Citizenship Education from Schools

| 2012 | vol. 1 | Nº1 University of Alicante [17] Citizenship Education from Schools María Puig Gutiérrez Juan Antonio Morales Lozano Department of Didactic and School Organisation. Faculty of Education University of Seville Spain Abstract: The characteristics of current society and the interest about citizenship education in the context of lifelong learning are essential for a study that aims to describe and understand the development of social and civic competence in the educational field. A Delphi study can make a proposal in which the social and civic competence is composed of 89 items organised into five areas: knowledge, skills, attitudes, values and behaviours. In the same way, the study of a school in Seville discovers didactic strategies and organisational processes that benefit the development of the various components of this competence. Keywords: social and civic competence; lifelong learning; educational research. Corresponding author: María Puig Gutiérrez E-mail: [email protected] Educational Research eJournal - ISSN 2254-0385 © Faculty of Education. University of Alicante DOI: 10.5838/erej.2012.11.02 | 2012 | vol. 1 | Nº1 University of Alicante [18] 1. Introduction 1.1 Approaching the problem Immersed in a complex and rapidly changing socio-political context, this work focuses on the increasing interest in citizenship education and lifelong learning. The defence of social equality and rights, as well as the image of the human being as an active citizen are not new. Nonetheless, the characteristics defining our current society might have created a new perception of education as a socialization agent and an endless supply of resources in order to face the changing situations occurring in different societies. Setting the abovementioned matters as the main driving forces of our research, the general objective is to describe and to understand the development of the social and citizenship competence in the educational field. This general objective leads to the following specific aims: -To identify the elements constituting the social and civic competence. -To analyse the didactic aspects regarding the social and civic competence. -To describe the organisational and relational processes creating difficulties/facilities for the development of the social and civic competence. -To identify the significant strategies and resources for the development of the social and citizenship competence. Precedents and theoretical foundation 1.2.1. Lifelong learning and key competences Nowadays, lifelong learning seems to be a need created by the countless changes that we must face. We have left behind a period of time when education was equal to providing schooling. Now we identify it with lifelong learning, an education thorough life that covers formal and informal education (Morales, 2006). Education has become, according to Ferrández (1996, p.3) “something magic and always incomplete.” Education in the sense of lifelong learning becomes a key aspect for the development of current societies. Lifelong learning can be defined as a global project covering the learning process of an entire life in its multiple aspects, whose main goal is to contribute to the essential development of individuals. Professor Ferrández makes an interesting proposal with respect to four essential areas in lifelong learning. Apart from the approach about Adult Education, the mentioned author applies these four essential areas to the entire life, giving more or less emphasis to the four of them according to the educational stage. He subsequently keeps the aforementioned optimistic view (Figure 1). Figure 1 areas in Lifelong Learning (Ferrández, 1996:11). This perspective gives sense to an education directed to the exercise of | 2012 | vol. 1 | Nº1 University of Alicante [19] social rights and obligations in every educational stage during lifelong learning. This is because socialisation - which is understood as the ability to exercise our rights and obligations in the society - constitutes one of the essential areas of lifelong education. Lifelong learning policies developed by the European Union have always benefited education aimed at the exercise of citizenship. Since it was created, the European Union has made an effort to develop a quality education in every member state, as it considers each of them plays an important role in social and economic progress. The attention paid to education by the European Union has increased over the last decades, and among the main documents emphasizing this issue we can find: the White Paper on 'Growth, competitiveness, and employment or the White Paper on Education and Training - Teaching and Learning - Towards the Learning Society. On the October 23rd 1995 the European Parliament and the Council of Europe announced the decision n° 95/2493/EC establishing 1996 as the “European Year of Lifelong Learning”. This meant the first important milestone in the area of Lifelong Learning developed by the European Union, although it is not the most transcendental. Six years later, with the so-called “Lisbon Strategy” the member states committed themselves and became aware of the importance of lifelong learning for the