Overview
Since the late 1960s, the conventional view among academics was that civic education (also called citizenship education or democracy education) had only marginal impact on students’ democratic orientations.[1] There has been much renewed discussion recently about developing education programs to instill patriotic pride and critical democratic patriotism. Just 11 percent of U.S. high school students attained the level of proficient on the 2001 National Assessment of Educational Progress civics exam.[2] Despite significant increases in educational attainment in the US during the past 50 years, levels of political knowledge remain largely unchanged.[3] Even college graduates have the same level of political knowledge that high school graduates in 1950 did.
Despite the poor track record in the US, government support for civic education abroad has been a staple of its democracy aid budget since the mid-1980s. Often, this educational support has been part of election preparation efforts, but increasingly it is supporting more general education on democracy. The popularity of civic education programs reemerged with the end of the Cold War as many perceived that efforts to educate citizens in the communist bloc about democracy had played a role in the fall of communism.[4] More recently, funding for civic education has shifted from the former Soviet Bloc to Middle East.[5] The advocacy NGOs and civil society groups often behind civic education programs today need to be cautious about making citizens too skeptical of authority, thereby generating distrust. Although studies generally find little or negative connection between education and political learning,[6] civic education and participatory lessons can have a positive effect.[7] Other studies have been critical of democracy promotion groups for running poorly run programs that present an elite view that is wholly reliant on Western funding.[8]
Civic education programs contain four key elements.[9]
- First, programs seek to develop civic knowledge, which itself requires understanding of the principles and practice of democracy. As such, representative democracy, the rule of law, human rights, citizenship, civil society, and the market economy are important subject areas.
- Second, programs focus on building cognitive civic skills to enable participants to synthesize information on political and civic life and public issues.
- Third, civic education attempts to engender participatory civic skills such as working with others, collaborative deliberation and decision making, and how to peacefully influence debate.
- Finally, these programs work to instill civic dispositions such as support for human rights, equal rights, the importance of active political participation, and working to promote the common good.
Recent developments in civic education programs indicate some significant trends around the world.[10] First, there has been an explosion of original curriculum development. In addition, Socratic seminars, role playing/simulations, historical document analysis, and service learning have been popular democratic teaching methods. Second, teacher education programs at the university level have seen significant development. Third, existing curricula have been adapted to local circumstances.
As a number of countries experimented with democracy in the 1990s, recent research has found that traditional classroom-based civic education can significantly raise political knowledge, contrary to earlier findings in the developed world. Specifically, research on the impact of civic education programs has produced a number of findings.[11]
- First, civic knowledge appears to help citizens understand their interests as individuals and as members of groups.
- Second, program participants have more consistent views across issues and across time.
- Third, knowledge, particularly related to political institutions and processes, allow individuals to better understand political events and integrate new information into their preexisting framework.
- Fourth, general civic knowledge can alter views on specific public issues.
- Fifth, citizens with greater civic knowledge are less likely to be mistrustful of, or alienated from, public life.
- Sixth, greater civic knowledge generates greater support for democratic values.
