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This review has been accessed times since May 18, 2005

Gearon, Liam. (Ed.) (2003). Learning to Teach Citizenship in the Secondary School. London: RoutledgeFalmer

Pp. v + 285
ISBN 0-415-27674-8

Reviewed by Barbara Slater Stern
James Madison University

May 18, 2005

The institution of a national curriculum in Great Britain as mandated by the 1988 Education Act brought the classic discussion of what students ‘should know and be able to do’ to the forefront at a time when the England, and indeed, much of the western world is undergoing substantive change. Following the implementation of the national curriculum was a call for the inclusion of mandatory citizenship education to be added to the subject- based curriculum now in place. That call, based heavily in the Crick Report on Citizenship Education, resulted in the inclusion of citizenship as a national subject required at Key Stages 3 and 4 in all British public schools. It is noteworthy that citizenship is very broadly defined and that the implementation of the required curricular goals may be undertaken either in a cross-disciplinary or by a stand-alone approach. Liam Gearon’s edited methods book, Learning to Teach Citizenship in the Secondary Schools is intended to provide pre-service and in-service teachers preparing to implement a citizenship curriculum

The book is divided into four sections: Part 1, Citizenship in National and International Contexts, informs readers of the historical development, national and international contexts of citizenship education including the relationship of citizenship to the wider pastoral curricular responsibilities of British teachers. Part II, Learning and Teaching in Citizenship Education focuses on pupil development, the complexity of teaching the subject matter as well as focusing on inclusion and special needs children. Part III, Citizenship In and Beyond the Classroom targets the actual day- to- day lesson planning and classroom approaches need to implement the citizenship curricular goals. Part IV, Teachers’ Professional Development, provides resources for teachers of citizenship from the novice to the practiced teacher.

Readers of this review from many nations might be wondering why the mandate of a citizenship curriculum for Britain is creating such hoopla. After all, in most countries it is taken for granted that part of the schooling experience includes political socialization to the values and system of government of that country. And, to be truthful, while there was never any mandated citizenship curriculum in England prior to 2002, historically, there was concern with elements of citizenship education that were most likely part of what Eisner refers to as the hidden curriculum being taught all along. The change has been with a struggle to define citizenship education in a manner that makes the inclusion of this mandate acceptable to all British inhabitants. Further, this mandate for citizenship education is seen as a plan to tackle persistent problems in society including but not limited to: combating institutionalized racism, a need for a belief by all in democratic values, equality of opportunity for all, an acceptance of capitalism as the preferred economic system, the need for citizen involvement in community life, and awareness of and participation in global issues and concerns (e.g. environmental pollution, AIDS, spreading democracy, multinational corporations and trade). Reading this list carefully should highlight the intertwining of values and politics that the citizenship education curricular goals require.

According to Kerr in chapter 1, Citizenship: Local, National and International, what precipitated the addition of the citizenship curriculum is a list of problems and concerns that have, (p. 9) “revealed a common set of issues and challenges that the unprecedented pace of global change was throwing up for countries.” These include movement of peoples within and across national borders, growing recognition of the rights of minorities and indigenous peoples, the collapse of political structures (former Soviet bloc) and the growth of new ones (the growing power of NGOs [non-governmental organizations] and religious, factional, or ethnic transnational ties), the changing role and status of women, the global economy coupled with changing patterns of work and trade, the technological and communications revolution, increasing global population with concurrent environmental consequences, and the emergence of new forms of community and protest. Thus, citizenship education is seen as a way to address these concerns within the framework of a stable, democratic, capitalist, nation-state system. This point is important as several of the arguments over the citizenship education curriculum relate to the relative importance of a global citizenship curriculum vs. a national curriculum; the call for tolerance and diversity coupled with the desire for everyone to hold a similar set of values; or the issues of implementing truly democratic school structures within the confines of national curricular and assessment requirements. Thus the citizenship education program takes a three- frame approach by focusing on three strands: education about citizenship, the factual understanding of history, government and political process; education through citizenship, experiential learning generally defined as a service learning component; and education for citizenship, the development of tools, i.e. the knowledge, understanding, skills, aptitudes, values and dispositions, that “enable them [students] to participate actively and sensibly in the roles and responsibilities they encounter in their adult lives” (14). The goal here is defining and understanding citizenship education in this complexity of local, national and international concerns.

Keast in chapter 2, Citizenship in the National Curriculum, discusses the development of the current curriculum for secondary schools, the role of citizenship in relation to the national curriculum; and intent of how citizenship should be planned, taught and learned in schools. He explains the relationship of the citizenship curriculum to the established personal, social and health education (PSHE) curriculum. The integration of these curricula at the secondary level include three elements: knowledge and understanding about becoming informed citizens, skills of enquiry and communication (citizenship and related issues), skills a participation and taking responsible action (p. 33). Keast goes on to state that the last point separates the citizenship education curriculum from mere civics as the long-range goal is social action. This is problematic as Britain is a monarchy with a history of people referring to themselves as “subjects” rather than as “citizens” in a nation with no written constitution. Even more problematic, in later chapters, is where a discussion of what is really intended by active citizenship is addressed. To those in power who implemented this curriculum, it means more community involvement; to those out of power, it might include taking substantive collective political action to change the government!

