scholarly journals Citizenship education and human capabilities: lynchpin for sustainable learning environment and social justice

2013 ◽  
Vol 9 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Tendayi Marovah
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Social Justice ◽  
Human Development ◽  
Learning Environments ◽  
Citizenship Education ◽  
Democratic Education ◽  
Theory Of Justice ◽  
Politics Of Difference ◽  
Education Theory ◽  
Physical Spaces

The paper builds on and contributes to literature in citizenship education studies in higher education. Many studies in this field have explored the history, development and implementation of various forms of citizenship formation as an advancement of social justice. However, little has been written on how the formation of critical democratic citizens 2 links with the notion of sustainable learning environments and how it relates to social justice. Studies by McKinney (2007); Waghid (2007; 2009), Lange (2012); and Leibowitz, Swartz, Bozalek, Carolissen, Nicholls &Rohleder(2012) are among those on citizen formation in the South African higher education context. Thisconceptual paper argues that the formation of critical democratic citizens through higher education relates not only to social justice, but also to the advancement of sustainable learning environments (SLEs) beyond physical spaces. The paper explores the normative value of a democratic education theory, Marion Young’s (1990) theory of justice and the politics of difference, and human development principles in advancing citizenship education. These foster both sustainable learning environments and social justice. A democratic education theory lays the foundation for an inclusive and deliberative form of education, while a theory of justice and politics of difference advances better justice and an environment that is non-oppressive. Human development principles set the tone for a sustainable human development, which becomes a framework through which asustainable learning environment is built in pursuit of social justice. Drawing on a Capabilities Approach framework and the philosophy of Ubuntu, with emphasis on substantive freedoms, opportunities, and the thriving of the common good, the paper illustrates how citizenship education advances a conception of sustainable learning environments and social justices not necessarily limited to physical spaces, distributive justice or economic motives, but inclusive of institutional arrangements, policy issues and relational justice.

scholarly journals Introduction: Striving for social justice and equity in higher education

2021 ◽  
Vol 29 ◽  
pp. 37
Author(s):  
Irina Okhremtchouk ◽  
Caroline Turner ◽  
Patrick Newell
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Social Justice ◽  
Learning Environments ◽  
Student Experiences ◽  
Racial Justice ◽  
Special Issue

Through the introduction of our special issue, Striving for Social Justice and Equity in Higher Education, we aim to add to a continued and much-needed discussion on deeply seated institutional inequities that remain to shape the ways by which education occurs across the higher education landscape. As we present manuscripts included in this issue, our goal is to capture the vast and many layers within higher education encompassing research and discussions on policy and systems that impact administration, leadership, faculty, and student experiences. In our concluding remarks, we stress that even though deeply seated institutional inequities remain, the work of this type must continue as it is part of a broader fight waged for social and racial justice. It is our hope that institutional leaders and policymakers will use the wealth of knowledge shared in this special issue to cultivate nurturing learning environments that include and value the talent and perspectives of those who have been systematically undervalued and marginalized.

Equality, difference and the absent presence of 'race' in citizenship education in the UK

2011 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dean Garratt
Keyword(s):  
Social Justice ◽  
Citizenship Education ◽  
Moral Values ◽  
The Political ◽  
Nation State ◽  
Common Values ◽  
Politics Of Difference ◽  
The Uk ◽  
Absent Presence ◽  
Historical Antecedents

Francis of Education (print)/1474-8479 (online) 2011 This paper examines the political and historical antecedents of the absent presence of 'race' in successive policies for citizenship education in contemporary Britain. It questions the possibility of embracing an emerging cosmopolitanism and politics of difference, within the limiting frame of the nation state and its overarching appeal towards common values and goals. In that schools are widely regarded as important repositories of social and moral values, the paper moves to consider how policy tensions can be productively employed by teachers to produce a re-articulation of equality and difference in order to enhance education, citizenship and social justice.

scholarly journals Policy and Research on Citizenship Education in the United Kingdom (1998–2018)

2019 ◽  
pp. 302-327
Author(s):  
Edda Sant ◽  
David Menendez Alvarez-Hevia
Keyword(s):  
Social Justice ◽  
United Kingdom ◽  
Citizenship Education ◽  
Democratic Education ◽  
Research Trends ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
School Based ◽  
Key Issues ◽  
The Uk