development of society. With regard to this new work approach, the European Commission issued in November 2000 the Memorandum on lifelong learning, which launched a wide debate about this concept in Europe. The results obtained by this initiative were gathered in the Communication issued by the European Commission Making a European area of lifelong learning a reality (COM, 2001). In this Communication appears a globally accepted definition of the concept of lifelong learning is provided and it lead us to attribute four main goals to it: personal fulfillment, active citizenship, social integration, employability and adaptability. Undoubtedly, this has been a key document in the framework of lifelong learning. From this moment on, different official documents have underlined the need to follow the indications of this document. However, it was only in 2006 that a significant progress was made in lifelong learning, thanks to the elaboration and implementation of some initiatives gathered in two important documents: Decision No 1720/2006/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 15th November 2006 establishing an action program in the field of lifelong learning. Recommendations of the European Parliament and of the Council of 18th December 2006 on key competences for lifelong learning Since it identifies and defines precisely the key competences for lifelong learning, the second document established definitively the guidelines to follow in the field of lifelong learning (Figure 2). According to Monereo & Pozo (2007), the concept of competence points out the potential resources allowing the integration and the usage of knowledge, abilities and skills of an individual in order to face a range of usual tasks or problems in the different social contexts or scenes where he/she lives. Therefore, competences allow us to interact efficiently in different life areas and to face a problem-situation with actions where knowledge, abilities and skills are used simultaneously and in an interrelated way (Zabala & Arnau, 2007). For this reason, the dialogue of | 2012 | vol. 1 | Nº1 University of Alicante [20] Figure 2. Key Competence for Lifelong Learning. competences brings us to the idea suggested by Delors (1996), which indicates that personal and professional behaviour is the result of the intersection of different ways of learning linked to three aspects: To know, to do and to be. The first aspect activates the knowledge, the second activates the skills or abilities, and the third the attitudes, the values, the habits and the rules. In light of European approaches about lifelong learning, it is said that key competences represent a multifunctional and transferrable package of knowledge, skills, and attitudes necessary for individuals’ personal fulfillment and development, inclusion and employment. They should have been conceived to be taught at the end of the compulsory education and they should act as the basis for a later training as a part of lifelong learning (Group report of key competences, 2004). The concept of competence appears for the first time in the Spanish educational system, connected to vocational training, in the Organic Law 5/2002 on Qualifications and Vocational Education and Training. Nevertheless, the idea of competences as described before is introduced in Spain with the Organic Law of Education (LOE, 2006). Competences are defined as essential aspects, considered as curricular elements and defined as goals that should be accomplished by the end of compulsory education in order to achieve personal fulfilment, to exercise active citizenship, to integrate adult life in a satisfactory way and to be able to learn during the entire life (Royal Decrees 1513/2006; 1631/2006). According to the European Union proposal, basic competences are defined in the Royal Decrees establishing the minimum education: -Linguistic communication. -Mathematic competence. -Knowledge and interaction with the physic world. -Treatment of information and digital Competence. -Social and citizenship competence. -Cultural and artistic competence. -Learn how to learn. -Autonomy and personal initiative. 1.2.2. Citizenship, social education and training: Social and civic competence The concept of citizenship can contain a range of different definitions adapted to the context and events. This research shares the vision given by Professor Pérez Luño (2002): Citizenship is defined as a concept belonging to a democratic society that grants the exercise of rights and implies the responsibility of duties. It is a concept closely related to the freedom | 2012 | vol. 1 | Nº1 University of Alicante [21] and equality of the human being, free of impositions, and which aims to consider men and women as active and responsible actors in the social context. Taking the educational approach as a starting point, Karen O’Shea elaborates in 2003 a Glossary of terms for Education for Democratic Citizenship, taking as groundwork the reports, studies and programs developed by the Council of Europe about this topic. She highlights the double dimension (juridical and sociocultural) of the term citizenship referring, on the one hand, to the personal status of an individual whose rights and