Today, almost a century after gaining access to the country's most prestigious secondary schools, determining the academic achievement of African Trinidadian students remains a challenge as neither Trinidad and Tobago's Ministry of Education nor the Caribbean Examination Council, the regional agency responsible for administering…

This article argues that high-stakes educational testing, along with the attendant questions of power, education access, education management and social selection, cannot be considered in isolation from society at large. Thus, high-stakes testing practices bear numerous implications for democratic conditions in society. For decades, advocates of…

In Belgium (Flanders), citizenship education is one of the cross-curricular achievements, but it is not scheduled as a separate school subject. Alternatively, citizenship education is integrated in diverse school subjects and particularly in the religious education classes. However, with this didactical approach, two problems arise. First,…

This article explores how active citizenship can be encouraged through education and community action. It proposes that service learning and a renewed focus on voluntarism can both promote social cohesion between different ethnic and cultural groups while also fostering among the population a greater understanding of and commitment to civic…

Much research on bullying in schools positions individual children within a deficit model of personal variables, categorising and cataloguing them with high levels of aggressiveness, low levels of empathy and so on. While less than optimal school characteristics are sometimes noted, the expectation for change is on the children. This article…

This article explores the relevance of school design in providing an important social-spatial context for promoting citizenship in young people. Drawing on a small-scale study that investigated the perspectives of pupils and teachers, it contrasts the ways in which the social control and monitoring of pupils differed in two secondary schools.…

This article compares the English tradition of active citizenship education with the US tradition of service learning. It starts by outlining service learning and noting some of the defining characteristics as well as some of the tensions. It then discusses the model of active citizenship that has been promoted in England's secondary school…

In recent years, citizenship education has been the subject of much international attention, including two major cross-national studies. However, few reviews of civic education scholarship include research from post-conflict societies. This omission is notable because post-conflict situations offer distinct challenges to instilling both democratic…

This article investigates retrospectively and prospectively the educational and career aspirations and experiences of young minority ethnic British citizens. It focuses on one aspect of a larger mixed methods study, that is, qualitative research involving in-depth interviews with a stratified sample of 20 young men and women of minority ethnic…

Participatory citizenship education has been highlighted as a strategy to promote social cohesion in divided societies whereby collaborations with non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and inter-school links have been proposed as tools to improve social networks between schools and communities. This article explores the role and meaning of…

Liberal democratic education, as advocated in recent accounts of citizenship education or civic education, is often seen as incompatible with moral education or character education rooted in specific views regarding the virtues. This contrast relies on well established philosophical differences between liberal views of justice and democracy, on…

The article examines the utility of enquiry based, multi-perspective history teaching in divided societies and those emerging from conflict. Using findings from Northern Ireland as an example, it concludes that, while empirical research is required in a range of conflict settings, an enquiry approach, placing an emphasis on the examination of…

With current manifestations of globalization creating local problems, including widening equity gaps, increased environmental destruction and burgeoning poverty, many policymakers, civil society, organizations and educators are seeking models of education that promise social justice and a democratic public sphere that reflects more than democracy…

This article examines how the concept of active citizenship has been given a neo-liberal character by examining practice in three different educational contexts in Sweden. The concept of active citizenship has become influential in educational policy and practice throughout the European Union. The aim of this article is to highlight concerns at…

In this article I compare the lines of argumentation that are used in two public debates about the introduction of national canons in Sweden and the Netherlands. These arguments illustrate how different political actors understand the balance they think should be struck between the interests of individual children and society in obtaining social…