This chapter explores citizenship education in the United Kingdom with a particular focus on the major policy and research trends of the last 20 years (1998-2018), particularly in relation to school and non-school based citizenship education. This discussion is articulated in relation to dimensions (i.e., global and national), approaches (i.e., character, social justice, and democratic education), and spaces. The last section of this chapter illuminates some key issues for citizenship education in the UK and how these can help us to understand what might happen everywhere else.

scholarly journals Developing critical citizenship in LLB students: the role of a decolonised legal history course

Fundamina ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 26 (2) ◽  
pp. 337-363
Author(s):  
Lize-Mari Mitchell
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
South Africa ◽  
Social Justice ◽  
Critical Pedagogy ◽  
Social Science ◽  
Citizenship Education ◽  
Legal History ◽  
Self Reflection ◽  
Development Of Students

Within the neoliberal ideals of society, social science subjects are battling for their rightful place in curriculums. As a result, legal history courses are being presented by increasingly less universities in South Africa. In the tendency towards a skills-based LLB, higher education institutions are neglecting to acknowledge the immense impact students’ ideologies and critical thinking will have on the future of South Africa. This contribution argues that it is not only possible to deliver competitive graduates, to retain social subjects and to heed the call for decolonisation, but that a transformative, decolonised legal history course is vital to these ideals. The contribution explores the role of such a course in the development of LLB graduates where it strives towards constitutional ideals and social justice. Furthermore, it takes a look at legal history as a form of critical citizenship education, where it is based on the holistic development of students within constant critical self-reflection and the promotion of a common set of shared values. The development of critical citizenship in students are explored by defining this concept, as well as by discussing the manner in which it can be taught and the importance to the so-called born-free LLB student. This study concludes with broad outlines of the manner in which a legal history course would have to be presented within a critical pedagogy to achieve the aims of critical citizenship.

scholarly journals Policy and Research on Citizenship Education in the United Kingdom (1998–2018)

2021 ◽  
pp. 507-532
Author(s):  
Edda Sant ◽  
David Menendez Alvarez-Hevia
Keyword(s):  
Social Justice ◽  
United Kingdom ◽  
Citizenship Education ◽  
Democratic Education ◽  
Research Trends ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
School Based ◽  
Key Issues ◽  
The Uk

This chapter explores citizenship education in the United Kingdom with a particular focus on the major policy and research trends of the last 20 years (1998-2018), particularly in relation to school and non-school based citizenship education. This discussion is articulated in relation to dimensions (i.e., global and national), approaches (i.e., character, social justice, and democratic education), and spaces. The last section of this chapter illuminates some key issues for citizenship education in the UK and how these can help us to understand what might happen everywhere else.

Utopophobia

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Estlund
Keyword(s):  
Political Philosophy ◽  
Social Justice ◽  
Political Thought ◽  
Political Action ◽  
Ideal Theory ◽  
Theory Of Justice ◽  
Sound Theory ◽  
Theory Versus ◽  
History Of ◽  
Practical Guidance

Throughout the history of political philosophy and politics, there has been continual debate about the roles of idealism versus realism. For contemporary political philosophy, this debate manifests in notions of ideal theory versus nonideal theory. Nonideal thinkers shift their focus from theorizing about full social justice, asking instead which feasible institutional and political changes would make a society more just. Ideal thinkers, on the other hand, question whether full justice is a standard that any society is likely ever to satisfy. And, if social justice is unrealistic, are attempts to understand it without value or importance, and merely utopian? This book argues against thinking that justice must be realistic, or that understanding justice is only valuable if it can be realized. The book does not offer a particular theory of justice, nor does it assert that justice is indeed unrealizable—only that it could be, and this possibility upsets common ways of proceeding in political thought. The book's author engages critically with important strands in traditional and contemporary political philosophy that assume a sound theory of justice has the overriding, defining task of contributing practical guidance toward greater social justice. Along the way, it counters several tempting perspectives, including the view that inquiry in political philosophy could have significant value only as a guide to practical political action, and that understanding true justice would necessarily have practical value, at least as an ideal arrangement to be approximated. Demonstrating that unrealistic standards of justice can be both sound and valuable to understand, the book stands as a trenchant defense of ideal theory in political philosophy.

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