The increased diversity in many European countries has posed challenges regarding civic engagement and social cohesion. Schools are one of the most important sites for the dissemination of shared imaginations and narratives on belonging and citizenship in society and teaching young people certain attitudes and values as citizens are expected to possess openness to a diverse society. Although recent research has made significant advances in demonstrating that citizenship is an experiential and negotiated social process in everyday life, emotional attachments as part of feelings of belonging (i.e. feeling at ‘home’) and citizenship remain underexplored (Kenway & Youdell, 2011). Attention to such emotional dimensions can advance critical views on why some youth may agree with more normative, rational approaches to citizenship but still only have a limited affective belonging to the citizenship community (Clycq, Driezen & Verschraegen, 2020). This underlines the need for a broader understanding of citizenship and belonging to further untangle the complexities of how citizenship is formed and performed in classroom settings. In this way we can better assess the impact education has on shared feelings of belonging.

In recent years, there is an increasing interest in the affective dimension of citizenship, including the linkages between political emotion and civic involvement (Helmsing, 2014; Reidel & Salinas, 2011; Sheppard, Katz, & Grosland, 2015), as well as how teachers interpret emotions in the classroom (Sheppard & Levy, 2019). Zembylas (2014) introduced affective citizenship as a concept to capture the emotional relationships individuals develop from their perspective as citizens. These processes often coincide with the construction of boundaries between ‘us’ versus ‘them’ and these boundaries are guided by emotions (Ahmed, 2014). Within education, ‘embracing the other’ and ‘coping with difference’ are two important aims of the standard citizenship education curricula across Europe that include an ‘emotional injunction’ (Zembylas, 2014). Identifying which emotions are advocated or denied in education is crucial in understanding how individuals are encouraged to feel about themselves and others. For example, Flemish schools prohibiting students from wearing their hijab or from speaking their native language, affect the feelings of belonging of ethnic minority students as they might feel they are not recognized as equal citizens in school (Pulinx, 2017).  

Teachers are powerful players inside schools, as they enact the formal curriculum and put the pedagogical vision of the school into practice (Leenders & Veugelers, 2009). Literature shows teachers enact objectives and aims of citizenship education curricula in different ways (Sincer, Severiens, & Volman, 2019). Some argue to be objective or impartial transmitters of citizenship knowledge, while others deliberately use sensitive societal issues to elicit passionate debate. Shepard and Levy (2019) discovered that when it came to dealing with emotions in the classroom, teachers generally considered a range of contextual elements. As teachers deal with complex questions, ‘controversial’ topics and situations when working on citizenship education, they are most likely to be confronted with emotions from their students as well as their own. In this study, we aim to explore the reasonings and affective dimensions behind strategies and practices when working on citizenship education.  

In summary, this article aims to explore the meaning teachers give to the concept of citizenship and the way they enact citizenship education policies in their classrooms. Specific attention is paid to the way teachers manage and contain the emotions students express in class as well as their own emotions when working on citizenship education. The following research questions are addressed 1) How do teachers enact citizenship education policies in their classrooms? 2) In what ways do teachers understand, manage, and control the emotions of their students and themselves when working on citizenship education?

This study uses a descriptive qualitative approach to advance current understandings of citizenship and belonging in education by focusing on teachers’ perspectives on the enactment of citizenship education and the experienced emotions in the classroom. To answer the abovementioned research questions, we conducted 20 semi-structured interviews with secondary school teachers of three schools in Flanders, the Northern part of Belgium. These three schools differed in 1) their difference in rate of ethno-cultural and socio-economic diversity in the school, and 2) their familiarity with, or interest in citizenship education and socialisation practices. Both criteria were proven important in empirical research on citizenship education and diversity (e.g. Agirdag, van Houtte, & van Avermaet, 2011). Although we sought a range of contexts in terms of location (rural, suburban, and urban), size (large and small), and student demographics (homogenous and heterogenous), all the teachers identified as White. The interviews are conducted between October 2021 and February 2022. Due to Covid-19 restrictions, 14 interviews were conducted online. The semi-structured interviews lasted approximately 55 - 90 minutes and asked teachers to discuss how they thought about teaching citizenship and belonging and how emotions – experienced and expressed by the students in their classroom or by themselves when ‘working on’ citizenship education – affected their teaching. All interviews are audio recorded and ad verbatim transcribed and will be coded in NVivo software using inductive and deductive reasoning.

