This document provides an agenda and background information for a seminar on citizenship education in the 21st century. The agenda covers topics like the current interest in citizenship due to societal changes, European ambitions for citizenship education, critical pedagogy, and the potential contribution of social media. It discusses concepts like "risk society" and the need to equip citizens with knowledge, skills, and values to engage in political and social life and foster diversity and social cohesion in a changing world. It emphasizes informal, experiential learning of citizenship and developing students' civic competencies and capabilities through critical thinking.

1. Learning Citizenship for
the 21st Century
E-Twinning Professional
Development Seminar
Sweden
10-11 October 2013
Professor R. H. Fryer CBE
Chair, Campaign for Learning UK
Board Member NIACE UK
Board Member & Chief Learning Advisor Arch Agilisys
profbobfryer@live.co.uk

2. Agenda
 Why the current interest in citizenship?
 An era of profound change – ‘risk society’
 European ambitions for citizenship
education
 Knowledge & understanding of
‘European’ citizenship
 Social cohesion & diversity
 Informality , experience & participation
 Citizenship & the purposes of learning
 Critical pedagogy
 Towards a ‘citizenship curriculum’
 The contribution of social networking
media

3. Why the current interest in citizenship?
 Retreat from conventional,
electoral politics
 Youth alienation - unemployment
 Break up/disappearance of
‘traditional’ communities
 Social fragmentation
 Decline of trades unions
 Rise of individualism,
individuation & ‘identity’ politics’
 Migration, ethnicity & social
integration
 Globalisation & its discontents
 New forms of and locales of
‘exclusion’ – e.g. ‘digital’
 Change, ambiguity, instability &
risk
 ‘New’ social movements

4. An era of profound & widespread
economic, social & cultural change
Global & national financial crises, ‘credit crunch’ &
recession
Long-run changes in social, political & cultural
institutions (Family, Politics, Consumption etc)
Restructuring of work, employment & industry
Shifts in personal & group identities & aspirations
A growing tendency for ‘choice’
An information & knowledge revolution
Continuing technological innovation
Greater localism within globalisation
Social fragmentation & division
New forms & expressions of citizenship

5. ‘Risk Society’ (Beck)
Ubiquitous
Change
Unreliability
Unpredictability
Risk Society
Uncertainty
Un-sustainability
‘Fuzzy’
Boundaries
Multiple &
Contested Information
& Knowledge
Choice
Beyond
Conventions,
Rules & Structures

6. An European conception of modern
citizenship: the Eurydice Report
“This report derives from an evolved conception
of citizenship, acknowledging the fact that it
goes far beyond the simple legal relationship
between people and the state. This conception
of citizenship, which extends to citizens'
participation in the political, social and civil life
of society, is based on respect for a common set
of values at the heart of democratic societies,
and can be found in the definition of 'active
citizenship' (Hoskins et al., 2006) promoted at
European level.”
Source: Eurydice Report, 2012 p. 8

7. Education for citizenship:
European ambitions
“Promoting equity, social
cohesion and active citizenship
through school education is… one
of the main objectives of the
current Strategic Framework for
European Cooperation in
Education and Training which
extends to 2020.”
Source: Androulla Vassiliou (Commissioner responsible for Education, Culture,
Multilingualism and Youth), Foreword to
Citizenship Education in Europe, Education, Audiovisual and Culture Executive
Agency, (Eurydice) 2012.

8. Cohesion & diversity through
values, knowledge & skills
European countries need citizens to be
engaged in social and political life not only
to ensure that basic democratic values
flourish but also to foster social cohesion at
a time of increasing social and cultural
diversity. In order to increase engagement
& participation, people must be equipped
with the right knowledge, skills and
attitudes.
Civic competences can enable individuals to
participate fully in civic life but they must
be based on sound knowledge of social
values and political concepts and
structures, as well as a commitment to
active democratic participation in society.
Source: Eurydice Report, 2012, p. 8

9. Key civic competences
The civic competences needed are:
A knowledge of basic democratic concepts
including an understanding of society and
social and political movements;
The European integration process and EU
structures; and
Major social developments, both past and
present.
Civic competences also require:
Skills such as critical thinking and
communication skills;
 Ability and willingness to participate
constructively in the public domain, including in
the decision-making process through voting.
Finally, a sense of belonging to society at
various levels, a respect for democratic values
and diversity as well as support for sustainable
development.
Source: Eurydice Report, p. 8

10. Source: Flash Eurobarometer 365, 2013

11. Source: Flash Eurobarometer 365, 2013

12. Source: Flash Eurobarometer 365, 2013

13. What kind of ‘participation’ in what forms
of democracy’?
 ‘Thick’ or ‘thin’ democracy?
 Taking part counts
 Multi-dimensional & multiple
forms of engagement
 Deliberation, discourse, &
action
 Agency, empowerment &
‘voice’
 Critical awareness
 Emancipation, liberation &
autonomy
 Beware of unsavoury
manifestations of community or
‘us’

