What is Citizenship? Religion, Governance and Education

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What is Citizenship?Religion, Governance and
Education

• Liam Gearon Professor of EducationRoehampton
  University London SW15 5PHL.Gearon_at_roehampton.ac.
  uk

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What is Citizenship?

• What is Citizenship? (I) Education
• What is Citizenship? (II) Politics and Pedagogy
• What is Citizenship? (III) Religion, Politics and
  Pedagogy
• Revisiting the Four Critical Contexts

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What is Citizenship? (I) Education

• the rapid movement of people within and across
  national boundaries
• a growing recognition of the rights of indigenous
  peoples and minorities
• the collapse of existing political structures and
  the fledgling growth of new ones
• the changing role and status of women in society
• the impact of the global economy and changing
  patterns of work and trade on social, economic
  and political ties
• the effects of the revolution in information and
  communications technologies
• an increasing global population and the
  consequences for the environment
• the emergence of new forms of community and
  protest.
• (Kerr, 2003)

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What is Citizenship? (I) Education

• Social and moral responsibility
• children learning from the beginning
  self-confidence and socially and morally
  responsible behaviour both in and beyond the
  classroom, both towards those in authority and
  towards each other
• Community involvement
• pupils learning about and becoming helpfully
  involved in the life and concerns of their
  communities, including learning through community
  involvement and service to the community
• Political Literacy
• pupils learning about and how to make themselves
  effective in public life through knowledge,
  skills and values.
• (Crick 1998)

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What is Citizenship? (I) Education

• Knowledge and understanding about becoming
  informed citizens
• Developing skills of enquiry and communication
• Developing skills of participation and
  responsible action.
• (DfEE 1999)

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What is Citizenship? (I) Education

• Reviews of Citizenship
• EPPI (2004 2005)
• Gearon (2004)
• UN (2005) UNESCO (2006)
• Eurydice (2006)
• Osler and Starkey (2006)
• Ajebo (2007)
• House of Commons Report (2007)
• NFER (2006 2007)

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What is Citizenship? (I) Education

• Heater (1994 2004) historical
• Audigier (1997) politically all inclusive
• Isin and Wood (1999) search for identity
• Crick (2000) political knowledge
• Arnot and Dillabough (2002) feminist
  perspectives
• Osler and Vincent (2002/4) global citizenship
• Osler and Starkey (2006) cosmopolitan
  citizenship
• Davies (2007) pedagogical pragmatism

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What is Citizenship? (I) Education

• Rationality grounded in a critical appreciation
  of social and political realities
• Respect for diversity within the context of a
  pluralistic democracy
• Participation arising from an acceptance of ones
  social and political responsibilities and
  appreciation of ones own rights and entitlements
  
• (Davies 2007)

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What is Citizenship? (II) Politics and Pedagogy

• Whereas recognition of the inherent dignity and
  of the equal and inalienable rights of all
  members of the human family is the foundation of
  freedom, justice and peace in the world, whereas
  disregard and contempt for human rights have
  resulted in barbarous acts which have outraged
  the conscience of mankind (sic), and the advent
  of a world in which human beings shall enjoy
  freedom of speech and belief and freedom from
  fear and want has been proclaimed as the highest
  aspiration of the common people, whereas it is
  essential, if man (sic) is not to be compelled to
  have recourse, as a last resort, to rebellion
  against tyranny and oppression, that human rights
  should be protected by the rule of law

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What is Citizenship? (II) Politics and Pedagogy

• Now, therefore the General Assembly proclaims
  this Universal Declaration of Human Rights as a
  common standard of achievement for all peoples
  and all nations, to the end that every individual
  and every organ of society, keeping this
  Declaration constantly in mind, shall strive by
  teaching and education to promote respect for
  these rights and freedoms and by progressive
  measures, national and international, to secure
  their universal and effective recognition and
  observance ... (UN, 1948 available www.un.org)

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What is Citizenship? (II) Politics and Pedagogy

• During the 1990s there has been a resurgence of
  interest in Civic and Citizenship Education. The
  number of formal democracies in the world has
  increased from 76 (46.1) to 117 (61.3). This
  has been described as the third wave of
  democracy related to significant world events
  such as the ending of apartheid in South Africa,
  the fall of the Berlin Wall, the democratisation
  of former communist states in Eastern Europe and
  the disintegration of the Soviet Union. Civic
  education programmes have become an increasingly
  important means for countries to educate citizens
  about their rights and responsibilities.

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What is Citizenship? (II) Politics and Pedagogy

• Increasing pluralism within states has encouraged
  the development of civic education programmes
  that go beyond simple patriotic models of
  citizenship requiring uncritical loyalty to the
  nation state. By defining citizenship in terms
  of human rights and civic responsibilities, civic
  education programmes attempt to avoid concepts of
  citizenship that define nationality in terms of
  ethnic, religious or cultural identity. The
  aspiration is that concepts of citizenship based
  on human rights and responsibilities may make it
  more difficult to mobilise political conflict
  around identity issues (www.unesco.org follow
  links to citizenship)

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What is Citizenship? (II) Politics and Pedagogy

• Firstly, it can refer simply to a subjects
  rights and duties to be recognised as a legally
  permanent inhabitant of a state irrespective of
  the system of government of that state but the
  principles behind such recognition can vary
  greatly, especially in relation to migrants.
• Secondly, it can refer to the more specific
  belief (often called civic republicanism )
  that countries that enjoy constitutional
  government, representative government or
  democracy depend upon a high degree of active
  participation by inhabitants who themselves as
  active citizens, not simply good subjects.

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What is Citizenship? (II) Politics and Pedagogy

• Thirdly, it can refer to an ideal (once held by
  the Stoics of antiquity, now often called global
  citizenship) that we should all act as citizens
  of one world that for the sake of peace, justice
  and human rights there must be limitations of
  international law on the sovereignty and power of
  individual states powers.
• And fourthly, citizenship can refer to an
  educational process learning and teaching in
  schools and colleges show how to improve or
  achieve the aims inherent in the second and third
  meanings (Crick, 2004 2)

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What is Citizenship? (III) Religion, Politics
and Pedagogy Revisiting the Four Critical
Contexts

• Critical Context 1 Religion and Global
  Governance
• The role of religion in public and political
  life has been historically underplayed since the
  European Enlightenment. There is now increasing
  evidence of the importance of religion in
  post-Cold War public and political life, often
  but not exclusively centring on issues of human
  rights, including freedom of religion or belief.
  This trend highlighted by a number of theorists
  of religion and education Smart (1969 1989)
  Casanova (1994) Haynes (1998) Bowker (2002)
  Woodhead (2002) Ward (2003) Runzo et al.
  (2004) Jackson (2003 2004) Gearon (2002 2005
  2006) Harpviken and Eggen Rioslien, 2005 Trigg,
  2007)

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What is Citizenship? (III) Religion, Politics
and Pedagogy Revisiting the Four Critical
Contexts

• Critical Context 2 Religion and the United
  Nations (UN)
• The UN system incorporated freedom of religion
  since the
• 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights but
  early
• UN history downplays religious and ideological
  diversity.
• After a long neglect (or low level treatment) of
  religion
• explicitly, the UN Declaration on the Elimination
  of All
• Forms of Intolerance and Discrimination Based on
  Religion
• or Belief (1981) recognises international
  significance of
• Religion for a stable world order (Ayton-Shenker,
  1995
• Lerner 2000 Shattuck, 2003 Harpviken and Eggen
• Rioslien, 2005 UNESCO, 2006 Trigg, 2007)

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What is Citizenship? (III) Religion, Politics
and Pedagogy Revisiting the Four Critical
Contexts

• Critical Context 3 Religion in Citizenship
  Education
• The role of religion in citizenship education has
  been
• underplayed. Reflecting broader global trends now
• increasing recognition of the importance of
  religion in
• citizenship education, although the recognition
  of the
• importance of teaching about religion remains
  arguably
• less strong in citizenship education than in
  religious
• education (Heater, 2004 Lindholm et al., 2003
  UN (2005)
• UNESCO, 2006, 2006a Ajebo, 2007 NFER, 2007)

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What is Citizenship? (III) Religion, Politics
and Pedagogy Revisiting the Four Critical
Contexts