- Seventh, those with greater civic knowledge are more active participants in the political process.[12]
Although adult civic education programs have received far less attention, a study of three countries found that those who were exposed to civic education were much more involved in local politics.[13] Less hopefully, civic education has been found to have greater effects on individuals who already have higher levels of participation and cognitive resources, which may exacerbate disparities in society that these programs are intended to address.[14] In addition, although civic education appears to improve knowledge of the political system, it does not help increase tolerance and may hurt trust in institutions.[15]
That said, simple exposure to civic education per se is not enough. Short-term programs and those that focus on general principles often prove too abstract and detached from the daily lives of participants to have too much impact.[16] Furthermore, what matters are specific factors related to the quality of instruction and the use of active pedagogical methods employed by civics instructors.[17] Successful programs are those that have instructors that are attractive, likeable, and credible. In addition, active teaching methods and ‘open’ classrooms where controversial issues are discussed frequently and a range of views presented in a neutral fashion are associated with more effective programs.[18] What is more, programs focusing on local problem solving and community action in conjunction with opportunities for interaction with local officials have resulted in higher levels of participation than did general information-based programs.[19] Some see promise in service learning, although program evaluations have yielded mixed results.[20] Curriculum also needs match the resources and culture of its intended national context.[21] Finally, evaluation programs are needed to monitor its suitability to local culture and whether they are achieving their intended purposes.[22]
Civic education programs are often undermined by democratic practice in new democracies. In many fledgling democracies, low participation, intolerance, political ignorance, and alienation are major systemic problems. Civic education efforts in Poland and the Dominican Republic, for example, were found to have limited impact on levels of political participation and knowledge and almost no consequence of respondents’ values and skills.[23] The limited educational opportunities in sub-Saharan Africa has also restricted the availability of exposure to civic education. As a result, others are beginning to look at non-formal education opportunities. A study of rural Senegalese, for example, found that both non-formal and formal education increased the likelihood that people would embrace democratic, tolerant attitudes.[24] In Zambia, informal drama shows have been more significant in helping the masses become active citizens than formal education programs.[25]
[1] Finkel, Steven E. & Howard R. Ernst. Civic Education in Post-Apartheid South Africa: Alternative Paths to the Development of Political Knowledge and Democratic Values. Political Psychology, Jun2005, Vol. 26 Issue 3, 336.
[2] Waltzer, Kenneth and Elizabeth Heilman, When Going Right Is Going Wrong: Education for Critical Democratic Patriotism. Social Studies, Jul/Aug2005, Vol. 96 Issue 4, p156-162.
[3] Galston, W. (2001). Political knowledge, political engagement, and civic education. Annual Review of Political Science, 4, 217--234.
[4] Carothers, T. (1999). Aiding democracy abroad: The learning curve. Washington: Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.
[5] Gregory E. Hamot, 2005, “From Comrade to Citizen,” Democracy at Large vol 1 no 4 pp. 11-13. http://www.democracyatlarge.org/vol1_no4/vol1_no4_TOL_Comrade_Citizen.htm
[6] M.K. Jennings and R.G. Niemi. 1974. The Political Character of Adolescence. Princeton: Princeton University Press; K. Langton and M.K. Jennings. 1968. Political Socialization and the High School Civicx Curriculum. American Political Science Review. 62, 852-867.; B.G. Massialas. 1977. Education and Political Development. Comparative Education Review. 21, 274-295.; R.M. Merelman. 1980. Democratic Politics and the Culture of American Education. American Political Science Review. 74, 319-332.; R.G. Niemi and M. Hepburn. 1995. The Rebirth of Political Socialization. Perspectives on Political Science. 1, 7-16.; R.G. Niemi and B.I. Sobieszek. 1977. Political Socialization. Annual review of Sociology. 3, 209-233.; J.J. Patrick and J.D. Hoge. 1991. Teaching Government, Civics, and Law. In J.P. Shavers, ed. Handbook of Research on Social Studies Teaching and Learning. New York: Macmillan. 427-436.; D.O. Sears. 1990. Whither Political Socialization Research? The Question of Persistence. In O. Ichilov, ed. Political Socialization, Citizenship Education, and Democracy. New York: Teachers College Press. 69-97.; A. Somit, J. Tannenbaum et. Al. 1958. The Effect of the Introductory Political Science Course on Student Orientations Toward Personal Political Participation. American Political Science Review. 52, 1129-1132.; J. Torney-Purta and J. Schwille. 1986. Civic Values Learned in School. Comparative Education Review, 30, 30-49.
