Civic education historically has focused primarily on preparing students to influence politics and government policy. Less attention has been paid to the curricular implications of civil society, even though it is a crucial site for deliberatively informed action and one of the primary ways in which students will enter the public sphere. This…

The concept of political justice is deeply tied to our professional Code of Ethics. Social workers are well suited to challenge political inequalities that keep clients and communities from political participation. Laws affecting access to voter registration, casting a ballot, and having that ballot counted vary widely across the United States,…

This paper explores how PurpleState, a political simulation designed to foster skills and knowledge for informed civic participation, develops students' abilities to counter or resist the effects of political polarization and partisanship. Throughout the simulation, which has been implemented in Virginia and Wisconsin, students are asked to…

Social workers are challenged by the profession's Code of Ethics to engage in social and political action to create social change, and social work education is challenged by our Code and accreditation standards to prepare students for this challenge. Social policy instructors often need to adapt teaching methods in order to account for differences…

This article presents an in-class exercise that teaches students how to call elected officials about a course-related issue of their choice. The goals are to connect classroom learning with real-life action, to show that contacting elected officials need not be difficult or intimidating, and to help students develop a sense of efficacy that can…

Policy advocacy is a professional competency in the Council of Social Work Education's (CSWE) Educational Policy and Accreditation Standards. Therefore, preparing social work students to engage in political arenas is an integral part of social work education. This study presents an evaluation of the policy advocacy course using a pre/posttest…

David Orr suggests that environmentalist and peace educators must teach civics, law, government, and political history to deeply cultivate an understanding of the influences and policies that create and perpetuate environmental destruction and humanitarian crises. Citizens, especially students, must comprehend the political forces and the public…

Historically there has been a relative dearth of social science research into civic education--even in political science, a discipline that had civic education as one of its founding objectives. This is partly due to the mistaken impression that civics instruction has no effect on civic and political participation, a conclusion that was once…

On 8 November 2016, Donald Trump was elected President of the United States. During his campaign, Trump put on display long held sexist, racist, and bigoted views on women; people of color; lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, questioning/queer, intersex peoples, and Others. