Beyond Victims and Villains: Young People's Acts of Citizenship during Covid-19

During the Covid-19 crisis, stereotypical images of young people as selfish troublemakers or passive victims appeared in the media and scholarly publications. These persistent views disregard many young people's authentic experiences and civic contributions. In this article, we challenge these perceptions by highlighting young people's acts of citizenship during the pandemic lockdowns that took place during 2020 in Aotearoa New Zealand. Despite being internationally praised for its compliant Covid-19 response, citizens were prepared to challenges the pandemic restrictions in order to have their voices heard. Young people were often at the forefront of these protests, wanting to actively participate in matters that concerned them by joining Black Lives Matter marches or campaigning to lower the voting age. At the same time, young people engaged in more personal and invisible acts of citizenship within their families and school communities. In this article, we share evidence from our empirical study into young people's social and political engagement during the Covid-19 lockdowns in Aotearoa New Zealand. Implications of this study for citizenship education are discussed.

Civic argumentation in the economic domain: Examining upper high school students’ arguments on socio-economic problems in a performance test by applying a domain-specific analytical framework

Civic argumentation refers to societal problems that may affect various scientific disciplines. Societal problems are complex and their possible solutions controversial. Making informed and reasoned decisions on these problems requires domain-specific content knowledge and domain-specific argumentation skills. This study addresses argumentation on societal problems in the economic domain. It examines 159 high school students’ written arguments on two socio-economic problems in a performance test by applying a domain-specific analytical framework with quality criteria for argument structure and content and by using qualitative content analysis, cluster analysis and variance analysis. Our findings show that students’ argument structure did not substantially vary between the two test tasks, but their argument content did. Students tended to generate arguments with justifications that supported their own position, but seldom with justifications that qualified it. Of all arguments, a quarter were fully accurate, about half referred to scientific concepts and half included multiple perspectives. We identified three distinctive argument profiles regarding structure and content of argument quality. Moreover, the argument profile is a distinctive factor for students’ content knowledge. Our study gives insights into students’ written argumentation skills and content knowledge on socio-economic problems and offers a promising analytical framework for future research in this domain.

More than a matter of qualification: Teachers’ thoughts on the purpose of social studies and history teaching in vocational preparation programmes in Swedish upper-secondary school

The aim of this article is to increase our understanding of how history and social studies teachers in vocational preparation programmes (VET) in Sweden relate to the obligation of preparing students for their future lives as citizens. Previous research on VET programmes has primarily emphasised predetermined roles of education. Different critical perspectives have established how different VET practices contribute to reproducing specific values and a type of knowledge that leaves less room for students to act as independent subjects. In part, the findings of this article contribute to problematising such a description. In a series of interviews, teachers expressed what can best be described as a clear will to prepare students for a future as broadminded and tolerant citizens. The multi-perspective approach emphasised by these teachers not only illustrates the socialisation and qualification functions of education, it also gives prominence to the importance of student subjectification. Furthermore, this article stresses that the teachers do not view the question of the purpose of their subjects in terms of either/or. Rather, it suggests they see their obligations as a matter of professional judgment and customised responses to unique didactic situations.

Citizenship education: A media literacy course taught in Japanese university

This case study documents the effort to prototype a media literacy curriculum based on Herman and Chomsky (2010)'s Propaganda Model as well as the target students’ environment and need analysis. The course is implemented under a Content and Language Integrated Learning program for 30 first-year undergraduate students in Sophia University, Japan. The objective is to develop students’ awareness of issues facing society they live in, along with the capacity to think critically about media information, deliberate in public discourse via expression of individual opinions, and exchange with others. Evaluation study is conducted upon completion of the course to examine whether, or to what extent, that objective is realized, using qualitative method. Results show positive impacts on students’ learning, providing valuable inputs for further iterations of curriculum design in citizenship and media literacy education.

Creating something out of nothing: Enacting critical civic engagement in urban classrooms

Critical civic engagement (CCE) is a pedagogical framework for civic education in urban settings. CCE as a pedagogical approach engages student lived experience, develops critical thinking, and facilitates informed civic action projects. In this phenomenological study of teachers in four urban high schools in a large urban school district, the author seeks to understand how teachers experience the enactment of CCE elements in schools with majority African American or Latinx student populations. The author argues that CCE practices can and should lead to the development of civic identity as a critical outcome for students in contrast to more formal measures of academic achievement. Civic identity is the foundation upon with engagement in public life is built. The study suggests that the enactment of CCE elements provides a powerful learning and identity formation experience for students and a pedagogical process that inspires teachers and their student-centered practices.