Our preliminary findings show that, although the interpretations and enactment of the citizenship education policies differed between teachers and between schools, we found several similarities across teachers. All teachers expressed a strong commitment to developing ‘good’ young people. In most cases this was communicated in terms of encouraging an attitude of equality, tolerance, mutual respect, and the promotion of the ‘right’ values and norms. In the eyes of the teachers, the promotion of these values was essential to discuss ‘sensitive’ topics in the classroom. With respect to the ‘content’ of these topics, several emotional aspects of citizenship emerged in the interview data, including how students are taught to feel about themselves and others. Our analysis reveals that teachers used different strategies to manage emotions in their classrooms, for example the use of formal debating procedures. Emotions were generally 1) not acknowledged, 2) neglected, or 3) minimised in the classroom when working on citizenship education. These approaches to dealing with emotions in the classroom mainly depended on the experience and ease of the teacher to discuss ‘sensitive’ topics and the frequency of the occurrence of these discussions in their classroom. Moreover, practical, and affective challenges and constraints could also be identified, which resulted in a range of emotive reactions of unease and uncertainty. Some teachers expressed concerns about neutrality, partisanship, and ethics, and even a fear of accusations of indoctrination. This study aimed to expand on the notion of affective citizenship education, as this approach to citizenship identifies which emotional relationships between young people are recognised, supported, or rejected. The findings of this study provide a more nuanced picture of how secondary school teachers think about citizenship and how emotions and feelings of belonging are constructed, contained, and managed in different educational contexts.

Agirdag, O., van Houtte, M., & van Avermaet, P. (2011). Ethnic school context and the national and sub-national identifications of pupils. Ethnic and Racial Studies, 34(2), 357–378. https://doi.org/10.1080/01419870.2010.510198 Ahmed, S. (2014). The Cultural Politics of Emotion (2nd ed.). Edinburgh University Press. Clycq, N., Driezen, A., & Verschraegen, G. (2020). (Sub)national and supranational identity among majority and minority youth in superdiverse urban schools. Journal of Youth Studies, 1–17. Helmsing, M. (2014). Virtuous subjects: A critical analysis of the affective substance of social studies education. Theory and Research in Social Education, 42(1), 127–140. https://doi.org/10.1080/00933104.2013.842530 Kennelly, J., & Dillabough, J. A. (2008). Young people mobilizing the language of citizenship: Struggles for classification and new meaning in an uncertain world. British Journal of Sociology of Education, 29(5), 493–508. https://doi.org/10.1080/01425690802263643 Kenway, J., & Youdell, D. (2011). The emotional geographies of education: Beginning a conversation. Emotion, Space and Society, 4(3), 131–136. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.emospa.2011.07.001 Leenders, H., & Veugelers, W. (2006). Different perspectives on values and citizenship education. Curriculum and Teaching, 21, 5–20. https://doi.org/10.7459/ct/21.2.02 Pulinx, R. (2017). The dynamics of teachers’ beliefs about language, citizenship and social interaction. Echoes of monolingualism in Flemish classrooms (Doctoral Dissertation, Ghent University). Retrieved from https://biblio.ugent.be/publication/8542188 Reidel, M., & Salinas, C. (2011). The Role of Emotion in Democratic Dialogue: A Self Study. Social Studies Research & Practice, 6(1), 2–20. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&profile=ehost&scope=site&authtype=crawler&jrnl=19335415&AN=78153927&h=xVDUaEGJHTzGmuTA0DimoQ4dQ%2BvvSXpzjVG54ejHnxWn7R5qerW8H3x%2BsATKEroY48b25bkT%2FzuMMTSzxC4XDw%3D%3D&crl=c Sheppard, M., Katz, D., & Grosland, T. (2015). Conceptualizing emotions in social studies education. Theory and Research in Social Education, 43(2), 147–178. https://doi.org/10.1080/00933104.2015.1034391 Sheppard, M., & Levy, S. A. (2019). Emotions and teacher decision-making: An analysis of social studies teachers’ perspectives. Teaching and Teacher Education, 77, 193–203. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tate.2018.09.010 Sincer, I., Severiens, S., & Volman, M. (2019). Teaching diversity in citizenship education: Context-related teacher understandings and practices. Teaching and Teacher Education, 78, 183–192. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tate.2018.11.015 Zembylas, M. (2014). Affective citizenship in multicultural societies: implications for critical citizenship education. Citizenship Teaching & Learning, 9(1), 5–18. https://doi.org/10.1386/ctl.9.1.5