Introduction to Active Citizenship

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Introduction to Active Citizenship

• Paul Allender
• Day 1

2
Introductions

• Turn to the person next to you, introduce
  yourselves to each other and talk about how you
  travelled here today.

3
Aims and Learning Outcomes

• Aims
• To introduce you to a range of ideas about and
  definitions of active citizenship
• To encourage and motivate you to discuss these
  ideas in theory and in practice
• To explore the issues involved in the practical
  implementation of active citizenship
• To explore the ideas of you being active citizens
  and being active citizenship tutors.
•  
• Learning Outcomes
• You to define what is meant by active
  citizenship
• To critically engage with these ideas/definitions
  in relation to their practical implementation
• To consider the usefulness of active learning
  for active citizenship
• You to begin to develop some personal tools for
  active citizenship
• Explore the idea of you being potential active
  citizenship tutors.

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What is active citizenship?

• Active citizenship is a term that has been used
  in recent years to mean a number of things.
• We will look at a variety of approaches and
  perspectives on active citizenship and will do so
  in an interactive and inclusive way active
  learning.
• So, the model of learning employed on this course
  will reflect the concept of active citizenship
  active learning for active citizenship.

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Exercise 1

• What does the term active citizenship mean to
  you? There are no wrong answers and what you say
  and discuss will reflect where you are coming
  from in relation to this subject. Are you an
  active citizen? What does it mean to you?

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Active Citizenship

• Lets look at the two word separately
• Active and Citizenship
• What do they mean to you?

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Active

• The Concise Oxford Dictionary defines it as
  consisting in or marked by action energetic
  diligent...
• Citizenship
• a member of a state or commonwealth, either
  native or naturalized...

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Active Citizenship

• One simple idea of active citizenship then is
  that of participation in public affairs
• If we are to have a healthy democracy we need
  to support each other in identifying the issues
  that concern us, and develop the confidence and
  skills to make a difference to the world around
  us. (Woodward 2004)

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Wikipedia definition

• Active citizenship generally refers to a
  philosophy espoused by some organizations and
  educational institutions. It often states that
  members of companies or nation-states have
  certain roles and responsibilities to society and
  the environment, although those members may not
  have specific governing roles.
• Active citizenship can be seen as an
  articulation of the debate over rights versus
  responsibilities. If a body gives rights to the
  people under its remit, then those same people
  might have certain responsibilities to uphold.
  This would be most obvious at a country or
  nation-state level, but could also be wider, such
  as global citizenship. The implication is that an
  active citizen is one who exercises both their
  rights and responsibilities in a balanced way.
  (http//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Active_citizenship)

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Tea/Coffee Break
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Active Learning

• In recent years the concept of active citizenship
  has been directly linked to learning approaches
  and this is most obviously the case in the
  organization Active Learning for Active
  Citizenship (ALAC) which was founded in 2004 and
  was the forerunner of Take Part.

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The national framework for active learning for
active citizenship

• Active learning for active citizenship is
• a flexible approach to personal and community
  development through experiential learning
  (learning through experience and reflection) in
  group settings. It offers proven strategies to
  build stronger communities through promoting
  personal effectiveness, social enterprise and
  lifelong learning
• shaped by the values of participation,
  co-operation, social justice and equality with
  diversity. These values require the work to be
  (i) community based, (ii) learner centred, and
  (iii) developed through active and reflective
  learning
• (http//www.takepart.org/assets/documents/take-pa
  rt-framework/)

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Michela Cecchini

• Citizenship learning is 
• social learning (learning in society, about
  society, for society)
• based on experience and practice, through
  learning by doing, through exploration, action
  and cooperation
• implies the democratisation of learning by
  focusing on the learner, valuing his/her
  situation and experience, fostering his/her
  autonomy and responsibility in the learning
  process
• is achieved through multiple, interconnected,
  transversal learning approaches, for example
  through civic education, human rights education,
  intercultural education, education for peace,
  global education and media education. (Cecchini,
  2003)

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Exercise 2

• Do you think that education and training, such as
  this course, can lead to more active
  citizenship ? Are there any barriers or
  constraints to this happening ? That is, are
  there any other factors than education and
  training that might play a part here ?