• Critical Context 4 Citizenship in Religious
  Education
• The political has been underplayed in religious
  education,
• and contentious historical contexts sidestepped.
  The rise of
• religion in the public sphere and the exponential
  growth
• of citizenship education has forced religious
  education to
• consider the political and historical (Lindholm,
  Durham and
• Tahzib-Lies, 2003 Osmer, 2003 Larson and
  Gustavsson,
• 2004 Ajebo, 2007 NFER, 2007 Ofsted, 2007)

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What is Citizenship?Historical, Philosophical,
Theological and Literary

• Render unto Caesar (Matthew 22 15-21)
• The two trials of Jesus
• The Letter of James
• The First Letter of Peter
• The Book of Revelation

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What is Citizenship?Historical, Philosophical,
Theological and Literary

• Classical
• Plato Republic Phaedo
• Aristotle Nichomachean Ethics Politics
• Epicurus Principal Doctrines
• Marcus Aurelius Meditations
• Edward Gibbon The History of the Decline
• and Fall of the Roman Empire

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• Phaedo. I remember the strange feeling which came
  over me at being with him. For I could hardly
  believe that I was present at the death of a
  friend, and therefore I did not pity him,
  Echecrates his mien and his language were so
  noble and fearless in the hour of death that to
  me he appeared blessed. I thought that in going
  to the other world he could not be without a
  divine call, and that he would be happy, if any
  man ever was, when he arrived there, and
  therefore I did not pity him as might seem
  natural at such a time. But neither could I feel
  the pleasure which I usually felt in
  philosophical discourse (for philosophy was the
  theme of which we spoke). I was pleased, and I
  was also pained, because I knew that he was soon
  to die, and this strange mixture of feeling was
  shared by us all to Plato, Phaedo

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• Then I must try to make a better impression upon
  you than I did when defending myself before the
  judges. For I am quite ready to acknowledge,
  Simmias and Cebes, that I ought to be grieved at
  death, if I were not persuaded that I am going to
  other gods who are wise and good (of this I am as
  certain as I can be of anything of the sort) and
  to men departed (though I am not so certain of
  this), who are better than those whom I leave
  behind and therefore I do not grieve as I might
  have done, for I have good hope that there is yet
  something remaining for the dead, and, as has
  been said of old, some far better thing for the
  good than for the evil. Plato Phaedo

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What is Citizenship?Historical, Philosophical,
Theological and Literary

• Classical and Medieval
• Augustine City of God Confessions
• Aquinas On Kingship Summa Theologica
• Machiavelli The Prince

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What is Citizenship?Historical, Philosophical,
Theological and Literary

• Also seemingly non-political works
• Thomas a Kempis The Imitation of Christ
• Anonymous Cloud of Unknowing

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What is Citizenship?Historical, Philosophical,
Theological and Literary

• Modern
• Hobbes Leviathan
• Locke Second Treatise of Government
• Rousseau On the Social Contract
• Mill On Liberty
• Marx and Engels Communist Manifesto
• Theories of post-Cold War governance?
• Fukuyama The End of History
• Huntington The Clash of Civilisations
• UN Alliance of Civilizations

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What is Citizenship?Historical, Philosophical,
Theological and Literary

• The voice from the telescreen was still pouring
  forth its tale
• of prisoners and booty and slaughter, but the
  shouting
• outside had died down a little. The waiters were
  turning
• back to their work. One of them approached with
  the gin
• bottle. Winston, sitting in a blissful dream,
  paid no attention
• as his glass was filled up. He was not running or
  cheering
• any longer. He was back in the Ministry of Love,
  with
• everything forgiven, implicating everybody. He
  was in the
• public dock, confessing everything, implicating
  everybody.
• He was walking down the white-tiled corridor,
  with the
• feeling of walking in sunlight, and an armed
  guard at his
• back. The long-hoped-for bullet was entering his
  brain.

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What is Citizenship?Historical, Philosophical,
Theological and Literary

• He gazed up at the enormous face. Forty years it
  had taken
• him to learn what kind of smile was hidden
  beneath the
• dark moustache. O cruel, needless
  misunderstanding! O
• stubborn, self-willed exile from the loving
  breast! Two gin-
• scented tears trickled down the sides of his
  nose. But it
• was all right, everything was all right, the
  struggle was
• finished. He had won the victory over himself. He
  loved Big
• Brother. (Orwell, 1949 1983 249)
• George Orwell Nineteen Eighty-Four