Folgueiras, P. (2009). Ciudadanas del mundo.

La participación de mujeres en sociedades multiculturales. Madrid: editorial Síntesis.

Furco, A. (2003). Issues of definition and program diversity in the study of service learning. In S.H. Billig & A.S. Waterman (Eds.). Studying Service-Learning: Innovations in Education Research Methodology (pp. 13-33).

Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.

Gentili, P. (coord.) (2000). Códigos para la Ciudadanía. La Formación Ética como práctica de la libertad. Buenos Aires: Santillana.

Inglehart, R. (1996). Changements des comportaments civiques entre generations: le rôle de l’education et de la secureté economique dand le déclin du respect de l’autorité au sein de la societé industrielle. Perpectives, 4, 697-707.

Kisnerman, N. (1986). Comunidad. Buenos Aires: Humanitas.

Luna, E. (2010). From the School to the Community: a service learning program to develop active citizenship. Dissertation.

University of Barcelona.

Luque, P.A. (1955). Espacios educativos.

Sobre la participación y transformación social.

Barcelona: EUB. Pateman, C. (1970). Participation and Democracy Theory. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Smink, J. y Duckenfield, M. (1998). Action research an evaluation. Guide book for teachers: Making the Case for Service-Learning.

Santi Paul, MN: NYLC. Tapia, M.N. (2006). Aprendizaje y servicio solidario en el sistema educativo y las organizaciones juveniles. Buenos Aires: Editorial Ciudad Nueva.

Tyson, J.M. (2004). Faculty Service Learning Resource Manual. Cleveland: John Carroll University.

Review Debates in Citizenship Education Edited by James Arthur & Hilary Cremin Published by Routledge BRP £22.99 paperback / £90 hardback Reviewed by Cheng-Yu Hung

This new book provides an overview of this traditional Aristotlian view of citizenship, subject’s primary focus and widely debated which not only marginalises women from issues surrounding it. Under the series the civic forum, but also sharply divides the of Debates in Subject Teaching, this book, public and private spheres. Females’ voices contributed to by eighteen academics and were regarded as less rational and more experts, is written for those interested in emotional, and therefore relegated to the the development of citizenship, particularly home. However, it cannot be denied that ‘soschool teachers and university tutors. cial cohesion’ is based on a sense of ‘affection’ The book is divided into three parts: and the significance of family bonds main(1) A History of Citizenship Education; (2) tained by both genders, particuarly women The Social and Political Context; and (3) regarding time dedication, plays an ineviKey Debates in Teaching, Learning and table role. Whilst the Crick Report adopts Curriculum. The first two parts illustrate the the concept of multiculturalism to celebrate development of citizenship education from ethno-cultural diversity and recognise the a macro perspective, giving readers an over- value of minorities, the long-forgotten conview of how the subject interacts with and is tribution from women and the importance impacted by factors such as politics, culture, of the private realm are still invisible in the and economy. The third part focuses on the current citizenship curriculum. In the folmicro level, investigating widely discussed lowing chapter Max Biddulph, in the same issues such as moral values, technologies, vein, challenges the hegemonic discourse of and the limitations and future challenges patriarchy and the lack of gender diversity in facing the subject. This combination of the curriculum. The feminist critiques bring macro- and micro- aspects gives a rounded gender theory analysis to the current citizenpicture of where the subject stands today. ship curriculum and distinguish this book John Beck first illuminates how citizenfrom similar works which mostly examine ship became a compulsory subject on the citizenship simply from political and multiNational Curriculum in the wake of the cultural perspectives.

Conservative and Labour parties’ concerns In the final part, this book deals with about the rise of neo-Nazism, social disindebates about the dilemma of whether or not tegration and the apathy of young people to assess pupils’ civic knowledge and comtowards politics. Beck incorporates the latest petence, which might have the consequence analyses of this subject to give evaluations of labelling some students as ‘failed citizens’. on how the subject is faring since its inApart from the anxieties over assessment, troduction ten years ago. Ian Davies conteachers also need to adjust to the pressures templates six fundamental debates within coming from local, regional, national and citizenship including the liberal/civic repub- global levels regarding what and how to lican divide, the conflict between national teach. This book presents the most hotly deand global citizenship, the inclusive and bated issues and gives readers an introducexclusive features of national identity etc. tory understanding of the values, concerns, The second part of the book focuses and contentions underlying citizenship on social groups, such as ethnic minorieducation. While we celebrate its tenth year ties and socio-economically disadvantaged as a statutory subject, this book critically asyouth, whose voices are drowned out by the sesses its current challenges and points the mainstream. Hilary Cremin challenges the way forward for the next decade. ▪ www.teachingcitizenship.org.uk / Spring 2013 / Issue 35 / Teaching Citizenship / 37