The effectiveness of a financial literacy and job-readiness curriculum for youth from low-income households

Intergenerational poverty and scarce financial resources can create and sustain detrimental behaviors and outcomes among adolescents. Efforts to increase financial literacy and job-related skills, however, can offer youth from low-income households knowledge, skills, and opportunities otherwise unavailable to them. Targeted interventions that combine financial literacy and job-readiness components may help adolescents disrupt the cycle of intergenerational poverty by increasing economic awareness, adaptive financial behaviors, and work-related skills. Drawing on career construction and asset theory, the present study examined changes in financial knowledge and labor skills among youth from low-income households (N = 111) over the course of their participation in the Road to Success curriculum as well as how changes varied across demographic characteristics of participants. Data analysis included descriptive statistics, t-test analyses, and MANCOVA. Results indicated several improvements from Wave 1 to Wave 2 as students developed job-readiness and financial literacy knowledge. Potential educational and policy implications are discussed.

The doors they choose: Solutions to “The Lady or the Tiger”

We consider the extent that elementary preservice teachers enrolled in a social studies methods course expressed empathy for story characters when solving the story’s emotionally ladened problem. We believe that the manner by which these students resolved one character’s dilemma informs about the nature of their own emotions. Participants read Frank Stockton’s story, “The Lady and the Tiger” toward the beginning and at the conclusion of the semester. The data represented all student responses to the prompt, “Read the short story at the following link. To what door do you think the princess directed the accused? What is the reason for your choice?” Forty-two students completed both reflections of the reading. The analysis found that in their initial reflections, a solid majority of students selected the tiger. At the end of the course, this percentage decreased to a smaller majority. Analysis of the six students who changed their perspectives of the princess’s decision found that five referenced course experiences in their explaining the reason for change. This paper fills a gap in social studies research about emotions and decision-making. Additional research needs to interpret the specific nature of these emotions and the conditions that influence them.

Globalized English and users’ intercultural awareness: Implications for internationalization of higher education

Globalized English offers interaction platforms, including cyber-based settings, for linguistically and culturally diverse speakers, particularly in the English as a second language/English as a foreign language context. Thus, it requires developing the intercultural competence of the parties involved. English users’ different perspectives may challenge effective communication and interaction. This paper results from a collaboration project between an Omani higher learning institution and an American higher learning institution and reports an exploratory study that examined the understanding and use of intercultural communicative competencies by 15 undergraduate users of English. Data was collected from the sample participants’ notes on material analysis, collaborative projects, test performances, and the instructors’ field observations. Data analysis examined the participants’ intercultural intelligence in various communicative settings in English. The findings showed the participants changed certain predetermined misconceptions about the “other culture” and developed positivity and acceptance of intercultural differences. Results also highlighted the significance of online academic internationalization and incorporating intercultural competence in the English as a second language/English as a foreign language curricula. The study further indicated the significance of the teacher’s role in nurturing learners’ intercultural competence and intercultural-awareness priorities for being the global citizens of today.

Breaking It Down: Disaggregated Personal Finance Test Scores of Teachers and Students

The financial and public health crises that have impacted the global economy in the past two decades have heightened awareness of the importance of financial literacy for consumers, businesses, and governments. This study uses secondary school teacher and student pretest and posttest scores on the Test of Financial Literacy to identify persistence and changes in learning for teachers and students by content standard. Using non-random data collected as part of Mississippi's Master Teacher of Personal Finance standards-based teacher training program, results show that teacher participants know a lot about personal finance prior to the training and learn more during the training while their students do not know very much about personal finance prior to starting a class that includes this content and know a little more when they finish the class. Disaggregating teacher and student results shows that teacher knowledge about financial investing is relatively low, and student learning in investing, saving, and insuring is also low. The study highlights the need for implementation guidelines for teachers and required assessment for students. Specifically, the guidelines and assessment could be used to reallocate scarce resources more effectively to teach these content areas where deficiencies are identified.

Development of economic competence of students at general grammar schools through a non-formal opportunity to learn with experts

For many years empirical studies have repeatedly pointed to the need to improve the economic competence of adolescent and young adults. This demand is already reflected – at least in part – in the inclusion of economic content in the curriculum of general educational schools. However, the curricular implementation seems to be only partially comprehensive enough to sufficiently support the acquisition of economic competence, so that non-formal and informal learning opportunities do not lose their importance as a supplement to the general curriculum-based framework. The research situation, however, is hardly given with regard to empirical findings on the effectiveness of such learning opportunities for the acquisition of economic competence. Therefore, our intervention study examines the role of non-formal learning opportunities in the economic field as a supplement to normal economic teaching lessons and how these learning opportunities affect the competence development of students in general educational schools. The results show that the intervention group was able to improve its economic competence significantly more than the control group. Furthermore, it becomes clear that over the intervention period the influence of personal factors loses relevance for the prediction of economic competence, but only for the intervention group.