This study investigated how two Israeli Druze high schools shape the identity and citizenship of adolescents through curriculum, teaching, discourse, social activities and national ceremonies. Data were collected through interviews with teachers, the two school principals, policymakers for Druze education in the Ministry of Education, and…

Recent moves towards greater pupil participation in school decision-making have in part been based on instrumental rationales, such as increases in test scores and improvements in behaviour. This article assesses a different approach--that of the "prefigurative"--through which the school embodies the democratic society it aims to create. Two…

Recent UK government statements and education policies have emphasized the need to instil a "culture of aspiration" among young people in deprived communities to address social exclusion. Specific proposals include raising the school leaving age to 18 and extending compulsory employment training. These statements and measures express the…

Internationally, citizenship education has come to the fore in the past decade. It may be particularly important within the context of societies with a legacy of political conflict, such as Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland, where it is being implemented as part of the statutory curriculum. This article explores understandings of…

This article examines the on-going saga of citizenship education in the UK against a backdrop of conceptual confusions and contradictions around the question of what it means to share a civic identity. Noting calls to grasp the social and political realities of an emerging cosmopolitanism, and move towards a more identity-based conception of…

Higher educational practices in post-Soviet Central Asia remain predicated on an authoritarian conception of expertise rooted in an objective and universal science. While the substance of such education has changed since the Soviet era, the form of education remains rooted in Soviet-era discursive ideological practices, practices that encourage…

In this article we present insights from research which has sought to deepen understanding of the ways in which young people (aged 13-21) learn democratic citizenship through their participation in a range of different formal and informal practices and communities. Based on the research, we suggest that such understanding should focus on the…

We raise questions about young people's participation in light of findings from a project ("Democracy through Citizenship") funded by the Joseph Rowntree Reform Trust Limited, and managed by the Institute for Citizenship. Following a six-month feasibility study the project took place over a three-year period in one local authority in the north of…

This article examines recent UK government policy and proposals relating to immigration and citizenship, and the ways in which these policies are presented as means of securing allegiance and integration. From 1997, the incoming Labour government emphasized the importance of informed, active citizenship and social justice. From 2001, the emphasis…

This article examines the impact of the concept of social capital on the citizenship education initiative in England through its influence on the normative content of the policy, as embodied in the report of the Advisory Group on Citizenship (AGC)--which was one of the immediate causes of the inclusion of citizenship in the National Curriculum in…

While accounts of the so-called "Totally Pedagogised Society" (Bonal and Rambla) or "Public Pedagogy" (Giroux) have been important to our conceptions of civil society, democracy and education, lessons can be drawn from schooling which complicate this story and undermine any simple division between the state, civil society and non-governmental…

This article explores to what extent citizenship education for lifelong learning should be based on a more "political" or civic republican conception of citizenship as compared to a liberal individualist conception, which emphasizes individual rights, or a communitarian conception, which emphasizes moral and social responsibilities. It also…

In a considerable number of nations, "conservative modernization" has gained increasing influence. Neo-liberals, neo-conservatives, and new middle-class managerialists have defined the terrain of educational policy and practice. In some nations as well, authoritarian populist religious conservative movements and ideologies have also become major…

The field of transnational contestation conceptualized as global civil society (GCS) is gaining academic interest as a political "counter-force" against the exigencies of globalization. However, social actors within GCS occupy unequal positions of power in relation to each other. This article examines how the discourses of transnational action…

This article explores the challenges to citizenship associated with globalization, focusing in particular on the growth of interest in human rights, cosmopolitanism and moral outrage in the context of increasing fragmentation, individualization and social inequality. It suggests that there is an interest in developing through global citizenship…