Citizenship Education and Youth Participation in Democracy

Abstract

Citizenship education in established democracies is challenged by declining youth participation in democracy. Youth disenchantment and disengagement in democracy is primarily evident in formal political behaviour, especially through voting, declining membership of political parties, assisting at elections, contacting politicians, and the like. If citizenship education is to play a major role in addressing these concerns it will need to review the impact it is making on young people in schools. This paper reviews a major national project on youth participation in democracy in Australia set in the context of a national citizenship education programme. The Youth Electoral Study found that citizenship education in Australian schools has at best been marginally successful and substantially more is required to raise levels of democratic engagement. The paper explores many opportunities available to education systems and schools to address these issues through reconceptualising aspects of the formal and the informal curriculum.

Investigating Primary School Teachers’ Perception About Democracy Through Metaphor Analysis

“…This is followed by relationships with friends, the culture of the social environment, political activities in the society, and news in the media. This result is similar to related literature showing that young people's learning of politics and democracy as well as perceptions of being a good citizen (Print, 2007) and democracy is affected by their families . According to Bandura's social learning theory, human beings learn many behaviors from others around through observing (Erden & Akman, 1995).…”

Youth, Participation, Leisure and Citizenship

“…However it is also seen from other scholars that young people do have political views and participate in alternative political behaviour but they are not well informed about the role of citizens. Harris et al, [1], Bennett [8], Print [11], Osler and Starkey [12], O'Toole [13], Bang [14] argue that the new generations of citizens are simply redefining what they mean by politics, and that scientists should embrace this shift. Bang [15] argues that the scope of the political in late modern society is expanding and is expressed more and more in, and through, people's everyday lives which suggests that the political is now personal.…”

Recent Issues of Employability and Career Management

“…The institutional embeddedness of these competencies varies across different cultures and one of its manifestations is in the United States, where the enGauge 21st-century Skills report (NCREL, 2001) defined student competence in personal, social and civic responsibility as a basic skill (Print, 2007). This report highlighted civic competence and civic literacy in its list of essential 21st-century subjects and topics.…”