The United Nations (UN) and Council of Europe (CoE) have engaged in the development of a human rights education (HRE) curriculum in Turkey. The study programme for an elective high school course, "Democracy and Human Rights," was first developed as part of the UN Decade for HRE initiative in 1999. The programme was later renewed as part…

Participedia is a collaborative, digital learning tool for the co-production of knowledge about new forms of citizen participation across the world (www.participedia.net). In this paper, we analyse using the platform as a learning resource for adult learners who are democracy practitioners and for undergraduate students. We examine Participedia's…

The German integration programme teaches language and knowledge about Germany to newcomers and those with migration backgrounds. This article analyses the programme and course content from a human rights education (HRE) perspective to tease out some of the inherent contradiction between teaching 'German values', purported to be one of the…

The ambitious project to nationalise the Australian Curriculum has prompted great interest among policymakers, academics and civics teachers in Australian schools. The government-led citizenship education initiative "Discovering Democracy" (1997-2007) comprehensively failed to meet its objectives, most prominently the stated goal of…

Education in the United States has a foundational public purpose: to prepare students for effective citizenship. The idea that an educated and engaged citizenry is essential to the health of a democracy motivated the creation of government-run "common schools" in the early decades of the nation and remains an important value in modern…

This research examines the factors that shape high school students' experiences with an action civics program--"Project Soapbox"--that fosters democratic and social-emotional learning. Drawing on pre- and postsurveys with 204 students, classroom observations, teacher interviews, student work samples, and student focus group interviews,…

Recent surveys have indicated a worryingly low level of support for democracy among Australian youth and around the world. For example, in the 2017 Lowy Institute Poll, 36% of Australians indicated that, in some circumstances, a nondemocratic government is preferable. Such concerns, while hardly new, have triggered calls for more civic education…

The purpose of this report is to examine the history of an international partnership for civic education begun in 1994, and concluded in 2011 that links Center for Civic Education partners in the United States (Florida Law-Related Education Association), Hungary (Civitas Hungary), and Romania (Intercultural Institute of Romania). This study serves…

The new Social Studies curriculum recently introduced in Alberta proposes to encourage students to affirm their place as citizens in a democratic society. Grounded in Biesta's (2007) argument that regardless of a Program of Studies' best stated goals and intentions, if a school is not structured democratically the chances of the program being…

The purpose of this study was to understand the role of non-formal education and training in the organizational change process of Civil society organizations (CSOs) in post war Liberia. CSOs are the local foundation for democracy and development in Liberia, and serve a wide range of roles in local communities. For example, in post-war Liberia,…

In Africa, as in many countries of the South, democratization is sometimes perceived as a process modeled upon outside--and specifically Northern--experience. Formal civic education programs in those countries arguably reflect the same bias and have not always been notably successful. Yet there are rich patterns of civic involvement and democratic…

Recognizing that democracy is not a static concept and that it should be learned and lived on a daily basis, the Council of Europe has named 2005 the European Year of Citizenship through Education. Citizens of European Union (EU) member countries face new challenges in their participation as citizens in a democratic society. While EU citizenship…

We the People: The Citizen and the Constitution is a civics curriculum developed by the Center for Civic Education (Center). The program, utilized in elementary, middle, and high school classrooms, is intended to foster civic competence and responsibility among America's youth. While educating youth about the principles of American constitutional…

Because of its inherent political nature, projects for developing civic education in emerging democracies have often been criticized for being a tool for hegemonic control by the "West." Much of these suspicions have been pointed at the United States (US) due to the government's policy of supporting educational reform in emerging…

Used ethnographic data to study the Teenage Parents Program as a feminist "counterpublic" (discursive community of subordinated social group members) within a Canadian public high school. Findings for the 31 program participants show the importance of the program for development as adult citizens and self-esteem. (SLD)