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In order to strengthen civic education in elementary schools, research is needed to understand preservice teachers' ideas about civic teaching. The current study examined the degree to which elementary preservice teachers' civic competencies (i.e., civic awareness, dispositions, and interpersonal skills) and the grades they plan to teach are associated with expected future civic teaching. Survey data were collected from 235 undergraduate students majoring in early childhood or elementary education. Results from hierarchical multiple regression showed that greater civic awareness and lower levels of trust in the American promise were associated with expected future teaching about politics, while greater civic awareness, stronger commitment to social issues, and better interpersonal skills were associated with expected future teaching about community engagement. Additionally, those who plan to teach the upper elementary grades (third-fifth) were more likely to report that they will teach about politics and community engagement in their future classrooms when compared to those who plan to teach younger grades (PreK-second). Practical implications for preservice teacher preparation are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To better prepare students for active and thoughtful participation in a democratic society, civic education should foster an array of civic competencies. Cultivating student civic agency--an under-studied civic competency--is of particular importance to equip students to authentically use their voice in their communities. But what does it look like to foster student civic agency in a classroom setting? This article leverages a social and emotional learning (SEL) framework to uncover the active curricular ingredients and educational mechanisms through which a student-led civics curriculum has fostered civic agency. In this multi-site case study, we analyze the implementation of an eighth grade student-led civics curriculum in a northeastern U.S. state. We outline how implicit SEL processes in these classrooms, stemming from a pedagogical focus on "changemakers," supported development of civic agency. We found that the changemakers theme facilitated student exploration of their own civic identity and values, while prompting students to critically examine political power structures. Notably, the theme also helped students to develop a narrative of self as changemakers and to envision themselves actively engaged in civic spaces. This study adds insights to growing evidence on the multi-faceted benefits that civically-oriented SEL may offer to preparing young people to engage in democracy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is increasing urgency to broaden access to inclusive and culturally sustaining K-12 civic education. Civic education can foster young people's development of their civic identity, which can support a functioning American democracy. Civic education often includes opportunities for learners to develop civic knowledge, skills, and dispositions, but not all learners may see themselves represented in traditional forms of civic education. In this essay, we propose reframing approaches to developing knowledge, skills, and dispositions by focusing on how they can be brought together to support the development of civic identity. First, we describe relevant literature on civic education. We then explain how three aspects of civic education inform learners' development of a civic identity: personal identity and values, mastery of civic knowledge, and creative capacity for civic action. We close with recommendations for how to support civic identity development in K-12 education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article focuses on civic education and the constitution of subjects within a complex landscape of peace and war making in Colombia. Using a genealogical approach to study the manufacturing of citizens, and drawing on a document analysis of policies, curricular guidelines, and teaching resources, this paper evidences an increasing attention to students' skills, conducts, and interpersonal relations, rather than structural inequality and injustice. Through the examination of the "integral citizen," I argue that the development of students as skillful civic subjects has become central to the aspiration of building and sustaining peace and democracy. Such citizens are described as individually embodying the virtues and skills of problem-solving, conflict-management, autonomy, and self-regulation of emotions. This research adds to our understanding of the construction of the ideal citizen in conflict-affected settings, and how education policy intersects with larger efforts for meaningful and sustained change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Our main goal is to provide a preliminary, descriptive, and thematic overview of civic education courses in Serbia until 2020 from the perspectives of international political sociology, critical pedagogy and critical curriculum studies. After clarifying pertinent conceptual assumptions of curriculum analysis, we review the methodology employed to examine the curriculum. Firstly, our task is to describe how a civic education course in Serbia looks in relevant educational aspects. Secondly, we explore the role civic education plays in postsocialist and post-conflict Serbian society within the educational system and policies, considering transformative processes and reconciliation goals. Among the main findings, we emphasise the inadequacy of the initial phase of implementation of civic education in Serbia. There is insufficient recognition in the broader public regarding the cosmopolitan and social justice values crucial for generating a democratic political culture. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article shows how Australian politics played an under-researched part in the development of the Anglosphere idea. By examining the contestation of nationhood in Australia from the republic referendum of the 1990s until the mid-2000s, this article offers a new interpretation of the genesis of the Anglosphere idea. The article suggests that debates about national identity in Australia and the Anglosphere idea are co-constitutive. These co-constitutive relationships are with the United Kingdom (via the republic debate, the process of reconciliation between settlers and Indigenous peoples and civics and citizenship education), New Zealand (via 'Anzac' war commemoration) and the United States of America (via defence and security). The Anglosphere idea remains important to debates about national identity and public policy in Australia and provides context for decisions about how Australia positions itself in the world at a time of significant transnational challenges and threats. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Haiti is among the most climate-vulnerable nations in the world, and Haitian youth face disproportionate risks to their health and well-being. Yet, to date, few studies have partnered with young people to position them as agents of change addressing climate change impacts in their communities, particularly in Global South contexts. As a step toward addressing this important gap, the present study used in-depth interviews (N = 6) to explore the multi-faceted behavioral developmental impacts on Haitian students (ages 20–30 years) who took part in a participatory environmental education program focused on access to clean water in Jacmel, a coastal city in Southern Haiti. The program combined hydrology and ecosystem education with youth-led water quality testing, community surveys, and data mapping—enabling students to collect, analyze, and visualize locally-meaningful data with real-world significance. Thematic analysis (TA) of post-program interviews conducted with program staff (n = 2) and students (n = 4) resulted in three major themes describing program-based developmental impacts equipping youth to address climate-driven threats in their community: (1) learning and skills development: Youth gained a deeper knowledge of hydrological and ecological systems, as well as research, digital, and technology skills; (2) health and environmental behaviors: Youth were experiencing and advocating behavioral shifts associated with preventing waterborne illnesses and protecting local ecosystems; and (3) civic engagement: Youth were developing a critical mindset regarding power relations and social change and were simultaneously motivated to disseminate local data to raise community awareness and engage with local authorities to improve environmental conditions. Findings shed light on the transformative potential of environmental and civic science education to engage young people as key actors in building adaptive capacity and reducing climate vulnerability. Implications for developmental science are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this critical case study, we examined the ways civic culture developed at an action civics summer camp and provided implications for civics teaching and learning. Findings highlight how the camp context produced and simultaneously failed to yield a culturally participatory inclusive civic culture. Specifically, we found the emphasis on dialogue, inquiry, and attention to place during the camp experience supported actors in developing positive civic culture exchanges. However, the civic culture that emerged at the camp also included white hetero-normative cultural practices and ideologies which discouraged participation among some students with non-dominant identities. Further, students of all identities did little to engage in civic experiences beyond the camp. We suggest that these shortcomings might be overcome by intentionally designing learning experiences to address these concerns, supporting counselors to understand how to mediate sensitive projects, and demonstrating to students how to perpetually engage with civic concerns. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Through civic education and social interactions at school, students are able to develop more or less political knowledge and trust in political institutions. Both precede intended electoral participation. However, it is disputed whether the relationship between political knowledge, trust, and intended participation is consistent across countries. We analyze data from the International Civic and Citizenship Education Study 2016 that consist of representative subsamples for 14-year-old students (N = 14,567) in Bulgaria, Croatia, Denmark, and Germany (North Rhine-Westphalia). A structural equation model approach reveals that both political knowledge and trust in political institutions contribute to explaining variation in adolescents' intended electoral participation. The effect of political knowledge is partly mediated by trust, which in turn is negatively associated with political knowledge in Bulgaria and Croatia and positively in Denmark and Germany (NRW). These results are discussed in the light of country-specific differences in the political context of civic education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Democratic school systems are expected to equip students with the knowledge, abilities, and attitudes needed for life as citizens, particularly through social science education. Disciplinary knowledge, derived from the academic counterparts to school subjects, is essential in developing these skills. However, research has also emphasized the importance of life-world perspectives, where students' experiences are included and taken seriously in teaching. This study suggests that the theory of (civic) narrative competence can function as a bridge between the disciplinary domain and the life-world domain in its focus on how students' civic reasoning can be developed through teaching. The article uses narrative theory to explore how the students' civic narratives changed and became more nuanced after a teaching segment focusing on social and political trust. In the article, we demonstrate how the students' personal experiences colored their interpretations and orientations before the teaching segment and how their civic narratives were developed through the implemented teaching, which provided them with concepts, a theoretical model, and empirical examples. We found that the students did not discard previous perceptions after the teaching segment, but integrated them into their new knowledge and orientations, thus integrating the life-world and disciplinary domains. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This semester-long research project examined the use of social studies trade books to thematically teach about six individuals who served as change agents in the United States during the late 19th century and early 20th century. Three of the individuals were African American men, Robert Smalls, Frederick Douglass, and John Roy Lynch, who took civic action to address racial discrimination faced by the Black community in the half century following the U.S. Civil War. The other three indivduals were women women, Ida B. Wells, Clara Lemlich, and Jane Addams, who challenged social inequities and injustices within their communities. Over the course of the semester-long research project, sixth-grade U.S. history students read selected trade books, examined primary sources, completed graphic organizers, and crafted writing assessments about each of the six individuals. Students demonstrated complex historical thinking, integrated economic and civic thinking, and communicated thematic ideas of systemic oppression of minorities, women, and the poor. They struggled to make connections between examples of historic oppression and contemporary examples of societal oppression. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Students' positive experiences in schools positively predicts students' political trust. However, little research has examined how individual students' feelings of exclusion at their schools may relate to students' political trust. Moreover, how does an overall sense of exclusion from the school relate to political trust apart from individual students' feelings of exclusion? Lastly, do immigrant students have a different level of political trust, on average, than non-immigrant students? Using data from the 2009 International Civic and Citizenship Education Study, this study employed multilevel modeling to investigate these questions in Denmark, Finland, Norway, and Sweden. The results revealed that students feeling like an outsider at school was a statistically significant predictor of lower feelings of political trust in the four Nordic countries. In three countries the school's overall sense of exclusion was also a statistically significant predictor. The discussion explores the implication of the findings for students' political trust. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Political scientists have long recognized educational attainment as a strong predictor of voter turnout, but the mechanisms through which educational experiences lead voters to the polls remain underexplored. This research begins to open this proverbial black box to understand the specific types of scholastic experiences that encourage voting. Grounded in previous findings by scholars of policy feedback and political socialization, a mix of qualitative and quantitative data analyses reveal that nonacademic high school experiences can have powerful and lasting interpretive effects. Participants in performance and service-based extracurricular activities are consistently recognized for their efforts and connected to their communities, leading to interpretations of dignity, efficacy, and civic duty. As a result, these young Americans are more likely than their peers to vote in early adulthood. Further analyses uncover critical effects based on socioeconomic status: many interpretive educational experiences have more profound impacts on the voting behaviors of young citizens who may lack opportunities for positive political socialization in their home and social environments. Unfortunately, those young Americans whose participatory behaviors could be most impacted by uplifting extracurricular experiences are also least likely to have access to and participate in these programs, a gap that may have been exacerbated during the recent pandemic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Schools in the United States have often been tasked with cultivating a political identity that is connected to the nationstate. In the civics classroom, this often means teaching a nation-state centered civic education, which can create a sense of disjuncture for some students. This year-long ethnographic study explores disenfranchised students living in the Virgin Islands' political identities and interests and how their teachers responded to them. The findings suggest that students entered the classroom with developed and varied political interests and identities that would not necessarily be recognized in a traditional nation-state centered civics class. Teachers responded by providing a culturally sustaining and humanizing civic education that honored their students' diverse political and cultural identities and interests. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using testimonio method and methodology, this paper provides the stories and narratives of three Chicanx teachers who developed and taught an Ethnic Studies course to Latinx students in a large urban high school. Long celebrated as a way to fill in missing history, art, literature, resistance, and knowledge of communities of color, this paper argues that Ethnic Studies is also a vehicle to grow and embolden student sense of critical civic literacy. Through the narratives that emerge from these three teachers, the curriculum and pedagogy offered by these teachers positively impacts and propels students to advocate for themselves and their communities through civic and political action. The purpose of this article is to highlight the curricular and pedagogical choices of three teachers teaching Ethnic Studies and how Ethnic Studies can be used as a tool to increase Critical Civic Literacy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