[7] D. Denver and G. Hands. 1990. Does Studying Politics Make a Difference? The Political Knowledge, Attitudes and Perceptions of School Students. British Journal of Political Science. 20, 263-288.; L.H. Ehman. 1980. The American School in the Political Socialization Process. Review of Education Research. 50, 99-119.; E. Litt. 1963. Civic Education, Community Norms, and Political Indoctrination. Amerian Sociological Review. 28, 69-75.; J.J. Patrick. 1972. The Impact of an Experimental Course “American Political Behavior” on the Knowledge, Skills and Attitudes of Secondary School Students. Social Education. 36, 103-128; K. Prewitt, G. Von Der Muhll, and D. Court. 1970. School Experiences and Political Socialization: A Study of Tanzanian Secondary School Students. Comparative Political Studies. 3, 203-225.; J.V. Torney, A.N. Oppenheim, and R.F. Farnen. 1975. Civic Education in Ten Countries. New York: Wiley.
[8] See especially Thomas Carothers, Assisting Democracy Abroad: The Learning Curve; and Thomas Carothers and Marina Ottaway, eds., Funding Virtue.
[9] John J. Patrick, “Teaching Democracy Globally, Internationally, and comparatively: The 21st Century Civic Mission of Schools” in Civic Learning in Teacher Education: International Perspectives on Education for Democracy in the Preparation of Teachers, Vol. 2, edited by John J. Patrick, Gregory E. Hamot, and Robert S. Leming (Bloomington, IN: ERIC Clearinghouse for Social Studies/Social Science Education, 2003) 21-44.
[10] Gregory E. Hamot, 2005, “From Comrade to Citizen,” Democracy at Large vol 1 no 4 pp. 11-13. http://www.democracyatlarge.org/vol1_no4/vol1_no4_TOL_Comrade_Citizen.htm
[11] Galston, W. (2001). Political knowledge, political engagement, and civic education. Annual Review of Political Science, 4, 217--234.
[12] M. Delli Carpini & S. Keeter. 1996. What Americans Know about Politics and Why It Matters. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.; N.H. Nie, J. Junn, & K. Stehlik-Barry, 1996. Education and Democratic Citizenship in America. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
[13] Finkel, S. E. (2003). Can democracy be taught? Adult civic education, civil society, and the development of democratic political culture. Journal of Democracy, 14.
[14] Finkel, S. E. (2003). Can democracy be taught? Adult civic education, civil society, and the development of democratic political culture. Journal of Democracy, 14: 145.
[15] USAID. 2002. APPROACHES TO CIVIC EDUCATION: LESSONS LEARNED, p. 12.
[16] Carothers, T. (1999). Aiding democracy abroad: The learning curve. Washington: Carnegie Endowment for International Peace., p. 232.
[17] Finkel, Steven E. & Howard R. Ernst. Civic Education in Post-Apartheid South Africa: Alternative Paths to the Development of Political Knowledge and Democratic Values. Political Psychology, Jun2005, Vol. 26 Issue 3, p333-364.; Niemi, R.G. and Hepburn, M. 1995. The rebirth of political socialization Perspectives on Political Science, 7-16.
[18] Management Systems International, An Evaluation of the Program of Education for Participation Washington DC: Management Systems International, August 1989).; America’s Development Foundation Final Report of the civic Education Project (Alexandria, VA: America’s Development Foundation, undated).; Sally Yudelman and Lucy Conger The Paving Stones: An Evaluation of Latin American Civic Education Programs (Washington DC: National Endowment for Democracy, March 1997).
[19] Finkel, S. E. (2003). Can democracy be taught? Adult civic education, civil society, and the development of democratic political culture. Journal of Democracy, 14: 141.; Niemi, R.G. and Hepburn, M. 1995. The rebirth of political socialization Perspectives on Political Science, 7-16.
[20] Galston, W. (2001). Political knowledge, political engagement, and civic education. Annual Review of Political Science, 4, 217--234.