duties are legally recognized and, on the other hand, to the role played by the individual. This states the values and rules of behaviour with regard to other members belonging to the same community. To understand citizenship as a concept with a double dimension is to recognize the importance of its accomplishment, to highlight participation, and the need to look for a way to grant peaceful coexistence fostering shared rules and values as well as the development of common awareness. So, citizenship is a way of life where it is necessary to share values and norms in order to cope with the common responsibilities of a social life. This final concept directly connects with the social and citizenship competence defined in European politics. It is rather difficult to offer a unique, globally accepted definition of the social and citizenship competence, as it is somewhat a simplistic approach far from the conceptual richness typical from this concept. Conceptions offered by multiple authors about the elements and structures of this competence prove the variability of elements and structures that it encloses depending on the perspective or approach taken by every author. In the Spanish scene, we find the approaches of Marco (2002), Escámez & Gil (2002), Moreno & Luengo (2007), Marina & Bernabeu (2007), and Bisquerra (2008), while in the European scene it is worth mentioning the proposals of Veldhuis (1997), Audigier (2000), Torney-Purta, Lehmann, Oswald & Schulz (2001) and Hoskins, Villalba, Van Nijlen & Barber (2008). Despite the differences, the common pillar of the social and citizenship competence is the education geared to the application of the social dimension of citizenship. This sort of education is currently in great demand. We are witnessing the increasing significance of education as a key aspect for the development of skills, abilities and attitudes granting a peaceful coexistence and the rights and duties of human beings. Without a doubt, the theories suggested by authors such as Bolívar (2003, 2007), Calvo de Mora (2004), Domingo, (2004), Morillas (2006), and Santisteban (2004) among others illustrate the general feeling of a society under continuous changes that delegates more and more to educational institutions and recognize them as the ideal areas where to practice and to live democracy and values granting coexistence and respecting differences. Consequently, citizenship education is understood as a current need born from the characteristics of our society, which emphasizes the requirement of active citizens, aware of their rights and responsible for their duties. Therefore, policies and actions in the area of citizenship education become more relevant and they are promoted by European, national and regional institutions. For that reason, the Heads of State and Government of the member states from the Council of Europe officially launched in the second summit celebrated in Strasbourg the 10th and the 11th October 1997 the project “Education for | 2012 | vol. 1 | Nº1 University of Alicante [22] Democratic Citizenship” (EDC) due to the importance given to the topic and in order to achieve their goals. Apart from the educational policies promoted by the Council of Europe, the Parliament and the European Council have developed parallel initiatives supporting active European citizenship closely related to the first ones, as they underline the necessity of fostering active citizens’ participation in Europe: “Community action programme to promote European Citizenship” or the programme “Europe for Citizens”. Regarding Spanish educational policies, it is worth mentioning the last three laws regulating the educational system, as they undertake a socialization work and agree to underline the importance of teaching values granting a peaceful coexistence, the need to engage the educational community in the organization and performance of the educational centre, while they also emphasize the concept of equal education for all the students. However, the Organic Law of Education 2/2006 (LOE, 2006) introduces a new aspect in Spanish educational policy: it is the first time that Citizenship Education is considered a compulsory and independent curricular subject. The Autonomous Community of Andalusia is developing a series of actions, closely connected with different areas of citizenship education. In the Andalusian Law of Education (LEA 17/2007) we can find multiple references to the development of students’ social dimension as a part of their entire education, the importance of educating in democratic values, the need to foster participation among the educational community in the organization and operation of educational centers, as well as the perception of learning as a lifelong process. Moreover, a broad set of educational actions (annual or biannual) are promoted by encouraging the educational centers to work in what can be thought of as citizenship’s culture: Peaceful coexistence, Peace Culture and Non-Violence; Coeducation; Environmentally friendly actions; and Educational innovation. 