National identities have been challenged by European integration, globalisation, migration and regionalisation. More recently, there has been a resurgence of nationhood and national identity which begs the question how education systems, and curricula in particular, are responding to this. This article explores how national identity is reflected in history, geography and civic education curricula in France and Ireland. More specifically, it examines how national, European and international aspects are intertwined in these state curricula. This question is explored through a case study of curriculum units and subunits as well as discourses of how identity is being promoted in the curriculum. Our analysis highlights that French curricula privilege national topics, especially in history and civic education, whereas Irish curricula veer between national, European and international (global) notions. Our analysis explores the extent to which macro-political discourses around national identity are reflected in the shaping of the subject curricula in two countries. While the article focuses on France and Ireland, the discussions are also of interest to other jurisdictions regarding the civic expectations and role of schools in promoting national (or other) identities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although polarisation risks breaking up the European family, such conflicts paired with transnational challenges can also raise awareness of the need for more European Union (EU) cohesion. In order to approach the hitherto underspecified concept, this article connects the recent literature on social cohesion with research on various facets of public EU support – integration preferences, identity, voting behaviour, and solidarity. Building on survey data from 10 EU countries taken at the end of 2020, a latent class analysis identifies two distinct groups of preferences for EU cohesion: its friends and its foes. EU cohesion can be achieved by highlighting personal advantages of European integration and by stressing joint approaches to crises, civic education, and democratic processes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background/Context: Robust civic engagement by young adults supports the aims of a democratic society, as well as college- and university-espoused commitments to the public good. Civic engagement also benefits students themselves. Although voting participation among young adults has shown modest increases from 2016 to 2020, work remains to be done to help youth become more engaged in civics. Postsecondary education has the tools to support this engagement among college students. Purpose/Objective/Research Question/Focus of Study: Postsecondary education has long sought to support young adults to participate in democratic society, despite the current dominance of a neoliberal focus on career and socioeconomic mobility outcomes. A realignment of goal-setting is necessary to recognize the need to do more than produce "docile bodies" for a neoliberal and capitalist labor market. Yet, colleges and universities struggle to center equity goals that would support radical democratic engagement. Research Design: This article is a philosophical analysis of the intersection of civic education, democracy, and equity in the postsecondary curriculum. Conclusions/Recommendations: The article concludes with four policy recommendations: (1) access to federal and state funding for postsecondary institutions for civic engagement initiatives; (2) support for the freedom to learn and the freedom to teach material grounded in equity principles, including critical race theory; (3) assessing civic education as a core learning outcome through collaborations between postsecondary education and government initiatives; and (4) protecting the methods by which young adults in college can participate in the electoral process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines the interrelations between two educational endeavors in Israeli high schools, which are usually perceived as separated. The first is a pre-military education program that is an inherent part of Israeli schools' formal and nonformal curriculum. The second is the incorporation of volunteering activity in and for the community as a compulsory prerequisite for the matriculation diploma. An integrative analysis of policy and curricular documents of both programs suggests that a shared common discursive framework characterizes these programs. This discourse glorifies an ideal Israeli citizen who serves his country through both civic volunteering and military service. This dual discourse blurs the boundaries between what is considered civic and what is considered military in the education system. Thus, it calls for a reconsideration of the ways in which civic education may be implemented in the education system together with militaristic ideals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Civic education is often touted as a counterweight to the contentiousness of American politics. Yet, civic education's relationship to dislike and distrust of opposing partisans (affective polarization) remains largely untested. Simultaneously, there are calls for educators to promote more civic informed action, taking civic education beyond the walls of the classroom. This study utilizes data from a survey of the 2016 election to examine the relationship between individuals' recalled civic education experiences (classroom pedagogy and community service) and affective polarization. In addition, this study explores two potential moderators of the relationship between civic education and affective polarization, partisan social identity strength and age. Analysis of the sample shows a significant relationship between both types of civic education experience and affective polarization, though the nature of that relationship may depend on respondents' partisan social identity and age. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research has shown that youth and their communities benefit from civics education, with its aim to prepare citizens for democracy. However, civics education for adolescents in the United States is not equitable, and determining how to best measure aspects of civic development in younger adolescents is a challenge. In this qualitative study, we explored how the constructs of action civics and civic purpose might inform teachers, other practitioners, and researchers who are interested in understanding the kinds of educational opportunities that promote civic development in young adolescents. Specifically, we examined how activities characteristic of an action civics approach to civic education in the context of a week-long summer civics camp would influence young adolescents' thinking across the dimensions of civic purpose. We conducted focus groups with 49 young adolescents (entering 5th-9th grades) as they participated in the civics camp, and we analyzed transcripts using qualitative content analysis. Our findings reveal four key considerations for promoting civic purpose development in young adolescents: the importance of adult guides, the significance of developmentally matched activities, opportunities for growth in educating diverse and marginalized youth in the civics camp setting, and action civics as a curricular mechanism for promoting civic purpose. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Traditional notions of civic education often introduce privilege and reproduce Eurocentric notions of citizenship. Proponents of cultural citizenship champion Black cultural knowledge, and critical race pedagogies to help marginalized individuals, including students of color, actualize their agentic selves. This manuscript presents three vignettes to demonstrate how teachers implemented the Black Lives Matter at School’s 13 Guiding Principles to develop Black cultural citizenship with students. Three salient aspects emerged: (1) the need for students to be active contributors in the current movement for Black liberation; (2) a call to support students unlearning and relearning Black history; and (3) instruction that provides opportunities for students to recognize and challenge systems of oppression. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigates teacher participation in a national online youth civic letter writing project through the lens of teacher civic commitments. Drawing on in-depth interviews and survey data from teachers who participated in the Letters to the Next President 2.0 project, civic commitments are articulated through civic beliefs, learning goals, instructional enactments, and geopolitical context. With a generic shared belief in "youth voice," teachers enacted the civic letter writing project through instructional activities that included (a) choice of topic, (b) publication, (c) reading letters from other youth, (d) research, (e) peer dialogue, and (f) connections beyond the Letters project. While beliefs appeared widely shared, divergence in learning goals and enactments led to distinct learning opportunities for students. With minimal research exploring the role of teachers in student civics learning, this study provides new insights to guide teacher preparation and ongoing teacher development in the realm of civics education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the spring of 2021, conservative pundits and politicians renewed a decades-old attack on Critical Race Theory (CRT). Per usual, the attack intentionally misrepresented the nature and impact of CRT with the goal of derailing efforts to address systemic racial inequality. This push to maintain the status quo power structure is echoed in former President Trump's January 6th speech urging his supporters to forcefully overturn the 2020 presidential election. In both cases, the politics of division and purposefully used misinformation are key tools. The high school classroom highlights these tools' use. It is both a proxy space where larger social issues are focused and an actual space in which students are prepared to counter the pernicious effects of stoked division and misinformation. Based on experiences in a public high school's 11th-grade World Literature class, this article explores how engagement with topical issues can equip students to recognize the politics of division and to be analytical and engaged citizens. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Can exposure to mass events with the presence of radical actions influence the legitimation of this type of protest in adolescents? How are changes in legitimation levels conditioned by socioeconomic status or by political socialization at home and school? To answer these questions, we used a sample of 1,203 students in their second year of secondary school in Chile who were surveyed as part of the School Citizenship Panel (Panel de Ciudadanía Escolar, PACES). In the middle of fieldwork in this study, the event known as the estallido social ('social outburst') stood out for its mass and presence of violence. We compare the students surveyed before and after this event. Contrary to our expectations, the students had similar levels of legitimation of radical actions before and after the estallido. We also found a trend towards moderation in students with a higher socioeconomic status, who had more frequent political conversations with their parents, and in students from schools that conduct civic education activities. In short, experiences of family and school political socialization can help lower an adolescent's support of radical actions in radicalized contexts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article investigates the contentious relationship between economics and social studies and considers the extent to which the dominant narratives and methodological approaches in economics are compatible with ambitious views of equity in civics education. Tensions between social studies and economics are described. These include differing views on the role of government, democracy, and equality, as well as economics' "imperious mindset" (Heilbroner, 1991, p. 463). After identifying these tensions, the article devotes significant space to recent scholarship that can bridge the civics-economics divide and introduce the kind of equity work being called for in social studies education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Undergirded by theories of civic identity development, transformative pedagogies, and the promotion of identity exploration in the academic curriculum, this qualitative study examines five high school students' perceptions of support for their civic identity development and identity exploration within a twelfth-grade Advanced Placement (AP) U.S. Government course. Classroom observations, teacher and student interviews, and artifact collection over the course of a three-month research period informed individual and cross-case analysis. The findings of this study indicate that the frequent use of discussion-based practices is supportive of identity exploration for students in different statuses of civic identity. All participants perceived support from their AP U.S. Government teacher and all perceived unique value in various class activities. The role of the instructor as an intentional agent for civic identity development and adolescent identity exploration is considered. