The article adds to a growing conversation that recognizes and supports young children's civic capabilities, positioning them as citizens-now and not simply citizens in the future. They detail how three different classrooms sought to work with children to engage in social action on behalf of their broader community. This response wonders alongside…

A project to invite experts in various disciplines to converse with literacy professors and teachers with over 30 participants resulted in several insights about disciplinary literacy and student learning in the disciplines and professions. The authors suggest that such conversations or partnerships strengthen student learning for college, career,…

In the following interview, Meira Levinson (Harvard Graduate School) discusses the field of educational ethics and how it can enhance justifiable youth activism to enact citizenship education and recover democracy. She introduces readers to her philosophical approach for developing normative case studies that aim to be inclusive of divergent views…

This article draws on the Language Learning Distinguished Scholar-in-Residence Program 2012 thanks to which Dr. Suresh Canagarajah from Pennsylvania State University lectured at Universidad de La Plata in Argentina in May of that year. He delivered a talk open to language teachers, students and the community in general and also taught a…

In this discussion of global citizenship education (GCED) in Aotearoa, I will be drawing upon my experiences teaching in international education, teaching the "New Zealand Curriculum," and my research in the field of citizenship-and social-justice education in Aotearoa New Zealand. I advocate approaching GCED as part of a broader…

In this response, we argue for the importance of understanding teachers' and administrators' beliefs about civic education, as well as how those beliefs may influence teachers' practices. We commend the authors for examining the beliefs of principals and school board members--groups rarely surveyed--but question how their beliefs may affect the…

This is a response to Liggett's (2014) call to implement "deliberate democracy" in English language education classrooms. While the concept of participating in deliberate democracy is a solid ideal and worthy of pursuit, I present questions and scenarios that illustrate the complicated nature of the tasks. By sharing my…

What is wrong with "peace education" in Israel? In this article, I attempt to decipher the cultural codes of Israeli schools in their relation to issues of peace, conflict and citizenship. It combines findings from two studies in order to understand how "school culture" animates "peace education." My main contention…

"May you live in interesting times," goes the saying, attributed to the Chinese, although the provenance is unproven. It is widely understood to be a curse, for which a loose translation could be: "May you experience disorder and trouble in your life." In this essay Christine Woyshner raises the issue of the "interesting…

Globalisation has extended the competition between nation-states to that between metropolises of the same or different nations. Many studies have shown how nation-states respond to the challenge of globalisation by reconfiguring their citizenship education curriculum into a multileveled framework comprising personal, social, local, national and…

I argue that there is potential for collaborative work between science educators and citizenship educators. However, following comments about that potential, I raise a number of challenges. Those challenges relate to the public perception of science, narrow academic perspectives of some science educators, and problematic attempts to develop a form…

In this article, the authors argue that if pupils are to make educated choices about their roles in Europe, it is important that a European dimension be included within education. These authors see three concepts as integral to a European dimension--identity, cooperation, and integration--and suggest that for the full potential of European…

Young people in the United States today are much more likely to be involved in volunteer work of an apolitical sort than in politics. As part of a study on political engagement, the author and other colleagues surveyed students at a diversity of colleges and universities and asked them why they and many of their peers are so much more likely to…

Responds to James Leming's empirical study on ideological perspectives within the social studies profession and his assertion that teachers and teacher educators exist in separate cultures. Agrees with Leming's descriptions of social studies professors but not his recommendations to bridge the gulf between teacher educators and teachers. (CFR)

This article calls for the revitalization of civic education in schools. Obstacles which must be overcome to achieve this revitalization are discussed, as well as approaches to incorporating civic education into the curriculum. (IAH)