2. Design and methodology The present study is placed in an interpretative paradigm whose main goal is the analysis and the interpretation of reality in order to understand it. Methods are subject to the identification with a determinate research paradigm, as well as the essential characteristics of the analyzed data and the techniques used. Therefore, a qualitative approach is taken due to the set goals, and the main techniques and strategies followed for gathering information are, in first instance, the Delphi study and the case study. Figure 3 shows the different phases and instruments used in the design and development methodology of the study. 2.1. Delphi study In order to define the elements constituting the social and citizenship competence as well as its structure, we decided to use the Delphi method. According to Linstone & Turoff (1975, p.3), Delphi is defined as “a structuring method for group communication process, which manages to allow a group of individuals, as a whole, to deal with a problem.” Consequently, it can be said that the Delphi method “is a systematic and interactive process aimed at obtaining opinions and, if possible, consensus among a group of experts” (Landeta, 1999, p.32). As it has been pointed out, its characteristic features are: -The anonymity of opinions, granting also | 2012 | vol. 1 | Nº1 University of Alicante [23] to the participants the confidentiality of their responses. -Feedback during the process, as participants know the objectives of the research, the reasons of their election and the final results. -Statistic measure of the group response (García Llamas, 2008). From this initial consideration, the Delphi method is the most satisfactory way to define the group of elements of the social and citizenship competence and their structure. It is possible thus, to differentiate two phases with two rounds each. In the first phase or preliminary phase, we asked for the participation of a group of professors (15) from the University of Seville, Granada and Huelva, engaged in the development of the research project “Educational Centers and Citizenship Education” approved and sponsored by the Regional Ministry of Economy, Innovation and Science of the Andalusian Regional Government (P07SEJ-02545). Afterward, in the second phase more experts were consulted. They were classified as specialists, according to the typology of Landeta (1999), because they were individuals with knowledge and experiences related to the studied topic. This group of experts (36) was composed of book authors specialized in the topic here studied, directors of research projects, agents working for associations specialized in this field, and instructors with a great experience in the area. The results of the first round were analyzed and considered for the elaboration of a second proposal and thus for a second round. For this reason, we were creating a nuance thanks to the punctuations given by every expert to the structure and to every element, calculating the arithmetic mean of punctuations. By revising the assessments, we decided to eliminate those elements whose arithmetic mean was inferior to three. The results obtained in the first phase and the suggestions made regarding the structure of the competence lead us to a new search for answers in specialized works. It brought us to the idea of creating a new structure based on European works (Veldhuis, 1997; Audigier, 2000; TorneyPurta et al., 2001; Hosking et al., 2008). With this new proposal, the second phase of the Delphi study was initiated, and positive results were achieved after two rounds of consultations. 2.2. Case study A case study is, according to Vázquez & Angulo (2003, p.18): “an area where the researcher interacts with people whose actions and relationships are going to be analyzed. In this sense, a case study consists of (and is defined by) a social environment with a dual relation: On the one hand, because a case is always a context where individuals or actors live and interact and, on the other hand, because the understanding of a single case means listening to the stories, problems, doubts and uncertainty of the individuals belonging to the case.” It is important to remember that case selection must not respond to typical or representative cases because, as Stake (1983, p.17) indicates, “it is not likely that the sample of a single case or some cases constitute a reliable representation of the others.” Therefore, the cases with more opportunities for learning are the most advisable, as they enable us to understand the key aspects of our research more deeply. For this reason, we decided to choose a Primary Education center according to our criteria: -Number of immigrant students in the center. -Previous knowledge of the development | 2012 | vol. 1 | Nº1 University of Alicante [24] of activities related to our objective. -Accessibility and availability for participation. Table 1. Definition of Meta-categories These criteria brought us to the Preschool and Primary Education center San José Obrero, in the north of Seville. An educational centre characterized by the high number of immigrant students (more than twenty nationalities) with a broad range of activities and projects developed around the topic of peaceful coexistence and intercultural environment, and willing to welcome us in order to carry out our study. The process of gathering