Education: a comparision between Portugal, Englan and Slovenia
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139 EDUCATION: A COMPARISION BETWEEN PORTUGAL, ENGLAND AND SLOVENIA MarianaRodrigues,AndreiaCaetano,PedroFerreira,SofiaPais &IsabelMenezes FacultyofPsychologyandEducationalSciences,UniveristyofPorto,Porto, Portugal [email protected],[email protected] ABSTRACT ThisstudyemergesfromaresearchprojectentitledParticipatoryCitizenshipEducation inTransitionalSocietiesthataimsatawiderunderstandingaboutCitizenshipEducation (CE) across Europe, and particularly whether educational policies, curricula and active and critical participation in civic and political issues in different contexts. To accomplish this, an understandingofthevisionsandrolesofNGOsisessentialtodiscernthekindofCEto whichtheyarecommittedto.TheinquiryofEuropeanNGOsthroughane-mailsurvey involved 41 European countries; however, in this paper the authors will present the resultsforPortugal,EnglandandSlovenia.Amongotherfindings,theresearchhighlights the important role of NGOs as CE providers, and the need for policy makers to acknowledgetheirinvolvementinthetopic.Especiallyincountrieswithauthoritarian pasts,NGOsconsiderthatmodelsofconformismandsubmissionarestilldominantin therelationshipbetweencitizensandthegovernment,andemphasizetheroleofCEin promotingastrongcivicsociety. Keywords: critical consciousness, participation, Citizenship Education, NGOs, democracy. INTRODUCTION Citizenship education has been assuming a central role in educational policies across Europeinrecentyearsandithasbeentheobjectofinternationalresearchregardingits guidelinesandcurriculardesign,itsimpactonthelivesofschoolsandontheknowledge, Even ifthepredominantrhetoricaboutCEemphasisesactiveandresponsiblecitizenship,itis importanttorecognizethatitisdiverselyconceivedbydifferentdemocratictraditions (Eisenstadt2000; Heater2005)froma minimalistversionthatreducescitizenstothe thatadvocateparticipationshouldinvolvemanyformatsindiversecontexts(Benhabib 2004;Osler&Starkey2005).
140 But even if schools have a consensual role in promoting citizenship, it should be solelyoccurinschools,asCEinvolvesexperiencesthattakeplaceinmanyothersocial contextsandinstitutions.Non-governmentalorganizations(NGOs)canplayasignificant role in providing CE through non-formal and informal education that complement andschools(Park,Senegacnik&Wango,2007).ThepotentialofNGOslaysthereforein theircapacitytoactasbridges,facilitators,brokersandtranslators,linkingtogetherthe institutions, interventions, capacities and levels of actions that are required to lever broaderstructuralchanges (Edwards&Fowler,2002:8-9). BACKGROUNDOFTHESTUDY Citizenshipeducation(CE)isclearlyamajorgoalofeducationalsystemsacrossEurope, andithasbeeninthecentreofacademicandpoliticaldiscoursessincethemideighties as a central task of both schools and the civil society. However, more information is necessary to effectively understand what kind of citizens are schools and civil society organizations, such as NGOs, advocating for. How do NGOs view their roles as CE providers? How do they perceive current CE practices in schools and how do they envisagetheirengagementwithschoolsregardingthepromotionofCEactivities? THESTUDY 3.1 METHODOLOGY -mail survey took place between August 2010 and February 2011. Contacts from European non-governmental organisations (NGOs) were drawn from existing databases of NGOs broadly working within the CE field e.g.NetworkingEuropeanCitizenshipEducation,DemocracyandHumanRights inEurope,EuropeanNetworkofPoliticalFoundations,andEuroPartnersDevelopment. An invitation letter in five different European languages (English, French, Spanish, PortugueseandUkrainian),wase-mailedtoasampleof424NGOsfrom41European countries,asshowninTable1. Table3:Table:E-mailsurveyresponseratesfor41countries Invited No answersRefusedAccepted Responded 42422227175127 52,36%6,37%41,27%29,95% Approximately30%oftheEuropeanNGOsthatwereinvolvedinthestudyansweredthe e-mailsurvey;ifweexcludefromtheinitialsamplethe27NGOsthatrefusedtorespond (because they were currently not involved in the topic, among other reasons) the responseratewas32%-avaluewhichisquitepositiveifweconsiderthetendencyfor thedeclineinemailsurveysresponserates(Sheehan,2001). As already mentioned, this paper presents the results for a subset of this sample, 23 NGOs from Portugal, England, and Slovenia countries which have different cultural, historicalandpoliticaltraditions ,asshowninTable2.