[21] Gregory E. Hamot, 2005, “From Comrade to Citizen,” Democracy at Large vol 1 no 4 pp. 11-13. http://www.democracyatlarge.org/vol1_no4/vol1_no4_TOL_Comrade_Citizen.htm
[22] Gregory E. Hamot, 2005, “From Comrade to Citizen,” Democracy at Large vol 1 no 4 pp. 11-13. http://www.democracyatlarge.org/vol1_no4/vol1_no4_TOL_Comrade_Citizen.htm
[23] Christoper Sabatini, Gwendolyn Bevis, and Steven Finkel, The Impact of Civic Education Programs on Political Participation and Democratic Attitudes (Washington DC: Management Systems International, January 27, 1998).
[24] Kuenzi, Michelle, The role of nonformal education in promoting democratic attitudes: Findings from Senegal. Democratization, Apr2005, Vol. 12 Issue 2, p223-243.
[25] Bratton, M., P. Alderfer, Bowser, G., & Temba, J. (1999). The effects of civic education on political culture: Evidence from Zambia. World Development, 27, 807--824.
Use the following to cite this article:
Brahm, Eric. "Civic Education." Beyond Intractability. Eds. Guy Burgess and Heidi Burgess. Conflict Research Consortium, University of Colorado, Boulder. Posted: July 2006 <http://www.beyondintractability.org/essay/civic_education/>.
Sources of Additional, In-depth Information on this Topic
Additional Explanations of the Underlying Concepts:
Online (Web) Sources
Mason, Terrence C. "Building citizenship in the midst of ethnic conflict." Democracy at Large , 2000
Available at: http://www.ciaonet.org/olj/dal/dal_vol01n04/dal_vol01n04f.pdf.
This is a brief overview of a survey of students in South East European University's Teacher Training Dept in Macedonia.
Civic Education Project. 2006.
Available at: http://www.civiceducationproject.org/.
"The Civic Education Project (CEP), an international non-profit organization, has supported grassroots efforts to reform higher education in Central and Eastern Europe and Eurasia since 1991. In 2004 CEP completed its work in Europe and Eurasia and is now taking its highly successful programs to other world regions." - from website
CIVNET.
Available at: http://www.civnet.org.
Civnet is a website of Civitas International for civic education practitioners (teachers, teacher trainers, curriculum designers), as well as scholars, policymakers, civic-minded journalists, and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) promoting civic education all over the world. The site provides bibliographies, on-line civics textbooks, lesson plans, syllabi, links to historical documents, and links to full-text journal articles.
Osler, Audrey and Hugh Starkey. "Education for Democratic Citizenship: a review of research, policy and practice 1995-2005." 2005.
Available at: http://www.bera.ac.uk/publications/acreviews.php.
A major literature review focusing mainly on British sources that was commissioned by the British Educational Research Association as its Academic Review for 2005.
Hamot, Gregory E. "From Comrade to Citizen." Democracy at Large , 2005
Available at: http://www.ciaonet.org/olj/dal/dal_vol01n04/dal_vol01n04g.pdf.
Reviews trends in civic education programs in the former Soviet Bloc and identifies some lessons learned in fifteen years of programs working in the region.
International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement (IEA) Civic Education Study. The IEA Civic Education Study is a two-phase, cross-national study. The main goal of the study was to identify and examine, in a comparative framework, the ways in which young people are prepared to undertake their role as citizens in democracies.
Offline (Print) Sources
Carothers, Thomas. Aiding democracy abroad: The learning curve. Washington, D.C.: Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, 1999.
"Aiding Democracy Abroad is the first independent, comprehensive assessment of this important new field. Drawing on extensive field research and years of hands-on experience, Thomas Carothers examines democracy-aid programs relating to elections, political parties, governmental reform, rule of law, civil society, independent media, labor unions, decentralization, and other elements of what he describes as "the democracy template" that policymakers and aid officials apply around the world." - from Amazon.com
Approaches to Civic Education: Lessons Learned.
The central objective of the current publication is to make use of these findings to help DG officers design, implement, and evaluate civic education programs in a range of country contexts.
Hahn, Carole L. Becoming political: Comparative perspectives on citizenship education. New York: State University of New York Press, 1998.
