Purpose: We intend to bring into debate what seems to be a paradoxical relation between the lack of youth civic and political participation, and the current disinvestment in the effective implementation of citizenship education policies. Design: A comparative framework between four European countries concerning youth civic and political…

Studies on youth participation tend to characterize youth as either active and trustful or as passive and alienated. This cross-national and longitudinal study examines patterns of citizenship orientations characterized by both manifest and latent involvement differentiated by one's position toward institutional politics (trustful or distrustful)…

Interactions within classrooms contribute to adolescents' democratic civic development by providing resources fostering students' political understanding. Many teachers participate in social or political groups in their communities and more broadly. These out-of-school experiences inform their classroom practices and are contextualized by national…

This article departures from the understanding of environmental sustainable education (ESE) as a political project that consists of dissonant and conflicting voices. The aim of the article is to understand how affection, i.e. bodily sensations, transform into political emotions in teaching and learning settings. The article offers a philosophical…

As schools are increasingly expected to develop their students' political and social engagement in order to promote good citizenship, they are struggling to define what good citizenship is. In this article, we put forward a way of formulating perspectives on citizenship that specifies the normative aspects of good citizenship in a systematic…

In recent years, an agonistic approach to citizenship education has been put forward as a way of educating democratic citizens. Claudia W. Ruitenberg (2009) has developed such an approach and takes her starting point in Chantal Mouffe's agonistic theory. Ruitenberg highlights how political emotions and political disputes can be seen as central for…

This article studies variance in the political participation of adolescents depending on achievement in civic education. The aim is to discover whether low achievers represent a distinctive pattern of political participation, and whether this varies across participation types (i.e. horizontally) and across current participation in school and…

Purpose: The credibility of digital news is presently a topic of debate, and curricula underline the importance of media literacy. However, the content and credibility of young people's news feeds have not been investigated in detail in any large-scale studies. Here we explore the nature of news featured in Swedish upper secondary school students'…

In the democracies of today, school often have a dual role to play. Not only should they give students the knowledge they need to enter the labour market, they should also teach young people about democracy, and develop students' capacity to exercise their citizenship. A third task for schools is to enhance political equality in society by…

Intercultural Policies and Education is concerned with educational challenges in multicultural societies. Educational policies, practices and strategies for fruitful coexistence in the multicultural school and classroom are explored and analysed through a collection of chapters designed and selected to provide readers with international,…

In this article, using data from ethnographic research, we try to present some glimpses of the way education is described as an experience and possibility "from below", by pupils who grow up and study in schools in the most segregated and territorially stigmatized suburbs on the outskirts of our major cities. What we feel they describe…

As the 21st century unfolds, the United States faces historic challenges, including a struggling economy, an aging infrastructure and global terrorism. Solutions will have to come from educated, skilled citizens who understand and believe in our democratic system and are civically engaged. This incisive new report examines these fault lines and…

In the European context Active Citizenship has been promoted within the education and training Lisbon Strategy as a tool to support the continuation of democracy, human rights and greater social inclusion. In this article the authors analyse the impact of education on Active Citizenship and contribute to the existing debates relating to education…

This second volume of the Bochum Studies in International Adult Education presents a variety of different perspectives on the topics of citizenship and civil society. Its goal is to give an overview of the European discourse on citizenship and civil society and on the discourse in some selected countries. Part I is comprised of the first of 14…

Presents Swedish views on Iran-Contra hearings and outlines issues for classroom instruction. Stresses the need to examine both the positive and negative effects of the media and the importance of teaching democratic principles. (DH)