Social change and teaching and learning citizenship education: An empirical study of three schools in Guangzhou, China

Abstract

Since the 1980s, China has increased its openness to the world and made tremendous domestic economic and social changes. This study investigates the relationship between social change and pedagogies in citizenship education (CE) and to what extent indoctrination is prevalent in CE in schools in Guangzhou, China. Data were drawn mainly from documents, student questionnaires, observed CE lessons, and interviews with students and CE teachers. Findings revealed the coexistence of various CE pedagogies (e.g., inculcation; values clarification; inquiry-based); perceived open and free classrooms in which students expressed and respected diverse views; rote learning for examination, not political, purposes; and teachers' tension between reluctantly teaching politically-sensitive topics and promoting multiple perspectives to foster critical thinking. These findings may reflect the complex interplay among different actors in the reselection of CE elements and pedagogies, in response to China's gradual, post-1980s social transition to a less restrictive, more accommodating society.

Active participants but confused minds: university students’ perceptions of citizenship learning experiences in Chinese higher education

“…There are three reasons that make this study original among research on the topic of Chinese students' perceptions of citizenship education. First, most research focused on students in primary and secondary schools (Fairbrother, 2003;Pan, 2011;Kennedy et al, 2015;Law and Xu, 2017), while university students usually at 18 years who are legally entitled to have full citizenship rights and possess more autonomy to practice civic behaviors need more attention (Zhao, 2010). Second, although most studies have recognized the influence of the political context in Chinese higher education, research focus is placed on the Party-state's design of citizenship education, organizational control mechanism (Yan, 2014;Zhao, 2014) and academic staff's different political identities (Lai and Lo, 2011;Hao and Guo, 2016;Du, 2017).…”

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