Citizenship and Identity: The Self-Image of Secondary School Students in England and Catalonia

Abstract

We discuss the ways in which English and Catalan students perceive themselves as members of communities and as citizens and the role of schools in these perceptions. Questionnaire and interview data were collected and analysed from 583 secondary school students in a total of 9 schools that were known for their commitment to citizenship education in England and Catalonia. The research took place when issues of national and other identities were prominently discussed in the media and elsewhere and when significant changes were being introduced in both locations regarding citizenship education as a specific curriculum subject and also in the wider context of education and schooling. Our results suggest that while the English students in our sample understand citizenship in terms of a subjective identification, our Catalan students perceive citizenship as a legal and externally assigned status. We did not intend to obtain nationally representative samples but rather to gain in-depth knowledge of the data and to discuss the implications of these results for the differing purposes of citizenship education. We make recommendations for how school-based citizenship education may contribute to current challenges related to citizenship and identities.

Fostering a global public sphere in real time: transpacific Skype seminars as a teaching strategy with implications for citizenship and identity

“…(We organized the class discussion by outlining the matrix with its four choices, explaining the ways that Nussbaum and her critics think about patriotism and cosmopolitanism both on their own terms and in relation to each other, and then asking the students to tell the group in which quadrant they would choose to situate themselves.) Nussbaum’s primarily cosmopolitan position did not attract a majority of our students, thereby suggesting skeptics (see Sant et al, 2016) are right to point out that a specific ‘global citizen’ identity seems far from prevalent in the next generation.…”

Academic Students' Attitudes toward Students with Learning Disabilities

“…Self-image may be affected by the students' talents and their perceptions of the environment. It can be noted that the student sees himself as others see him, and he tends to act in accordance with the expectations of the characters with whom he comes in contact (Sant et al, 2016).…”

Policy and Research on Citizenship Education in the United Kingdom (1998–2018)

“…(Oxley & Morris, 2013, p. 319) In practice, researchers have identified different challenges for a 'successful' global citizenship education in the UK context. Students in Northern Ireland and England do not tend to identify themselves as global citizens (Reilly & Niens, 2014;Sant, Davies & Santisteban, 2016a). Whilst pre-service and in-service teachers in Wales, England and Northern Ireland appear to be enthusiastic about teaching global citizenship (Osler, 2011;Rielly & Niens, 2014), they report a lack of time, resources and pedagogical and conceptual knowledge (Rielly & Niens, 2014).…”