CITIZENSHIP EDUCATION FOR ELEMENTARY SCHOOL

Citizenship Education for Elementary School

Citizenship Education for Elementary School

Introduction

This paper will be discussing why did citizenship education become compulsory in secondary schools in 2002, and how successful has the teaching of citizenship been? How successful it has been will be analyzed by the advantages of citizenship education and its importance in Britain. Actually Citizenship education is to teach values (Weller, 2003: 153). In 2002 the Council of Britain pointed out that education for democratic citizenship is essential to promote a free, tolerant and just, and contribute to defending the values ??and principles of freedom, pluralism, human rights and rule of law, which constitute the foundations of democracy. This recommended that the Governments of the Member States to make education for democratic citizenship a priority objective of educational policy and reform. Despite the consensus on the importance of this teaching, citizenship education in schools cannot say "fully performed", but rather encounters various difficulties and obstacles. This happens when you propose a version of maximalist objectives of this discipline, that the destiny of a society would be entrusted almost exclusively to the influence of the school, and when we limit ourselves to a more moderate, which relies only on education task of literacy of young generations in the rights / duties of citizenship (Lockyer & Crick, 2003: 11).

Why Citizenship Education become Compulsory

Citizenship education is, for many reasons, a discipline "in part" in the educational landscape. It occurs in many respects, particularly in Britain, as a discipline "ambiguous" for various reasons. As for the special, citizenship education is presented as a mixture of cognitive, affective and motivational, between knowledge, values ??and attitudes (Kerr & Lines, 2002: 58). In international studies highlighting in this respect the particularity of citizenship education and the exception to the norm of objectivity in the school are its programs, from research conducted in various countries show that is very important to instill not only knowledge but also values such as tolerance, respect, and solidarity. It also fits on the border between the cognitive dimension and the affective-motivational, representing, as pointed out by François Audigier, a field very relevant to study the relationship between experience and knowledge.

Another aspect of special education for citizenship is the size of the temporary nature: its status, in fact, remains suspended until today. In many countries, the history of citizenship education reflects the evolution occurred from one project to the cohesion of national unity to a nationality of "horizontal" between members of society, which adds to the value "vertical" between the citizen and the State (Kerr & Cleaver, 2003: 14). In Britain, after the Second World War, citizenship education, considered an antidote to nationalism and a starter to democracy, has recurring themes of education and the call to responsibility to the Constitution as plain citizens. There exists here a swing, by administrators; teachers and politicians, including placing it on a part or outright coincide with the overall purpose of school education. In the current plans to reform of primary school is planned ...