141 Table4:E-mailsurveyresponseratesfortheNGOsfromEngland,Portugal,andSlovenia CountriesInvited No answersRefusedAccepted Responded England(EN) 1761108 Portugal(PT) 20731212 Slovenia(SI) 62043 Total431542623 OncetheNGOacceptedtoparticipateinthestudy,ane-mailsurveywassenttothem. Thee-mailsurveyconsistedofthefollowingsixopen-endedquestions: - Couldyoupleasegiveabriefdescriptionofyourworkinthisorganization? - Education? - From your personal perspective, what is the dominant vision of Citizenship Educationineducationalpoliciesandpracticesinyourcountry? - Takingyourexperienceintoaccount,whatwouldyousayarethemajorbarriersto implementing Citizenship Education in your country? And the most positive experiences? - On the whole, how do you evaluate the work done until now, either by your organizationorbyspecificschools? - In many European countries there have been periods of dictatorship, buteven in countries with a long democratic tradition, the quality of democracyhas suffered fluctuations. How relevant do you think it is to include a critical historical consciousnessintoCitizenshipEducation? Data from this e-mail survey was analysed using content analysis through computerassisted qualitative data analysis (Kelle 2004), using NVivo 9.0 software package. A structureofso-calledtreenodeswasdesignedthatfollowedthemainquestionsaskedin thee-mailsurvey.Themainquestionscapturedtheresearchquestionsthatwerefirst defined.So,theinitialavailablecategories(treenodes)were:rolesofrespondents;role andactivitiesofNGOsinCE;dominantvisioninCE;evaluationofCE,highlightingthe barriers to implementation and positive experiences in national and international CE; andintegratingacriticalhistoricalconsciousnessinCE.Fromtheinterestingelements -called free nodes, such as target groups, key-concepts,themes, topicsandskills addressed by the onsfor change.Duetospace concernswe chose topresent onlytheresultsfor the categories morerelevanttothecurrentstudy:rolesoftherespondents;roleandactivitiesofNGOs inCE;dominantvisioninCE;barriersandpositiveexperiencesintheimplementationof CE;andintegratingacriticalhistoricalconsciousnessinCE. 3.2 ANALYSISANDRESULTS Because the questions were open-ended, it was possible to obtain a rich and extensivedatabaseonthevisionsofEuropeanNGOsregardingCE.Datawasorganised bygroupingtogethersimilarviews,whileretainingthespecificityoftheopinions.The NGOwasusedasunityofanalysis. Asitwasmentionedinthemethodologysection,inthefirstquestionofthee-mail ndents to briefly describe their work in the NGO.
