Serious history instruction in K-12 U.S. schools has been in decline for decades. History education in Massachusetts has, until now, fared somewhat better than in the nation at large. In 1993 the commonwealth enacted the Massachusetts Education Reform Act--a bipartisan plan to improve education--which mandated core standards and assessments in…

A new, interesting, although disturbing phenomenon on the Polish political scene is increased--activity of youth groups, which not only defy the existing authorities, but also the democratic values. After the transformation of 1989, attempts were made to promote democracy in the school curricula. The basic objective of this article is to indicate…

This narrative documentary study depicts two approaches of citizenship education (CE) in Beijing over the past decade--change through curriculum development, versus change through the international exchange of ideals and practices. It reveals the varied interests of CE designers and the tensions arising from competing approaches to CE. Analysis…

The national curriculum reformers, regarded as members of the social elites and intellectuals, projected their vision of identity onto the curriculum which they constructed and influenced the next generation's national consciousness. In the tangled relationship between politics and education, the selection of the reformers in a sense dictates the…

This study critically examines teaching-learning as a means of actualising the tenet of the infusion of democracy and human rights in the subject Life Orientation in the classroom in all levels of education (Primary, Secondary and Tertiary) in South Africa. The study focuses on three established approaches namely teaching and learning as…

The rise of populist nationalism in many parts of the world poses urgent challenges for higher education institutions. Normally zones of liberal values and reasoned argument as well as sources of expert information, constructive criticism and useful advice for societies, universities face increasing uncertainty as a result of political and popular…

This article is the third of three on "Sources of Authority in Education." All use the work of Amy Gutmann as a heuristic device to describe and explain the prevalence of market-based models of education reform in the US and the business-influenced Global Education Reform Movement. The other two are "Negating Amy Gutmann:…

The aim of the paper is to analyse the relation between educational struggles and citizenship education in contemporary Poland. It adopts the critical pedagogy perspective and broadly defines the concept of educational struggle as struggling over the content of education, as social tensions in the field of education, as well as the students' and…

According to recommendations of the UN Secretary General's Global Education First Initiative, countries and regions require a number of structural changes if they are to implement educational policies and practice based on global citizenship education, and to promote respect and responsibility across cultures. In this paper, we present the first…

This article's aim is to provide, through a case study, new insights into current research on the civic education policies that encompassed the transition from authoritarian to democratic political regimes that took place as of the final years of the 20th century in Africa, Eastern Europe and Latin America. Many of these studies parted from the…

After nearly a decade of political polarization and deepening conflicts, Thailand is embarking on yet another cycle of reform and democratization project. While one of the proposed reform and democratizing strategies is to strengthen civic education curriculum and value inculcation, there has been a limited critical understanding on how…

This commentary closes this special issue with the reflections from two individuals who, like many in these fields, cross the boundaries between scholar, activist and practitioner in their work with young people, teachers and wider society. They bring their experiences working with difficult pasts in the service of better futures to the…

This paper challenges the celebratory uptake of human rights education (HRE) in postcolonial contexts by making visible the ideological and political entanglements of the discourse with neoliberal assumptions of citizenship. I draw evidence from, and critically reflect on, a specific HRE programme--a series of summer camps for girls entitled,…

This paper explores possible important relationships and sympathies between Amartya Sen's Capabilities Approach framework for understanding the human condition and the educational ideas of John Dewey and Paolo Freire. All three focus on the importance of democratic values in a fair, well-functioning society, while Sen and Freire especially…

South Africa's democratic transition was a time of optimism, with immense hopes pinned on the youth who would be educated to see themselves as equal citizens. It was also a time of pragmatic decision making, not least in the education sector, which would shape the future of the country. Negotiating the imperatives of redress, development, and…