information goes from the first contact with the centre in order to introduce the study, to the presentation of the final report when the work is finished. Works begin in this way in October 2009, after the first meeting with the Principal of the centre. From that moment on, the study organizes a series of periodic visits. One or two days a week we get completely involved in the centre. This allows us to understand the existing interactions between members and the centre’s operating rules, to find out individuals to provide us with key information, and to access the documents regulating the course of action of the centre. These periodic visits become essential for our integration in the educational community and thus for granting smooth interviews, as well as for broadening the possibilities of selecting the observation scenarios. Non-structured and semi-structured interviews, documents’ analysis, as well as the examination and the field notebook correspond to the instruments used in our study. The information gathered through these different instruments is arranged so that it is possible to understand the data obtained. When the material is organized and homogeneous, the content is analyzed in order to, according to Tójar (2006), reveal the given meanings (the evident ones and the implicit ones). For that reason, the elements are classified and codified in categories representing the global sense more clearly. As a result, a categorical system is | 2012 | vol. 1 | Nº1 University of Alicante [25] developed and it is formed by the three meta-categories explained in the Table 1. As the key instrument for categorization, codification and later interpretation of the results, we use a computer software program for qualitative analysis called ATLAS.ti. 3. Results Thanks to the Delphi study, we could identify a group of 89 elements organized in five dimensions representing the social and citizenship competence. As a result and as shown in Appendix, we find 30 types of knowledge subdivided in political knowledge (11), social knowledge (9), cultural knowledge (5) and finally economic knowledge (5). Moreover, a group of 17 skills, 8 attitudes, 19 values and 14 desired behaviours are outlined. All these elements obtained a punctuation above 3,59 in a scale of 5 points, being values the category with the most homogeneous and obtaining a higher punctuation during the different phases and rounds of the Delphi study. Here we can appreciate the results obtained in the case study regarding every meta-category described above: a) Results from meta-category “Elements of the Social and Citizenship competence” Figure 4 shows the distribution of the elements from the social and civic competence according to how much they appear (in percentage) after the data analysis. It is worth mentioning the high percentages obtained by values and skills, both with more that 30%, in comparison with the low percentages of behaviours and attitudes, below 10%. Finally, the aspect of knowledge is in the middle with a 16%. Figure 4. Results meta-category “elements and civic citizenship competence” The educational centre chosen gives more relevance to the development of values, which constitute the core of the competence. The “respect for difference and diversity” is the most highlighted value, which makes sense if we take a look to one of the educational purposes of the centre underlining the necessity of: “Taking diversity as educational model by integrating activities for the development of the student in the curriculum, always taking into account his/her own personality, social, economic and ethnic aspects, as well as health, eating and hygienic habits” (P1: Educational purposes). From this broad perspective, where diversity is considered as an educational model, all members of the centre must “respect and value cultural, sexual, ethnic differences, etc. as a source of personal enrichment” (P2: Educational Plan of the centre). Moreover, taking into account the high number of immigrants in the center, it is really important for peaceful coexistence “to respect freedom of thought as well as religious and moral convictions” (P3: Plan for peaceful coexistence). Therefore, results show an educational center where attention is focused on fostering knowledge, skills, attitudes and behaviours that help individuals to work and live in a multicultural environment, | 2012 | vol. 1 | Nº1 University of Alicante [32] Tójar, J. C. (2006). Investigación cualitativa: comprender y actuar. Madrid: La Muralla. [Full text] [Back to text] Torney-Purta, J., Lehmann, R., Oswald, H. & Schulz, W. (2001). Citizenship and Education in Twenty-eight Countries. Amsterdam: IEA. [Full text] [Back to text] Vázquez, R. & Angulo, F. (Coords.). (2003). Introducción a los estudios de casos: los primeros contactos con la investigación etnográfica. Archidona (Málaga): Aljibe. [Abstract] [Back to text] Veldhuis, R (1997). Education for Democratic Citizenship: Dimensions of citizenship, core competencies, variables and international activities. Strasbourg: Council of Europe. [Full text] [Back to text] Zabala, A. y Arnau, L. (2007). 11 Ideas Claves. Cómo aprender y enseñar competencias. Barcelona: Graó. [Full text] [Back to text]