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Adult educators and scholars have long recognized the Highlander Education and Research Center in Tennessee as a model for adult civic education that is transformative for individuals and society. In 2004, researchers at Harvard University identified Highlander as one of the most successful initiatives worldwide with long-term impact on societal transformation. It is important for current scholars interested in adult and civic education to understand Highlander's theoretical and practical contributions to adult learning and civic action, and how it shares many of the same theoretical streams of thought that influenced the development of transformative adult education. This article will provide an in-depth review of how Highlander's theoretical origins, depicted through one of its founder's intellectual discoveries, were forerunners to contemporary transformative educational theory and became a catalyst for a decades-long enterprise of transformative education. Highlander and its approach may be unfamiliar to contemporaries in adult education, but its theoretical and practical approach remains highly relevant as we seek nontraditional models and educational practices to promote civic engagement for a more socially and economically just society. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Emerging from faculty collaboration across disciplines, the four-stage Field Immersion Framework (FIF) marries place-based experiential learning with civic engagement to promote important transformative learning outcomes such as shifts in Worldview, Self, Epistemology, Ontology, Behavior, and Capacity. To support those outcomes, we developed this adaptable pedagogical framework for immersive courses that cultivate shared inquiry by faculty and students while fostering civic agency. The FIF positions students as explorers in communities grappling with important, unresolved issues and facilitates deep learning in the affective domain. Immersing students in the field as they experience civic issues is an emancipatory opportunity for many students, particularly those bound by geography or digital screens. We detail the FIF's grounding in learning theory and provide examples of its implementation in varied courses and geographic settings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Some current civic education theorists raise the question of how citizens can be responsible, effective actors in their communities and emphasize the necessity to teach for collective action and social change, for a "civic renewal movement" ([10]). He sees the need of transformative education in order to "show how globalizing and "restructuring" are clearly an impediment to a just society" ([14], p. 166) and suggests that "anti-racist education must define, conceptualize and perceive "difference" from the standpoint of those who occupy the margins of society and continually have to resist their marginality through collective action" (p. 162). The relationships between transformative education and civic education are the major aim of this special issue, focusing on historical and contemporary examples of civic transformative education, exploring contexts, and developing new theoretical approaches to uniting these two spheres of educational theory and practice. First, in weaving together two prominent approaches in the field of learning, there is productive cross-pollination of perspectives for how we can live, co-create, and improve our societies through personal growth, and yes, transformation; and how we learn to deal with changes, shifts, and even ruptures in our societies productively and creatively. [Extracted from the article]

Scholars have long identified fostering democratic citizenship as a primary purpose of public schooling in the United States, as schools should intentionally prepare students with the knowledge and skills needed for active, informed democratic citizenship. In addition, global interconnectedness has reshaped needed civic competencies to participate in civic life. This conceptual article considers the intersections between civic and world history education, assessing the relationship between the two disciplines in order to create a framework of best practices in world history civic education. Global citizenship discourse is analyzed using this framework, considering how different forms may reinforce or undermine world history's purpose of preparing students with pluralist understandings for global democratic living. Drawing on components of history education, world history, and global citizenship education scholarship, this article seeks to establish epistemological clarity as to how world history can contribute to meaningful civic education and vice versa. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It has been well established that controversial issue discussions are an integral component to a high-quality civic education. However, as the United States has become increasingly politically polarized, teachers have become more hesitant to engage students in discussions of controversial political issues. Two decades worth of literature on teaching controversial issues has shown that a primary factor in determining whether teachers will engage students in controversial issue discussions is whether they feel supported by their school administrators. Yet, school leaders have rarely been the focus of civic education efforts. This article seeks to bridge that divide by first providing a review of the research showing the importance of engaging with controversy in K-12 education and the influence of school leadership on that process and then ending with implications for school administrators who wish to support teachers who broach controversy in their classrooms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study clarifies the evolving notion of civic education that resulted from technological advancement. We investigated Singaporean young people's views on civic education by contrasting the roles of schools, families and friends, and social media in shaping their understanding. Through focus groups, we found that there are contentions on the definitions, approaches, and meanings of civic education. We conclude that in view of the inevitable diversity digital technologies tend to present, young people's civic learning might be limited by the pressure and confusion coming along with the exposure to diverse views, the tendency to retreat from formal politics, and the lack of effective school intervention into the social media space. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article analyzes how guns emerged as both urgent topics of dialogue and common features of everyday life for 228 students and their teachers in six communities across the United States who participated in the Digital Democratic Dialogue (3D) Project, a year long social design-based experiment aimed at foregrounding youth voice and fostering connection across lines of geographic and ideological difference. We trace the myriad ways that guns literally and discursively shaped the multiple ecological contexts of the 3D Project in order to detail youth sociopolitical learning and extend traditional models of civic education. We propose a paradigm of speculative civic literacies that privileges a collaborative push toward democratic interrogation and innovation over integration into existing civic and political structures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The marketization of U.S. schools has increasingly complicated and even undermined the democratic aims of education, causing many to argue that democratic and market ideologies are fundamentally opposed. This meta-ethnographic study uses conceptual tools from democratic theory and the research on civic education to investigate how leaders in one market-based organization—charter schools—grapple with tensions between the market and democracy in fostering the democratic orientations of their students and parents. Findings reveal that charter leaders primarily facilitate democratic learning opportunities that advance their organizational interests and promote a narrow and more individualistic conceptualization of democracy at the expense of a communitarian, justice-oriented one. The bounded vision of democracy observed in charter school practices suggests that market pressures may drive charters to focus their democratic engagement on the instrumental aims of ensuring their organizational survival in a competitive educational marketplace, despite espoused commitments to broader democratic aims. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, the role of higher education in post-uprising Libya is analysed in terms of its relationship with transitional processes of democratization and civic development. It begins by contextualising the Libyan uprising within the optimism of the 'Arab Spring' transitions in the Middle East. Following this, the relationship between higher education and politics under the Qadhafi regime and in the immediate aftermath of its overthrow is discussed. A case-study of a programme designed to support Tripoli University in contributing towards democratisation will then be presented. The findings of the case-study will be reflected upon to offer a set of recommendations for international actors engaging in political and civic education in conflict-affected settings, in particular in the Middle East. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

What is dissent? And how should educators teach students the skills and dispositions of this democratic virtue? By engaging with the 2011 article by Sarah M. Stitzlein on 'Democratic education in an era of town hall protests', this retrospective article discusses Stitzlein's definition of dissent, her curricular approach to teaching dissent, and the context in which she offered both. It concludes by offering a refined definition of dissent and reassessing the curricular implications for democratic educators. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background/Context: In its pursuit for equal opportunity for all students, the field of civic education has largely ignored a significant segment of the school population: students with disabilities (SWD). While numerous studies have documented the benefits of high-quality civic learning for youth, these benefits are not equally distributed among students. Indeed, White students, economically advantaged students, and students in higher tracked classes are the most likely to participate in high-quality civic learning opportunities. Meanwhile, little is known about the high-quality civic learning opportunities provided to SWD because they are routinely absent from research and policy discussions. Purpose/Objective/Research Question/Focus of Study: Any meaningful commitment to respecting SWD as competent, contributing citizens in a democratic society requires preparing them to advocate for themselves and for others as fully as possible, which in turn requires high-quality civic learning opportunities in our schools. Moreover, we need to better understand which students are included in civic education and in what ways because these efforts communicate important lessons about who is a valued member of "we the people" and the school community. As such, this study explores the current landscape of civic education for SWD by examining the extent to which they receive equitable exposure to high-quality civic learning opportunities and engage civically within their communities. Research Design: Drawing on more than 48,000 survey responses from high school students in Chicago Public Schools, a quantitative analysis was conducted to examine the relationship between four demographic variables (disability status, socioeconomic status, race/ethnicity, and gender) and seven outcome variables attending to both traditional and digital forms of civic education. Notably, this appears to be the first large-scale empirical study to examine these indicators for SWD. Conclusions/Recommendations: There are statistically significant differences between the civic education experiences provided to SWD and students without disabilities, even when controlling for socioeconomic status, race/ethnicity, and gender. In particular, SWD are more likely to be excluded from discussion-based experiences than service-based experiences. Moreover, the magnitude of the differences based on disability status was equal to or greater than that of the differences explained by other demographic variables in the majority of cases. These findings demonstrate that disability status is a factor that deserves greater attention in civic education research and pedagogy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents the discussion on social studies and civic education as a way for encouraging the health of democracy. Topics include cultivating personally responsible, socialized citizens exhibiting a strong sense of national identity, individual freedom, and patriotism; and legislative action related to critical race theory and social studies.