ually ... we should remember the legitimacy of learning unexpectedly Andrew McCallum’s recent book argues that there is an increasingly powerful orthodoxy about what counts as ‘proper’ teaching and learning – coining the phrase ‘not learning’ to describe other activities deemed not to count, as discussed

by Lee Jerome.

the lesson and no-one is actually any the wiser about what a community is, and perhaps just as importantly, what a community is not.

• Learning objectives, even when they are met may narrow the focus of the lesson and consequently narrow our appreciation of what can be learned, and possibly even lead us to ignore something else that may have been learned. McCallum advises teachers to occasionally ask students what they did not learn today that they might have or what they learned that wasn’t predicted in the n the playful concluding original learning objective, or even a chapter of Creativity and better learning objective that might Learning in Secondary have been more useful.

English, which is about • Key words are listed on the board, ‘not learning’, he reflects perhaps copied into books and peron some of the elements haps also matched to definitions. But of the orthodox view of how often do we admit to students teaching and wonders if that you can probably skim through they don’t on occasion a text without understanding every make learning too flat, word and gain a sufficiently good untoo dull, too unreal. These derstanding? How often do we delibare real threats to the erately explore the diverse meanings Citizenship classroom, so let’s see if given to so many of our key words in anyone recognises aspects of their Citizenship? ‘Citizenship’ for a start own practice here: means different things to differ• Assessment for learning where the ent people, as does justice, equality, teacher sets the learning objective power, democracy – most of our and then simply invites the students really key words are actually used by to report back on the extent to which different people to mean different they learned it, eg. the teacher says things, which makes literacy about “today we are going to learn about much more than word recognition the communities we belong to” the and dictionary definitions. How pupils all report back that they often do we really explore the ways learned “ about the communities in which people use these words they belong to.” But perhaps they for different purposes when we are don’t actually talk about their own teaching about such key words? perceptions of diversity, their own As McCallum says, we have feelings and their real experience. all done these things, and will all Perhaps, they even get to the end of continue to do them, but perhaps we 38 / Teaching Citizenship / Issue 35 / Spring 2013 / www.teachingcitizenship.org.uk

also need to remember (and share with the students) the absolute legitimacy of learning unexpectedly, learning unintentionally and not learning in officially sanctioned ways. In Citizenship maybe that means accepting that lots of the terms we use are slippery and that part of what we are doing is developing provisional understandings, which should always be up for negotiation and re-visiting. We should also embrace the fact that what children learn from a Citizenship encounter will be heavily influenced by what they arrived with already.

To borrow some of McCallum’s suggestions, how about trying: • Not plenaries, in which students are only allowed to give the wrong answers.

• Not correctness, in which students have to write in a stream of consciousness about a topic and can’t stop until the topic changes, regardless of what spelling and grammar errors occur.

• Not describing, in which students strip back all unnecessary words to analyse the ideas at the core of their work.

• Not writing, in which students analyse the subtle ways in which people communicate politically outside of writing, and perform (and subvert performances) to develop real political literacy.

As McCallum might say, ‘happy not teaching’. ▪ Andrew McCallum (2012) Creativity and Learning in Secondary English: Teaching for a creative classroom, Abingdon: Routledge

The Association for Citizenship Teaching (ACT) is the professional membership association for primary and secondary school teachers involved in delivering Citizenship education.

Teaching Citizenship is our journal. It comes out once a term and is sent direct to all our members.

It complements our online resources, our monthly e-newsletters and our face-to-face training or in-school CPD – all these are available to members.

ACT membership provides an outstanding opportunity for professional development, whether you’re new to Citizenship or an old hand. We are a teacher-led independent charity with over 2,000 members across the country, whose principal charitable objective is to further the aims of citizenship teaching and learning.

For teachers, ACT membership is only £35 for the whole year. If you’re not already a member then join now and get your own copy of this journal – together with all the other support we offer you for teaching citizenship.

To become a member of ACT see: www.teachingcitizenship.org.uk /signup

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