Osler in chapter 3 focuses on the Crick Report and the Future of a Multiethnic Britain. It is clear from her perspective that the citizenship education curriculum needs a much greater emphasis on multicultural and global education as well as targeting special needs populations. Osler would like the implemented curriculum to work on problems of institutionalized racism in Britain including the critical issues of social, cultural and political inclusion. This chapter points out the difficulties in implementing such a broad- based and ill-defined set of curricular goals. Osler’s definition of citizenship would clearly be at odds with more conservative elements in society. While she advocates teaching the documents on universal human rights and focusing on global concerns of minority populations, it is her contention that the Crick Report that formed the basis of the national citizenship education curriculum underemphasizes these aspects of citizenship.

Chapter 4, Citizenship and Pastoral Care, highlights a traditional part of the British education curriculum that is familiar in many countries but generally unspoken in the United States until recently under the guise of character education. The British system is concerned with the development of the whole child including the moral responsibility of the teacher in loco parentis (p. 56). Pastoral care is “concerned with promoting pupils’ personal and social development and fostering positive attitudes: through the quality of teaching and learning; through the nature of relationships amongst pupils, teachers and adults; through arrangements for monitoring pupils’ overall progress, academic personal and socia, . . . (p.59-60). The relationship of this chapter to citizenship education is the implementation of a cross-disciplinary program that seeks to build community and aid each child in achieving his or her potential. This can be seen as a broad implementation of the education through citizenship and education for citizenship strands discussed earlier.

Part II is less theoretical and more practical in that it seeks to address the implementation of the curriculum by schools and teachers. Chapter 5, Mapping the Complexities of Citizenship focuses on major themes in citizenship including: law and the legal system, business and finance, and globalization. The chapter provides teachers with specific ideas of how to approach the themes, e.g. a study of legal cases in the criminal justice system; matching crimes and punishments; and conflict resolution. There is a mix here of knowledge to be gained with instructional strategy but the reader who expects lesson plans will be disappointed. This chapter points out major concepts such as the impact of business on everyday life and, although it presents some ideas, it does not specifically instruct teachers on how to teach the topics. Of particular interest is the goal on financial capability in the citizenship curriculum. According to the National Curriculum Handbook for Teachers (1999) this includes: “managing money and planning finances for the future . . . making informed decisions about budgeting, spending, saving, investing and using credit (in Gearon, p. 86). This section continues with a requirement for the development of enterprise and entrepreneurship. The chapter closes with a section on globalization issues including a section human rights and one on sustainable development with a caveat that “ It is part of the teacher of citizenship’s responsibility to ensure that the complexity is not undermined, nor the controversy underplayed” (p.99).

Chapter 6 by Hartas focuses on constructivist views of pupil knowledge. Additionally, this chapter discusses the importance of students’ linguistic, cognitive and social development for successful teaching and learning and lastly, the implications of the teacher’s personal world- views and perspectives when teaching citizenship. Instructionally the chapter suggests working on students’ communication (oral and written) and problem solving skills while not ignoring the social justice components of citizenship education. This requires the teacher to become aware of his or her beliefs and prejudices in order to focus on social justice issues in society.

Citizenship and the Role of Language, Chapter 7, is distinguished by its attempts to focus on the classroom as a center of public discourse. Suggestions about teaching discussion techniques, creating a climate of acceptance for multiple perspectives and the role of public deliberation in a democracy are highlighted. The chapter seeks to provide teachers with strategies for discussing controversial issues and is reminiscent of Newmann and Oliver’s suggestions for teaching public issues in the 1970s. The teacher’s role as discussion facilitator, wait time, and questions that promote citizenship thinking are touched upon. The chapter closes with a model lesson on the topic “What makes a fair society?” (p. 128). The lesson is very briefly sketched but in conjunction with the chapter should be fairly easy to implement.

Chapter 8, Special Educational Needs in Citizenship is an interesting addition to this book. It is clear from the beginning of this textbook, that mainstreaming, inclusion and special needs children are seen as primary concerns of the citizenship education curriculum. Inclusion in this sense refers not only to children with special education needs but also to inclusion of diverse national, ethnic, regional and religious identities (p. 133). While not underplaying the importance of integrating citizens with special needs throughout society (e.g. visual, hearing and/or physically challenged) the focus on diversity speaks to the western democracy’s struggle with integrating populations that have very different value structures and religious practices than the traditional mainstream culture. The tension between respecting cultural differences and socializing immigrants into a society that perceives itself as successful and stable because of its mainstream cultural and political beliefs is a major concern for citizenship education not only in Britain, but also throughout western democracies as witnessed by the ongoing struggle in France over outlawing religious symbols including headcoverings in public schools. This chapter suggests methods for teachers to integrate students with special needs and diverse learning profiles with suggestions such as “circle time (p. 139) and peer mediation (p. 141). Additionally, there are specific instructional approaches to improve oral and written communication skills that are seen as part of the citizenship education curricular goals.