This article compares case studies to better understand how third grade teachers, serving low-income (including Title I) schools, adapted their instruction in the midst of a global pandemic to better support their students' learning about locally-relevant civic issues. Civic perspective-taking components were embedded in the unit design with the aim of building deliberative, inclusive classrooms. The team designed lessons drawing from theories of culturally sustaining pedagogy. Using semi-structured interview data, we examined teachers' reported thinking and perceptions about students' needs and their own struggles to deliver purposeful, equitable instruction. Findings indicate that as teachers collaboratively designed the lessons they discussed how to balance relevance and sensitivity in relation to content that mirrored students lived realities. This study advances our understanding of what challenges teachers overcome to integrate culturally-sustaining practices in their social studies instruction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Informed by Critical Race Theory, this quantitative study supports civic educators in understanding the role of classroom climate and racial identity in students' civic engagement during a statewide middle school civics mandate (n = 4707). Findings reveal that students of color experience higher civic engagement and lower civic attitude scores than white-identifying peers, after controlling for school, classroom, and affluence indicators. Students' perception of whiteness (or perhaps majority status) appeared to correlate with positive civic knowledge and civic attitude, but relative civic inaction. These findings suggest differences in civic outcomes as early as middle school between white-identifying students and students of color. Such differences offer implications for civic education interventions that address not only effective instruction, but civic inequities, students' perceived agency, and curricular content. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

During a divisive political time, it is critical that social studies teachers, teacher educators, and scholars commit to justice, equity, inclusivity, and diversity when teaching, engaging, and learning with emerged bilingual (EB) students. This study examines how late arrival EB students and their teachers conceptualize social studies, citizenship, and civic education through a framework of culturally and linguistically relevant citizenship education (CLRCE). The findings in this study extend the original CLRCE framework by drawing from multiple sites of pedagogical ideas and action to support late arrival EB students inside and outside of the social studies classroom. This study offers examples for how to implement CLRCE in communities experiencing similar demographic shifts as well as in schools who are interested in centering the cultural, linguistic, and civic experiences of their students. Specifically, this study reveals pedagogical examples and sites of critical citizenship that center EB students' ideas, experiences, assets, and actions in civic society and in the social studies classroom, offering ways to rethink and reimagine civics education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Thinking at the axes of homonationalism, civic education, and queer-inclusive social studies, this article complicates the uneven relationships between lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ+) exclusion and belonging. Arguing that more attention should be paid to how Genders and Sexualities Alliance (GSA) spaces may function to render particular imaginaries of the queer civic subject, and the U.S. queer civic subject in particular, more viable than others, I extend both the conceptual and methodological directions of out-of-school social studies research to underscore how equity -- as a concept - becomes connotative of particular types of civic action and life. Highlighting how LGBTQ + youths' talk can be discursively read and traced as a pedagogical text, I emphasize how a 'good' queer citizenry, and indeed a 'good' queer life, is one that follows the logics of cis-hetero-patriarchy and American exceptionalism. In so doing, I document the rhetorical reification and discursive production of queer complicity and community. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This phenomenological case study investigates how planning community-centered civics inquiries can prepare elementary pre-service teachers to better address inequities facing rural communities, including those located on Indigenous reservations. Specifically, the study addresses this research question: How does community-centered planning inform pre-service teacher readiness to support place-conscious and anti-colonial civics education within elementary contexts? Findings suggest that guided, community-centered planning leads to enhanced pre-service teacher confidence in preparing to facilitate equity-oriented elementary education, particularly as related to evolving understandings of civics content competence, relational commitments, and responsibilities of rural teachers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is a growing trend within civics education within the United States to adopt the USCIS naturalization civics exam (commonly referred to as the 'citizenship test'), which consists of 100 multiple choice questions, to determine the civic readiness of students. This study explores civics education within eight US states that have adopted the 'citizenship test' model through the lens of citizenship conceptualizations evidenced within their high school civics state standards. Utilizing a directed content analysis, the researcher located more than 230 standards within three citizenship discourse categories: civic republican, liberal, and reconstructionist. Citizenship within the examined state standards, was largely conceptualized as civic republican in orientation (96%) and nested within untroubled assumptions of US society and desires for a common American identity that often crowded out attention to diversity and conflict and in doing so, mirrored exclusionary practices common to standardized, high-stakes assessments including the USCIS naturalization civics exam. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines the many traces of John Rawls' theory of justice in contemporary philosophy of education. Beyond work that directly explores the educational implications of justice as fairness and political liberalism, there are many interesting debates in philosophy of education that make use of Rawlsian concepts to defend views that go well beyond those advocated in justice as fairness. There have also been methodological debates on Rawls' distinction between ideal and non-ideal theory which concern the proper balance between empirically informed discussion and fruitful normative reflection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]