On 23 December 1994, the UN General Assembly adopted a plan of action for the United Nations decade for human rights education (HRE). 30 years later, this challenge is still increasing. As Hannah Arendt pointed out, human rights are valuable only as political rights, not for abstract individuals but for natural communities. While HRE in schools…

In the late nineteenth century, adult and public learning pedagogy were the key instruments utilised in the campaign to achieve Victorian Women's Suffrage. The democratic process of changing state government legislation on franchise demanded multiple pedagogical methods. Through the actions of Bessie Harrison Lee (1860-1950), this paper identifies…

Citizenship education played a crucial role in the 19th century transition from royal sovereignty to democracy in the Nordic region, with folk high schools (FHS) playing an important role. While established to empower the people ("folk") for active participation in society, the contemporary folk high schools have reoriented from their…

This paper investigates the extent to which civic education is achieving its goals of teaching democracy and producing responsible democratic citizenship in Lesotho. This is done by analysing the conceptions of civic education, democracy, public participation, human rights, freedoms and responsibilities that appear in Lesotho's documents that are…

The Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada has called on federal, provincial, territorial, and municipal governments of Canada to educate public servants about the history and legacy of Indian residential schools and related topics, such as the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. This article advances this call…

Citizenship education, defined as learning to live together, requires agreement on certain common principles. One central purpose of a state education system is the transmission of common normative standards such as the human rights and fundamental freedoms that underpin liberal democratic societies. The paper identifies the conceptual roots of…

While universal human rights frameworks and democratic models of government have gained global support and even adherence, they often exist in tension with local cultural and religious practices. In Kuwait, tensions arise between its constitution, legal system and Islam, with several groups consequently marginalised. These tensions extend into the…

This article explores the links between citizenship and race in second-language education through an examination of the ways in which citizenship is linked to English language proficiency within a key Canadian federal adult English as a Second Language assessment document, the "Canadian Language Benchmarks" ("CLB"). It uses…

This article attempts a contrast to the contribution by Hugh Starkey. Rather than his account of the inexorable rise of human rights discourse, and of the implementation of human rights standards, human rights are here presented as always and necessarily scandalous and highly contested. First, I explain why the UK has lagged so far behind its…

Theme 1 of the "Hamburg Declaration on Adult Learning" boldly proclaimed that active citizenship and full participation of all citizens was the necessary foundation for "the creation of a learning society committed to social justice and general well-being" (UNESCO, 1997, p. 4). The "Declaration" advocated that future…

This article analyzes the participation of civil society in the Sixth International Conference on Adult Education held in Belem do Para, Brazil, 1-4 December 2009. As a foundation, the discussion first illuminates the important role that civil society in general plays in democratic issues and the relation between the state and society followed by…

This article presents the concept and practice of adult education as a key issue for Brazil and other Latin American countries, both for formal and non-formal education in the public and private sectors. It includes citizen education focused on democratisation of society and sustainable development. The concept is pluralist and ideological as well…

Applicants for U.S. citizenship must pass the naturalization test on U.S. history, government structure, constitutional principles, and basic English skills. Although no formal preparation for the exam is required, many immigrants, especially those with limited English proficiency, avail themselves of citizenship classes offered by community adult…

In this essay Charlene Tan offers a philosophical analysis of the Singapore state's vision of shared citizenship by examining it from a Confucian perspective. The state's vision, known formally as "Our Shared Values," consists of communitarian values that reflect the official ideology of multiculturalism. This initiative included a White…

After two elections and several recounts and court decisions, the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma has installed a new principal chief for the first time in a dozen years. Unlike his predecessor, Chief Bill John Baker has not opposed descendants of the tribe's former slaves, known as the Cherokee Freedmen, having rights as tribal citizens. That legal…