Alistair Ross

MULTIPLE IDENTITIES AND EDUCATION FOR ACTIVE CITIZENSHIP

ABSTRACT This paper explores concepts of multiple and nested identities and how these relate to citizenship and rights, and the implications of identities and rights for active citizenship education. Various theoretical conceptions of identity are analysed, and in particular ideas concerning multiple identities that are used contingently, and about identities that do not necessarily include feeling a strong affinity with others in the group. The argument then moves to the relationship between identity and citizenship, and particularly citizenship and rights. Citizenship is treated non-legalistically, as one of the locations of belonging. The paper draws on three successive categorisations of citizenship rights: by T.H. Marshall in the 1950s, Karel Vasak in the late 1970s and John Urry in the 1990s, and is illustrated in part by the development of European citizenship in parallel to national identity. This is then linked to how contemporary citizenship education might use the exploration of contested rights as a way of developing practical enactive skills of citizenship.

Citizenship and enterprise: issues from an investigation of teachers' perceptions in England and Hungary

We explore the perceptions of teachers concerning citizenship and enterprise in Hungary and England. Contextual matters are described and research methods outlined prior to a discussion of emerging issues. We argue that citizenship in both countries is understood broadly in terms of what it means to be human. The English teachers emphasized community issues and being socially active more often than those in Hungary. Hungarian teachers were less positive about state and civil society and more patriotic about their country. In both countries those in provincial towns (rather than those in capital cities) suggested a belief in the need for a greater adherence to rules. There was greater enthusiasm for citizenship education in primary rather than secondary schools in both countries. All teachers seemed wary about a form of enterprise education that relates directly to the economy and this was especially true for the Hungarian sample. Teachers in both countries, while recognizing the current emphasis on competition between and within schools, tended to characterize citizenship education as a constructive social enterprise (rather than an economic enterprise), in which young people are encouraged to explore problems and develop their initiative and capacity for action. All teachers favoured a collaborative and broad‐based pedagogical approach in which young people are allowed to explore social and political issues through dilemmas.

Enterprising Citizens? Perceptions of citizenship education and enterprise education in England and Hungary

This article describes the early stages of a funded project. The project aims to explore the perceptions of teachers concerning the tensions and overlaps between the drives to promote a form of education that stresses competitiveness and enterprise at the same time as emphasising the centrality of civic values. The project is taking place in Hungary and England. An indication is given of the contexts in which the research is occurring with some discussion of the relevant issues, together with some elaboration of the research methods that will be employed.

Developing Political Concepts and Skills in the Primary School

Abstract Young children are capable of holding fairly sophisticated political concepts and of developing political skills, particularly if both are derived from the direct experience of the child. Political education in Primary schools occurs both through the ethos of the institution itself, as a model of a political system, and in some schools through the formal curriculum, particularly through the ‘new’ social studies. If teachers were more aware of the possibilities (and desirabilities) for early political education, and had greater confidence in their own abilities to handle such areas, there would be scope for developing a curriculum that included elements of political education through all the Primary school years.

Exploring the impact of supplementary schools on Black and Minority Ethnic pupils’ mainstream attainment

This paper reports findings from a study commissioned by the (then) Department for Children, Schools and Families. The research mapped the provision, and explored the impact, of supplementary schools and aimed specifically to develop further understanding as to how supplementary schools might raise the attainment of Black and Minority Ethnic pupils. Drawing on a national survey and case study data from 12 supplementary schools, we highlight a range of perceived impacts identified by teachers, pupils and parents and problematise the concept of impact. We identify the unique contribution and impact that supplementary schools make to the mainstream school attainment of pupils from diverse (linguistic, cultural, ethnic) backgrounds. We suggest that there is much to be learnt by the mainstream school sector about the difference supplementary school education makes to minority ethnic children, while questioning whether mainstream indicators of impact should be applied to supplementary schools.

Europe and Global Citizenship

This chapter describes and discusses the supranational form of citizenship that is in place in the European Union. The historical background is sketched with an overview of the education systems in place across Europe. The strategies for global citizenship education are discussed including references to the colonial legacy, with emerging themes of developmentalism, environmentalism, the promotion of global identities and universal human rights.

The Contingent and Contextual Resources of Identity Construction

Young people’s political involvement and interest is often assumed to be low, and their political views seen as no more than repeated opinions from parents or the media: this chapter challenges these assumptions. It firstly examines the contingent and contextual resources used by young people to construct narratives of political identity: their knowledge of local society and of recent events shows their facility to harness and reflect on contemporary events in actively constructing personal narratives. Secondly, the chapter examines how media were used to support narratives of the socio-political, including traditional and new social media. Most young people were critically reflective about the media, showing a level of sophistication that does not always seem to be recognised. Thirdly, this chapter examines some of the other social contexts in which these political constructions might be being made: these resources are interwoven into coherent narratives in the context of a particular moment of discussion, with family, friends, and sometimes with teachers.

Values and Issues

Young people often expressed their identification with their country and with Europe through shared values and concerns. This was frequently with respect to their country, and common with respect to Europe, although European values were more sharply identified when comparisons were being made with a non-European ‘other’. These values can be broadly grouped as cultural, communitarian and civic. This chapter explores the values and issues raised and their contribution to narratives of identities. Bruter (Citizens of Europe? The Emergence of a Mass European Identity. London: Palgrave Macmillan, 2005, 2015) has discussed the civic and cultural components of European identity, and Delanty and Rumford (Rethinking Europe: Social Theory and the Implications of Europeaniszation. London: Routledge, 2005) and Pichler (Perspectives of European Politics and Society 9 (4): 411–430, 2008b) have added a social, communal identity. These components are seen as variably and contingently employed in the construction of any such identification with a country, a state, or with ‘Europe’.

Hierarchies of Cohesion and Diffusion

This chapter considers the hierarchy of concentric locations and the nature of identification and attachment to each: microloyalties to neighbourhood, town and city; the province; the country and the state; regional affiliations; European identity; and global constructions of the self. This chapter suggests that the degree that a particular level is prioritised over others is contingent on the circumstance of the moment: narratives are flexible, and accommodate changes in emphasis to meet the context of the discussion. Multiple locational identities are not only the norm rather than the exception, but different settings make different types of identities more or less salient. This chapter will examine each level in turn, from the most local up to the global.

Locations, Loyalties and Labels

The use and meaning of terms such as nation, citizenship, country, state and Europe varies across generations and between different states, and young people’s identities are related to their socio-political constructions of these terms. A variety of models characterise the plasticity of social construction of political and locational narratives of identities. This study is based on empirical data of 2000 young people at 104 different locations discussing these issues, and shows how their constructions contingently shift as the lens through which they focus changes. 324 discussions conducted with small groups in 29 European states between 2011 and 2016 reflects the diversity of views of the indigenous population, those of migrants and settler origin, and the hybridities increasingly characteristic of European societies.