Pupils' Understandings Of Citizenship. Approaching Citizenship Through The Lens Of Justice. Workshops With Pupils In Primary Schools In Greece
Author(s):
Ioanna Noula (presenting / submitting)
Conference:
ECER 2013
Network:
07. Social Justice and Intercultural Education
Format:
Paper

Session Information

07 SES 03 A, Democratic Citizenship Education

Paper Session

Time:
2013-09-10
17:15-18:45
Room:
D-302
Chair:
Ghazala Bhatti

Contribution

Greece as a member state of a number of International Organizations like the EU and the UN has ratified several conventions and treaties, which regard the protection of human rights and the safeguard of democratic institutions i.e. the Convention on The Rights of the Child (UNESCO, 1989) or the Lisbon Treaty (EUROPEAN UNION, 1997). The alignment of national educational policies to the European context also constitutes a commitment to the values of democracy and inclusion. However nowadays the Greek society experiences the rise of extreme nationalism and the resulting violence against immigrants and refugees. This worrying phenomenon does not concern only Greece, but also other European countries with long democratic tradition. According to recent studies there is an emergence of patterns which link the upsurge of nationalism and the rise of populist and extremist parties in Europe with the rapid decline of national economies especially in the countries of the European South (Panagiotou, 2010) (Hoskins, 2012).

In the Report on Participatory citizenship in the European Union, citizenship is defined as “participation in the civil society, community and/or political life, characterized by mutual respect and non-violence and in accordance with human rights and democracy” (Hoskins et al. 2012). This approach offers a sound theoretical framework which justifies the critical role of citizenship with reference to the sustainability of democratic institutions and inclusive society and it also constitutes an argument for its further study regarding the issue.

The paper reports the results of workshops conducted with 11-12 year old pupils in 5 primary schools in Greece. The workshops aimed to enable pupils in primary education to articulate ways in which they conceptualize citizenship. The focus was on the context of a diverse society both at the micro-level of the local community as well as the meso and the macro-levels of the state or international and supranational entities.

The intent of this approach was to challenge pupils' capacity to make fair judgments since in the context of the workshops citizenship was addressed through the lens of the concept of justice. According to Crick (1999), justice when approached as fairness constitutes a presupposition for citizenship. Therefore this approach would allow the political nature of citizenship to be accentuated and the fact that it constitutes a civic virtue to be emphasized.

The examination of pupils’ perceptions of otherness was also attempted. Focus on otherness was considered necessary since it is a discourse that has come to the fore in the recent financial crisis and the context of austerity where it is used to stigmatise recent migrants. Osler and Starkey (2005) also highlight the importance of the issue of otherness identifying racism as a factor of subversion of democracy.

The final aim was the exploration of pupils’ knowledge of current affairs since this is stipulated as one of the core competencies for Education for Democratic Citizenship and Human Rights Education (Council of Europe. Committee of Ministers, 2010).

Method

The sample of five schools was selected so as to include private, public, urban, suburban and rural schools. The sample included Greek pupils and pupils from minority ethnic backgrounds. The workshops were based on a series of slides illustrating issues related to current affairs. Pupils were 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 give the opportunity to explore pupils’ knowledge of issues related to citizenship like environmental pollution, the financial crisis, immigration, unemployment as well as their understandings of the relevant concepts of human dignity, human rights, social cohesion, democracy and equality. Finally pupils had to create posters addressing one of the topics previously treated and assess the workshop.

Expected Outcomes

Findings from the analysis of pupils’ discourses reveal that the latter cluster around the following concepts: "state", "public space", "rights", "responsibility", "otherness" and "progress". Most importantly, in their accounts pupils depict a clear distinction between the citizen and the non-citizen, adhering to the stereotype of the citizen-national. They also construct two versions of the public: a) public as opposed to private and associated with the national and b) public as synonymous with the official state, which however is detached from the public sphere. When pupils speak about rights they stress on the dimension of social rights and the relevant vindication while at the same time the notion of responsibility emerges as a relative value. The variables of pupils’ socio-economic background as well as the one of their ethnicity shape their accounts and stances concerning the current political and financial scene in Greece and the subsequent phenomena such as protests and other forms of vindication of social rights. The same variables allow the construction of the repertoire of “progress” (pursuit of better life) in schools that admit pupils of lower socio-economic backgrounds and minorities.

References

Council of Europe. Committee of Ministers. (2010). Council of Europe Charter on Education for Democratic Citizenship and Human Rights Education : recommendation CM/Rec(2010)7 adopted by the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe on 11 May 2010 and explanatory memorandum. Strasbourg: Council of Europe Publishing. Crick, B. (1999). The Presuppositions of Citizenship Education. Journal of the Philosophy of Education, 33(3), 337–352. EUROPEAN UNION. (1997). Treaty of Lisbon amending the Treaty on European Union and the Treaty establishing the European Community. Official Journal of the European Union, 50. Hoskins, B. (2012). Participatory Citizenship in Europe. Europe for Citizens Programme 2011-2012. Presented at the LLAKES Centre, London. Hoskins, B., Abs, H., Han, C., Kerr, D., & Veugelers, W. (2012). Participatory Citizenship in the European Union (EACEA/2010/02). Brussels: European Commission, Europe for Citizens Programme. Osler, A., & Starkey, H. (2005). Changing Citizenship. Democracy and Inclusion in Education. New York: Open University Press. Panagiotou, R. A. (2010). Effects of the global economic crisis on South-east Europe. Journal of Balkan and Near Eastern Studies, 12(2), 187–194. UNESCO. Convention on The Rights of the Child. , CRC/GC/2001/1 (1989). Retrieved from http://www.unhchr.ch/tbs/doc.nsf/(symbol)/CRC.GC.2001.1.En?OpenDocument

Author Information

Ioanna Noula (presenting / submitting)
University of Thessaly
Department of Primary Education
Larissa

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