ERIC Number: EJ772965
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2007-Sep
Pages: 21
Abstractor: Author
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0007-1005
EISSN: N/A
Citizenship Education and Youth Participation in Democracy
Print, Murray
British Journal of Educational Studies, v55 n3 p325-345 Sep 2007
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.
Descriptors: Foreign Countries, Youth, Elections, Democracy, Citizenship, Citizenship Education, Instructional Effectiveness, Citizen Participation, Curriculum Design, Program Descriptions
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Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Descriptive
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Location: Australia
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A