"This book sheds light on the question: Under what conditions do democratic attitudes and values take root in youth? Using a comparative perspective, Becoming Political describes alternative forms of education for democracy and points to consequences of various alternatives in diverse settings."
Soule, S. Beyond communism and war: The effect of civic education on the democratic attitudes and behavior of Bosnian and Herzegovinian youth. Calabasas, CA: Center for Civic Education, 2000.
Finkel, S. E. "Can democracy be taught? Adult civic education, civil society, and the development of democratic political culture." Journal of Democracy 14, 2003.
"While there is a growing scholarly literature that tries to gauge the effectiveness of civic education for children and young adults in developing democracies, similar studies of adults are much rarer. To help fill this gap, this study assesses the effects of adult civic education programs in South Africa, the Dominican Republic, and Poland on political participation as well as on levels of such key 'emocratic'traits as trust, political tolerance, and sense of one�¢����s own efficacy as a citizen. In many fledgling democracies, low participation, intolerance, political ignorance, and alienation are major systemic problems." - from article
Slomczynski, K. M. and G. Shabad. "Can support for democracy and the market be learned in school? A natural experiment in post-communist Poland." Political Psychology, 1998.
"A new program in civic education was introduced in Poland in 1994 to foster support for democracy and a market economy among youth. This program was based on the active teaching/learning model of education, with frequent student participation in 'democratic games' and 'market simulations.' This paper focuses on a sample of students, ages 14 and 15, who participated in this program and contrasts them with students subjected to the traditional civics program." - abstract from article
Torney-Purta, Judith, Rainer Lehmann and Hans Oswald. Citizenship and Education in Twenty-Eight Countries: Civic Knowledge and Engagement at Age Fourteen. Amsterdam: IEA, 2001.
Largely European cases, but also Australia, Chile, Colombia, Hong Kong, and US.
Finkel, S. E. "Civic education and the mobilization of political participation in developing democracies." Journal of Politics 64, .
Finkel, Steven E. and Howard R. Ernst. "Civic Education in Post-Apartheid South Africa: Alternative Paths to the Development of Political Knowledge and Democratic Values." Political Psychology 26:3, June 2005.
In this article, Steven E. Finkel and Howard R. Ernst present findings from a study conducted in 1998 that examined the impact of democratic civic education among South African high school students.
Civic education programming since 1990: A case study based analysis. Civic education programming since 1990: A case study based analysis. by F. Brilliant is a report prepared for U.S. Agency for International Development, Contract No. AEP-I-00-96-90012-00, Task Order No. 10. Management Systems International, Inc.
Callan, Eamonn. Creating Citizens: Political Education And Liberal Democracy. New York: Oxford University Press, 1997.
"What is the role of political education in liberal democracies? This question, which is at the heart of recent debates in the US over federal funding of private schools, forms the core of this book. The problem of political education is to ensure the constitutive ideals of liberal democracy
while remaining open to a diversity of conduct and beliefs that may threaten those ideals. In Creating Citizens, Eamonn Callan, one of the world's foremost philosophers of education, identifies both the principal ends of civic education and the rights that limit their political pursuit. This timely
new study sheds light on some of our most divisive educational controversies, such as state sponsorship and regulation of denominational schooling, as well as the role of non-denominational schools in the moral and political development of children." - from amazon.com
Democracy in Textbooks and Student Minds: Educational Transitions in Bosnia-Herzegovina, Yugoslavia, Mozambique and South Africa. New York: Nova Science Publishers, Inc., 2002.
"The volume examines educational systems, textbooks, and attitudes of teachers and students in Mozambique, South Africa, Bosnia-Herzegovina, and the former Yugoslavia. They find that curricula and textbooks in all cases do not take a broad view of democracy and large portions of the student population do not hold democratic attitudes."
Levinson, Bradley. "Hopes and Challenges for the New Civic Education in Mexico: Toward a Democratic Citizen without Adjectives." International Journal of Educational Development 24:3, 2004.