142 Takingintoaccounttheirresponses,itcanbeconcludedthat52%oftherespondents have predominantly coordination, management and leadership roles in projects, programmes,activities,teams,andresearchactivitiesintheirorganisations.Therefore, theyconstituteanimportantsourceofinformation.Itisimportanttomentionthatsome respondentshavemorethanonefunctionsimultaneously,whichcouldrevealthelackof resourcesthatisexpressedbymanyNGOs. are the target groups for the activities mentioned. The participating NGOs target simultaneously diverse individuals or groups according to age and gender. However, they mainly focus on the school community (50%), including teachers/educators, students, experts, and stakeholders, and youth (28%), including youth institutions, workersorleaders. Analysingthe roles andactivities highlighted byNGOsin theirresponses, itwas possible to point out some topics and themes they considered important in CE. The participating NGOs from England, Portugal, and Slovenia cover a very wide range of themes and topics related to Citizenship Education in their services and actions. WhenNGOswereinquiredabouthowtheypromoteCitizenshipEducation,itwas mainly mentioned the development and implementation of non-formal and informal projects, programmes, and activities which aim at promoting awareness, information and support citizenship among different target groups, addressing the themes mentionedabove. ParticipatingNGOsassumethemselvesasCEprovidersthroughtheorganisationof different activities, mainly focused on the development of educational projects and programmes,accordingtonon-formalandinformalmethodologies,addressingdistinct targetgroups, despite the emphasis on school, community and youth. It could alsobe concluded that 47,83% of the participating NGOs highlighted their responsibility in training different actors, at national and international level, as well as (43,48%) for creating opportunities to exchange knowledge and practices supporting the implementation of CE in their countries and abroad(such as workshops, conferences, seminars, round tables, meetings, debates, journeys, discussion, visits, and lectures). Furthermore, 30,43% of the respondents point out the provision and publishing of educational, pedagogical, and methodological materials such as manuals, textbooks, guidelines, books, educational and documentary films, and web multimedia tools (websites, blogs, podcasts, interactive DVDs, and forums) , and information places. They(21,74%) also mention youth groupactivities, such as peer qualifications, youth clubs, the simulation of parliaments, role playing games, annual field work, and academiccompetitions. The respondents were invited to make explicit their different roles in the implementation of CE. Taking into account their responses, it seems clear that the participatingNGOs(65,22%)claimtheirroleasCEprovidersthroughnon-formaland informalmethodologies,complementingschoolprovisionatalllevelsofeducation.CEis atthecoreoftheiractions.Althoughisnotoneofthemainareasofactionofsomeofthe participatingNGOs,ithasbecomeacoreissueinseveraloftheiractivities.Furthermore, 78,26%oftheparticipatingNGOsconsiderthattheycontributetostrengthentheculture ofactivecitizenshipandparticipationindifferentcontexts,throughenablingindividuals to become informed and capable citizens. To accomplish this, 73,91% of the
143 participating NGOs believe they are responsible for building partnerships with other privateandpublicactorsandinstitutions,inordertofurthersocialtransformationand welfare. ParticipatingNGOs,alsosharedtheirperceptionsregardingthedominantvisionof Citizenship Education in educational policies and practices in England, Portugal, and Slovenia.Takingintoaccountthediversityoftheresults,itcanbeaffirmedthatthese EuropeancountrieshavedifferentdominantvisionsandapproachestoCE.Theposition of30,43%ofNGOsisthattheeffectiveopportunitiestoparticipateindecision-making are few,therefore,itisdifficulttoinfluenceimprovementsineducationalpoliciesand practices.Furthermore,30,43%ofrespondentsfromEnglandandPortugalpointedout the fact that the educationalpolicies,andthey(21,74%)alsocriticizethatCEistoofocusedonspreading knowledge about national and European democratic systems and their formal functioning. Some NGOs from England and Slovenia (21,74%) consider that CE gives pupils the knowledge, skills and understanding to play an effective role in society. However,someNGOsfromPortugalandSlovenia(17,39%)askformoresystematicor better-structuredworkwheredifferentactorsinthefieldofCEcancometogether.Some EnglishNGOs(17,39%)highlightedtheinteresttoreducethedependencyonstateand increaseindividualresponsibility. NGOs were also invited to express their positions on the major barriers