Teaching citizenship education: a radical approach

This book adopts the insights and arguments of radical approaches to education to demonstrate that citizenship education can become a liberating and empowering force for change. It is less about ‘how to’ or ‘what to’ and much more about ‘why to’, a book intended to encourage readers to think about the nature of the subject and about the experiences of those who study it and those who teach it. A key principle throughout is a call for action rather than passivity, for involvement not apathy, for excitement to replace boredom, to speak out instead of remaining silent, to understand how things are and how they might be improved. These are not typical ambitions in most classrooms in England but they are at the forefront of a radical approach to teaching citizenship education. The question ‘what is learning?’ must matter more than the question ‘can you see this at the back?’ This is part of the radical approach to citizenship education, the approach which encourages thought and action – and a conscious connection between these – above process and passivity, which will enable both the subject and society to develop.