JSSE - Journal of Social Science Education

Change in citizenship and social science education in (post)war time

Violetta Kopińska — 2024-06-18

According to the Global Conflict Tracker (https://www.cfr.org/global-conflict-tracker), there are currently 27 conflicts in the world, which vary in type and status. In contrast, the Rule of Law in Armed Conflict Online Portal (RULAC), which defines armed conflicts under international humanitarian law, indicates that it is currently monitoring more than 114 armed conflicts in the world (https://geneva-academy.ch/galleries/today-s-armed-conflicts). Some of these conflicts are in the headlines; others are not. However, they all change the lives and functioning of people living there or those who neighbour them. How does education respond to current, future, and past armed conflicts?

Situationality in teaching controversial topics: (When) does controversial equal difficult?

Bjorn Wansink — 2024-04-15

Most teachers in the Netherlands do not report difficulty in discussing the most controversial topics. Anti-muslimism, COVID vaccination, and integration of ethnic minorities are perceived as relatively difficult topics to discuss.
High teacher self-efficacy and school support are related to reported ease in discussing all controversial topics.
Specific controversial topics are considered more challenging to discuss in diverse classrooms in terms of SES and ethnicity.
Controversial topics are perceived as more difficult to discuss in vocational educational tracks.

Purpose: This study examines what controversial topics teachers in the Netherlands perceive as difficult to discuss and if and how this difficulty is related to teachers’ background characteristics and context characteristics.

Methodology: 1034 secondary school teachers filled in an online questionnaire, and structural equation modelling (SEM) was used to explore the relationships among variables.

Findings: The findings indicate that recent topics with a direct large impact on students’ lives and society, like COVID vaccination, are perceived as most difficult to discuss. With more perceived school support and high self-efficacy teachers report more ease to discuss controversial topics. Yet, reported difficulty to discussing controversial topics is also partially context- and person-specific, involving (among others) classroom composition, school subject and teacher’s age.

Practical implications: This study can inform the development of subject and context-specific teaching materials and training programs in civic and democratic education.

Pre-service teachers’ attitudes toward citizenship education in Israel

Jacky Yaakov Zvulun — 2024-06-18

Highlights:

Civic education in Israel is used as a political tool, neglecting broader citizenship education.
Study examines attitudes of 235 pre-service teachers (PSTs) towards citizenship education.
PSTs value citizenship education but are confused about teaching methods, goals, and implementation.
Factors contributing to confusion: resistance to citizenship education, fear of political issues, and curriculum pressure.
Emphasizes the need for comprehensive citizenship education across schooling levels, fostering active democratic citizenship.

Purpose: Reviewing civic education in Israel reveals that it has been used as a political tool, while the broader field of citizenship education has hardly been examined. This study addresses the gap in the literature regarding PSTs’ (PSTs’) attitudes towards citizenship education.

Methodology: Questionnaires among 235 PSTs in two colleges were used to examine the significance and value of citizenship education in Israel.

Findings: PSTs recognised the importance of citizenship education but also conveyed confusion regarding teaching methods, long-term goals, and curriculum implementation. This confusion may stem from a reluctance to integrate citizenship education into various subjects, fear of addressing political issues, and pressure from curriculum guidelines.

Research implications: The study emphasises the need for an expanded focus on citizenship education in educational institutions and the integration of citizenship education across different levels of schooling, which can equip students with the knowledge, values, and skills necessary for active citizenship in a democratic society.

Reproduction of assimilationist thinking in Norwegian social studies: Breaking the cycle through reflective practice

Christian Engen Skotnes — 2024-06-18

Highlights:

We have learned that we, as teachers and teacher educators, need to be aware of the risk of reproducing uncritical approaches in educational interventions on migration.
Without crucially reflecting on their own practice, even social studies teachers dedicated to anti-racist thinking risk reproducing assimilationist values.
The article argues that this risk can be mitigated when teachers critically evaluate their own practice as a precondition for facilitating transformative learning in their students.

Purpose: The article aims to critically reflect on a classroom situation where we, as upper secondary social studies teachers, were complicit in reproducing and soliciting assimilationist values in a student assignment.

Design/methodology/approach: We use a critical reflective model to 1) reflect on our discomfort at this complicity, 2) analyse the assimilationist values reproduced, and 3) redesign the assignment to promote inclusive citizenship.

Findings: The article exposes the risk and potential of being vulnerable about our practice as teachers and of opening the classroom as a safe space for critical thinking.

Research limitations/implications: More research is needed on how social studies teachers understand integration and how they (re)design their own assignments.

Practical implications: Without crucially reflecting on their own practice, even social studies teachers dedicated to anti-racist thinking risk reproducing assimilationist values. This risk can be mitigated when teachers critically evaluate their own practice as a precondition for facilitating transformative learning in their students.