Part III returns to the three strands discussed earlier with Chapter 9, Developing Schemes of Work in Citizenship, devoted to term planning, unit planning, and more specifically lesson planning and evaluation. The chapter details cross-curricular links (p. 157) to help teachers in schools not teaching citizenship as a stand-alone subject. Lesson planning advice includes a reminder for the teacher to develop cognitive, affective and skills goals. Also included is a list of possible teaching units for key stage 3 (years 7-9) and key stage 4 (years 10-11). Lastly, new teachers are advised to keep records of their lesson plans and their evaluation of these plans for inspection by their tutor or mentor as evidence of their attainment of the Standards for Qualified Teacher Status. This is the most “methods based” and least theoretical chapter but even here there is less advice that can be “cut, pasted, and implemented” than suggestions of how to approach the required planning and evaluation tasks.

Chapter 10, Assessment in Citizenship turns towards how to assess students in attaining citizenship education goals. Teachers are reminded of the Crick Report approach based on the three phases of citizenship: the civil (civil rights and their defense), the political (the right to participate in decision-making and the political process) and the social (the right to participate in and benefit from the social services, health and education). (p. 179). Most of the chapter is devoted to “appropriate” forms of assessment {more authentic and less traditional paper and pencil testing] coupled with a discussion of the philosophical approaches underlying outcomes. For example, Cairns and Gardner state: “The post-modernist would have us believe that diversity is the wellspring of social growth, but at what point does diversity lead to disintegration of society, which then became (sic) disorganised and ungovernable?” (p. 186). Continuing with, there is agreement to inculcate values but, “Whose values are to be inculcated and to what ends?” (p. 186). In summarizing the chapter the authors write that if the force behind the mandate for citizenship education is “malaise evident in British society, the low interest in party politics and the use of voting rights, the level of crime, the force of individualism that has led to the breakdown of shared community life and aggressive or isolationist attitude to others, then there is a need for introspection and a recognition that others do have views about us that do not always coincide with our own. (p.191). Thus, although this book focuses on citizenship education in Britain, the problems it seeks to address through this curriculum are ones that many western democracies, including the U.S., are currently grappling with.

The next chapter is a short and complete listing of resources for teachers to consult when looking for information about teaching citizenship. This, as well as other resource portions of the text point teachers to reviewed websites, pre-made units of study from NGOs, national and international organizations, books, videos, etc. that will help with the specific implementation of the curriculum. Chapter 12 focuses on Active Participation in Citizenship. This chapter addresses in- school activities, field trips and service learning opportunities guiding new teachers into the needs for planning and thinking through all the implications of bringing students into the community for social action projects. The chapter contains a “Checklist of success factors for community involvement” (p. 219-221) that is quite detailed and useful. The final section of the book is concerned with teacher professional development and resources, especially for the novice teacher. The advice here is both general and specific but is primarily useful only to teachers in the British education system.

Why would anyone not preparing to teach in British secondary schools be interested in reading this text? The problems that the citizenship curriculum is trying to address are common to many western democracies and this is a new experiment ¾the mandate for citizenship education in a country that did not have this specific goal before. Thus, the history, the development and implementation of this curriculum are of interest to all educators, particularly social studies educators in the U.S. who have traditionally been charged with civic education in all its permutations. As society struggles not only with what we would like school graduates to know and be able to do, but also with the reality of expecting a citizenship education curriculum to solve multiple problems in a rapidly changing world, this book highlights complexities, philosophical differences and difficulties in creating a curriculum that tries to be all things to all people while still preserving current political and economic systems which may or may not be outmoded.

References

Derricott, R. (1998). National case studies of citizenship education [England and Wales]. In J.J. Cogan and R. Derricott (Eds.} Citizenship for the 21^st century: An international perspective on education. London: Koogan Page Limited. 23-30.

Fogelman, K. (1997). Citizenship education in England. In K.K. Kennedy (Ed.) Citizenship and the modern state. London: Flamer Press. 85-95.

Frazer, E. (2002). Citizenship education: Anti-political and political education in Britain. In W. C. Parker (Ed.) Education for democracy: Contexts, curricula, assessments. Greenwich, CT: Information Age Publishing.27 –42

Hicks, D. (2002). Citizenship education in England: The recommendations of the Crick Advisory Group on citizenship and the challenges to policy implementation. International Journal of Social Education, 17(1) 67 –80.

Lister, I (1998). Citizenship and citizenship education in Britain. In O. Ichilov (Ed.) Citizenship and citizenship education in a changing world. London: The Woburn Press. 254-266.

Osler, A. and Vincent, K. (2002).Chapter 2: England in Citizenship and the challenge of global education. Stoke on Trent, UK: Trentham Books. 53-70.

About the Reviewer

Barbara Slater Stern, Ed.D. is an associate professor and Coordinator of the Secondary Education Program at James Madison University. Her research interests include social studies education, curriculum history and the integration of technology into social studies.

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