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ALAC

• The overall aim of Active Learning for Active
  Citizenship is to develop engaged and critical
  communities of people who will take part in the
  decision-making structures processes and
  structures within their localities and maybe also
  at a national and international level. It is
  believed that this will lead to a wider
  empowerment of individuals and communities.
• As such, active citizenship is a values-based
  idea and practice. What do we mean by this?

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• Active citizenship, on this course, means
  learning about how to take part in politics at
  different levels including
•  
• How the political system works, locally to
  globally, the decision-making processes, people
  and power structures
• Developing the knowledge, skills and confidence
  to engage with the political processes at
  different levels.
• Three core ideas are at the centre of active
  citizenship education
• The critical and engaged citizen, confident to
  ask why?, seeking the facts and challenging and
  changing things
• A commitment to social justice, equality and
  inclusion
• A commitment to openness and accountability in
  public affairs, with easy access to information,
  debate and decision-making.

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Oxfams definition of a global citizen

• Someone who 
• is aware of the wider world and has a sense of
  their own role as a world citizen
• respects and values diversity
• has an understanding of how the world works
• is outraged by social injustice
• participates in the community at a range of
  levels, from the local to the global
• is willing to act to make the world a more
  equitable and sustainable place
• takes responsibility for their actions.

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Lunch
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Social justice, participation, equality,
diversity and co-operation

• Exercise 3 What do these values mean when we
  put them into practice? What might get in the way
  of us doing this?
• Look at the case studies.

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Active citizenship

• While the governments citizenship agenda tends
  to focus upon the rights and responsibilities
  approach, active citizenship goes beyond this
  traditional framing of the issue and concentrates
  upon the active element. A good citizen may well
  vote in elections as part of their engagement
  with and responsibilities within civil society.
  However, as the Take Part, Active Citizenship
  website states  
• For many people, citizenship is the
  embodiment of the rights and responsibilities
  that they are due, and owe, from living in a
  particular nation state. For Take Part though,
  this is not enough. Firstly, of course, we must
  add the term active to citizen, with the
  fundamental implication that citizens should be
  actively involved in the mechanisms of
  governance. This active involvement does not stop
  with voting, or even with volunteering, because
  both of these activities can be carried out
  within the rules, without challenging existing
  structures to do things differently.

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• Active citizenship is concerned with more than
  learning the rules of the game and how to
  participate within existing models and
  structures. From Take Parts perspective, active
  citizenship should be defined more broadly to
  encompass active learning for political literacy
  and empowerment, addressing structures and
  relations of power and working to change these,
  where necessary, in the pursuit of social
  inclusion and social justice agendas (Lister
  1997). It also relates to how people can promote
  community cohesion and social solidarity, thereby
  strengthening civil society as well as empowering
  individual citizens.

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Exercise 4

• What is political literacy? What are structures
  and relations of power? What do you understand
  by the terms empowerment, social inclusion and
  social justice?
• Can you think of some examples?

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In conclusion...

• So, going beyond the more traditional approaches
  may well mean taking action to address
  inequalities, challenge power structures and
  working for change within society. And these
  things are not easy!

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Activity for break

• We would like you to go away and think about some
  issues and concerns within your own life or that
  of a close friend or colleague and how they might
  be addressed by active engagement. We are not
  asking you to come up with a solution to these
  issues but instead to think about what the active
  citizenship agenda might offer as regards trying
  to begin to address them. 
• Write some brief notes down and bring them to the
  next session. Important Dont reveal anything
  that you dont feel comfortable talking about
  within this group.

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Alternatively...

• Think about how active involvement might begin to
  address some of the issues in the case studies
  Ive provided you with. Choose one or two to
  focus upon.
• Write some brief notes on your thoughts.