The transformative role of research in democratic civic education during times of armed conflict

Aviv Cohen — 2024-06-18

Highlights:

Research highlights how academic inquiry understands and addresses wartime challenges
Based on student testimonies, conflict hinders civic engagement and democratic education
Educational research can serve as a transformative tool
Educational public scholarship and international collaboration are a necessity during crises

Purpose: This research explores the pivotal role of educational research in supporting democratic civic education amid armed conflict. The study uses the recent experiences in Israel to examine how research can maintain democratic values and foster reconciliation during tumultuous times, aiming to illuminate the transformative capabilities of academic inquiry in crisis contexts.

Approach: The research adopts a semi-empirical, exploratory design that evolved from ongoing events. Personal testimonies from a diverse group of seven students were analyzed for overarching theoretical themes.

Findings: The analysis reveals that educational research during conflict may act as a critical, transformative tool, highlighting substantial challenges in maintaining civic engagement and democratic education. It underscores the dual role of research in understanding and actively addressing the complexities of armed conflict.

Practical implications: The findings stress the need for educational public scholarship and international collaboration to support democratic education, highlighting the crucial role of researchers in shaping educational practices during crises.

Russian teachers dealing with the full-scale invasion of Ukraine as a classroom issue

Evgenia Efimova — 2024-06-18

Highlights:

Despite external pressure, there was a space for political discussion in the class, at least in the first weeks of the invasion
Teachers’ approaches differed based on their priorities: emotional support, democratic civic education, teacher-student relationships, political proselytism, or avoidance.
Attending to students’ private emotions came into conflict with postering their political passions
High professional status and strong school community support teachers in taking responsibility in times of crisis

Purpose: This study investigates teachers’ professional judgement about Russia’s war on Ukraine as an unplanned, controversial classroom issue.

Design: It employs 26 interviews with Russian teachers collected during the invasion's first month.

Findings: The analysis identifies six situations and five teaching approaches that emerged in response to these, with varying degrees of student voice and political commitment. The inclusion of student voice is limited by perceived student passivity, lack of skill, and political disagreement with students. Satisfaction with the status quo, lack of social status, and fear of harming students were obstacles to pursuing political commitment.

Research implications: By exploring the dynamics of depoliticisation in the classroom, this article adds to the literature on the co-construction of authoritarianism in Russia. It also highlights practices of resistance and ‘everyday politics’ stemming from teacher professionalism as a function of individual and structural factors.

Citizenship education after Ukraine: Global citizenship education in a world of increasing international conflict

Harald Borgebund — 2024-06-18

Highlights:

Global citizenship struggles to make sense of recent developments in international politics, such as the Ukraine war.
Theories of international politics offer tools to make sense of the current international situation.
Global citizenship ought to provide a comprehensive understanding of the international situation.
Didactical implications of broadening the perspective of global citizenship.
More research is required on the didactical implications.

Purpose: Following globalisation, a rich literature on global citizenship education developed (Akkari & Maleq 2020; Goren & Yemini 2017). However, recent developments in international politics prompt us to ask whether global citizenship education gives young people a grasp of the international world. We argue that global citizenship education theory must be supplemented because it does not provide much guidance to help young people understand international politics properly.

Design/methodology/approach: We discuss how theories of global citizenship education conceptualise international conflicts and how three theories on international politics offer supplementary conceptions and perspectives.

Findings: Global citizenship education should be supplemented with theories of international politics.

Research limitations/implications: Our analysis only indicates some implications for global citizenship education, and further research on the didactical implications is required.

Practical implications: Global citizenship education must rely on a wider set of theories to prepare the students for understanding global issues.

Securitisation in citizenship education in Poland: Critical analysis of the discourses linked with the changes in core curricula following the Russo-Ukrainian War

Violetta Kopińska — 2024-06-18

Highlights:

After the Russo-Ukrainian War, Poland introduced defence education in its school curriculum.
The introduction of defence education was prompted by the threat arising from the war in Ukraine.
A critical analysis of the discourse linked with the change reveals its hidden political dimension.
The removal of topics from health education due to this change was mitigated by securitising actors’ discourse.
Securitising actors apply ‘ministrysplaining’ changes to the audience.

Purpose: The research aimed to critically analyse the changes that have occurred in the core curricula of general education in Poland following the Russo–Ukrainian war from the perspective of the securitisation process.

Methodology: The research involved analysing 366 texts spanning various genres. These texts were produced by both securitising actors and recipients of the change. The research employed content analysis and Critical Discourse Analysis, following the approaches of Ruth Wodak and Martin Reisigl.

Findings: The research revealed that the securitising actors advocating for changes in the core curricula have been identified as a threat directly linked to the war in Ukraine. However, the discourse surrounding these changes also exhibited several features that indicate a hidden political dimension. Further, the analysis emphasised the use of ‘ministryplaining’ towards the audience involved in education, who formulate critical remarks.

Citizen identity formation of domestic students and Syrian refugee youth in Jordan: Centering student voice and Arab Islamic ontologies

Daniel Shephard — 2024-06-18

Patricia Kubow (2003). Citizen identity formation of domestic students and Syrian refugee youth in Jordan: Centering student voice and Arab Islamic ontologies. New York: Routledge. ISBN 9781003143215

https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003143215