This paper presents the main goals and themes, as well as a critical analysis, of an ambitious new reform of Mexico�s secondary-level program for civic education.
Galston, W. "Political knowledge, political engagement, and civic education." Annual Review of Political Science 4, .
"Recent research indicates that levels of political knowledge affect the acceptance of democratic principles, attitudes toward specific issues, and political participation. There is evidence that political participation is in part a positional good and is shaped by relative as well as absolute levels of educational attainment. Contrary to findings from 30 years ago, recent research suggests that traditional classroom-based civic education can significantly raise political knowledge. Service learning - combination of community-based civic experience and systematic classroom reflection on that experience - is a promising innovation, but program evaluations have yielded mixed results."
Fleury, Stephen C. "Social Studies for an Empire: Thoughts on Where Did Social Studies Go Wrong?." Social Studies 96:4, July 2005.
"This article criticizes the book Where Did Social Studies Go Wrong? from the Fordham Institute. The book began with a concern about the need to educate the youth in the U.S. to care about political life. But the book's editors, instead of promoting discussions about social studies policy, collected works of social studies colleagues who are too willing to impose narrow, dogmatic restrictions on their chosen field. Faulting educators for inculcating an ideology of progressive thinking, the editors describe their book as a critical analysis of the social studies theorists' prescriptions for the schools and they offered reasons for the ineffectiveness of social studies. However, the reasons turn out to be general common sense claims and selected information in superficial support of their beliefs about teaching, learning and students."
Print, M. and A. Smith. "Teaching civic education for a civil, Democratic society in the Asian Region." Asia Pacific Education Review 1, 2000.
Patrick, John J. "Teaching Democracy Globally, Internationally, and comparatively: The 21st Century Civic Mission of Schools." In Civic Learning in Teacher Education: International Perspectives on Education for Democracy in the Preparation of Teachers. Bloomington, IN: ERIC Clearinghouse for Social Studies, 2003.
Morduchowicz, R., E. Catterberg and R. Niemi. "Teaching political science knowledge and democratic values in a new democracy: An Argentine experiment." Comparative Politics 28, 1996.
Bratton, M., P. Alderfer and G. Bowser. "The effects of civic education on political culture: Evidence from Zambia." World Development 27, 1999.
The article, "The effects of civic education on political culture: Evidence from Zambia" appeared in the twenty-seventh volume of World Development in 1999.
Lapayese, Yvette V. "Toward a Critical Global Citizenship Education." Comparative Education Review 47:4, 2003.
"The three books reviewed for this essay, Citizenship and the Challenge of
Global Education, by Audrey Osler and Kerry Vincent; Citizenship Education and the Curriculum, edited by David Scott and Helen Lawson; and Learning Democracy and Citizenship: International Experiences, edited by Michele Schweisfurth, Lynn Davies, and Clive Harbor, present the argument that there has been a shift in discourse internationally toward a greater recognition of the importance of global citizenship through education. The books celebrate this shift with a diverse range of contributors who address how citizenship education is being conceptualized, practiced, and researched in different national and educational contexts." - abstract from article
Waltzer, Kenneth and Elizabeth Heilman. "When Going Right Is Going Wrong: Education for Critical Democratic Patriotism." Social Studies 96:4, .
This article discusses the difference the education between patriotic pride and critical democratic patriotism.
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Teaching Materials on this Topic:
Online (Web) Sources
The Center for Civic Education.
Available at: http://www.civiced.org/about.php.
The Center for Civic Education is a nonprofit, nonpartisan educational corporation dedicated to fostering the development of informed, responsible participation in civic life by citizens committed to values and principles fundamental to American constitutional democracy. The Center specializes in civic/citizenship education, law-related education, and international educational exchange programs for developing democracies. Programs focus on the U.S. Constitution and Bill of Rights; American political traditions and institutions at the federal, state, and local levels; constitutionalism; civic participation; and the rights and responsibilities of citizens.
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