and positive experiences they found along the implementation process of CE. NGOs identified many different barriers to the implementation of CE. Firstly, participating NGOs(43,48%)criticisethefactthatCEhasbeenneglectedintheschoolcurricula.Some participatingNGOs(39,13%)alsoreferredthatCEisfocusedmainlyonthetransmission ofknowledgeaboutcitizenshipinformaleducation,neglectingthecreationofeffective opportunitiestoexerciseit.They(34,78%)alsopointedoutnotonlythelackofhuman and financial resources in different organizations, whether NGOs or schools, to efficiently deliver CE, but also the lack of preparation of teachers and educators to effectivelydeliverit(17,39%).Itisalsoimportant tomention thatsomeparticipating NGOs (21,74%) from Portugal and Slovenia considered the culture of resignation, conformity, and acceptance of authority, which is a legacy of long periods of authoritarianregimes,abarriertoovercome. Looking at the positive experiences in Citizenship Education highlighted by the respondents,atnationalorinternationallevel,itcanbeconcludedthatvariousdifferent positiveexperiencesinCEaroundEuropewereidentified.NGOs(30,43%)particularly consider the increased interest, involvement and participation of all members of educationalcommunities(e.g.headsofschools,teachers,students,andparents)inCE. Some participating NGOs from England and Portugal (26,09%) highlight not only the experiences that allow learners to participate actively in their education process, but also the growing governmental concern for CE, expressed through the creation and implementation of some national initiatives and documents (21,74%), such as the NationalStrategyforDevelopmentEducation(ENED) -2015)inPortugalorthe (17,39%) projectsdevelopedwithinschoolcontextsasgoodexamplesoftheimplementationofCE providing opportunities to produce and share knowledge and good practices. NGOs (13,04%) also value services and actions promoting social and political development, which emerged from partnerships between governmental and non-governmental organizations,andcitizens.Itisalsoimportanttonoticethat2EnglishNGOsemphasise
144 the importance of a hands-on approach to CE, whether in the school or in the surroundingcommunities,throughvolunteeringinitiatives. In many European countries there have been periods of dictatorship, but even in countries with a long democratic tradition, the quality of democracy has suffered fluctuations.OurlastquestiontotheNGOsaskedthemtoexpresstheiropinionsabout howrelevanttheythinkitcouldbetheinclusionofcriticalhistoricalconsciousnessinto CE. Based on their most referenced responses it can be stated that most of the participating NGOs (56,52%) consider the integration of a critical historical consciousness perspective in CE as a relevant goal. Furthermore, they (34,78%) also consider important that people understand past and various stages of the historical processesinordertocomprehendpresentrealityandtobeabletoperspectivefuture realities. Besides, the critical historical consciousness is seen by 56,52% of the respondentsasabasicconditiontotheeffectiveexerciseofcitizenshipandasessential tostrengthenthedemocraticprocess. 4CONCLUSIONS TheresearchhighlightstheimportantroleoftheNGOsasCEprovidersandtheneedfor advisory councils are few and end up to not allowing the views and contributions of citizensandNGOswhichare,indeed,verycrucial mentionedbyaPortugueseNGO. NGOsconsiderthatCEinschoolsistoofocusedonformaldemocracy,whichmeansthat studentslearnaboutpublicinstitutions,elections,politicalparties,etc.,asitwaspointed oCitizenship in this sense brings with it certain rights and responsibilitiesthataredefinedinlaw,suchastherighttovote,theresponsibilitytopay Especially in countries with an authoritarian past, NGOs consider that models of conformismandsubmissionarestilldominantintherelationshipbetweencitizensand the government. Therefore, on the perspective of a Slovenian NGO the term tradition.Itwas TheparticipatingNGOcriticisethefactthatCEhasbeenimplementedinareductionistic wayanditisnotseenasapriority.Therefore,wecanconcludethattheirperceivethat CEisneglectedinthesc -curricular,not seenasskills-boundexperientiallearning moreorlesstaughtastheoreticalsubject. Teachershavenotenoughknowledgetoapproachitasskills-basedlearninginsteadof knowledge- aswasstatedbyaSlovenianNGO. Finally, NGOs also stress that the creation of effective opportunities to exercise citizenshipindailylifehasbeenneglected.AsitwasexpressesbyanEnglishNGO rogrammeofstudyisoftenregardedas difficult(orimpossible)todeliverwellorproperlyasitisoftendifficulttotakechildren and students out of school in order to be actively involved in for example, their local
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