14. Learning Citizenship by
Participation in the Community
Most European countries support educational
institutions in providing their pupils & students
with opportunities to learn citizenship skills
outside school through a variety of programmes
& projects. Working with the local community,
discovering and experiencing democratic
participation in society & addressing topical
issues such as environmental protection, &
cooperation between generations & nations are
examples of activities supported by national
publicly-financed programmes. Finally, there are
political structures, mostly at secondary level,
intended to provide students with a forum for
discussion & to allow them to voice their
opinions on matters affecting them. Source: Eurydice
Report, p. 14

15. Informal and experiential learning
“Students learn about citizenship not only in the
classroom but also through informal learning.
Citizenship education is therefore more effective if
it is supported by a school environment where
students are given the opportunity to experience
the values and principles of the democratic process
in action. All countries have introduced some form
of regulation to promote student participation in
school governance, whether in the form of class
representatives, student councils or student
representation on school governing bodies.
Source: Eurydice Report, p. 13

16. Citizenship & the core purposes of learning
According to the celebrated Jacques Delors
Commission on Lifelong Learning, The
Treasure Within
1) Learning to Know (learning to learn, general
knowledge & understanding)
2) Learning to Do (skills, competence, practical
ability in a variety of settings)
3) Learning to Live Together (tolerance,
mutual understanding, interdependence)
4) Learning to Be (personal autonomy &
responsibility, memory, aesthetics, ethics,
communication & physical capacity)
* Recent scholarship suggests adding:
Learning to Sustain

17. Raymond Williams’ three vital functions
of learning in periods of rapid &
widespread social change
1.
2.
3.
For Making Sense of Change - Information, ideas,
knowledge, concepts, understandings, insights, theories, a
critical & challenging mind
For Adapting to Change - Maximising benefits & minimising
costs, making the most of change, capturing & applying
knowledge
For Shaping Change - As authors of change rather than its
Victims, navigating risk & uncertainty, at the heart of
citizenship for the 20th century & the democratic project

18. Citizenship, capability & learning
For democracy to thrive, Nussbaum suggests developing ten capabilities that determine
‘what people actually are and what they are able to be’, namely:
 Life – able to live a full human life of normal length;
 Bodily health – able to enjoy bodily health, including adequate nourishment and
capacity for reproduction;
 Bodily integrity – able to move freely and safely from place to place;
 Sense, imagination and thought – able to make full use of the senses to
experience, think, reason, imagine and create;
 Emotion – able to experience attachment to people, things and experiences and to
express feelings of love, longing, grieving and justifiable anger;
 Practical reasoning – able to conceive of the good life and to engage in critical
reflection;
 Affiliation – able to live with others in mutual respect, understanding the position of
and worth of ‘others’, and establishing the basis of self-respect and nondiscrimination;
 Other species – having respect for animals and plants;
 Play – ability to laugh and enjoy recreational and playful activity; and
 Environmental control – able to engage with the processes and choices that affect
our political and material lives, including rights of political participation, property
holding and employment.

19. Critical pedagogy - becoming ‘noisy &
fractious’
Critical pedagogy aims:
“… to enable learners to go beyond thinking in order to
enable them as citizens to act as engaged agents in
their various worlds, giving voice to their hopes and
ambitions for change and improvement”. (Giroux
2007: 1-5)
It is about fostering “a language of critique and
possibility”. (Giroux 2005: 211) in which the aim
must be “to provide students with the knowledge
and skills they need to learn how to deliberate,
make judgements and exercise choice”. (Giroux:
2007: 1)
It promises to engender what Barber (1998) regards as
the true mark of an activist democracy - a “noisy
and fractious citizenry”.

20. Some core principles (From Promises
of Freedom)
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
Focus on learners’ own interests
Begin with people’s own experiences
Be genuinely ‘life-long’ & ‘life-wide’
Embrace all modes & forms of learning
Develop learners’ independent & critical skills
Connect learning with action
Link learning to autonomy
Base learning on equity & social justice
Use democratic & inclusive methods
Discursive consideration of difference
Provide all adults with a post-school entitlement to
learning
12. Instigate public investment by establishing a
‘community fund’ to underpin lifelong learning
infrastructure
13. Remember, lifelong learning alone cannot achieve
social change

21. Potential contribution of prudent use
of ‘social networking media’
 Already widely used –
especially by young people
 Fairly simple to use
 Available on mobile
technology
 Facilitates variety of
‘communities’ – widens circle
of ‘contacts’
 Puts ‘sharing’ at its heart
 Promotes creativity & coproduction
 Valuable gateway to ‘deeper’
learning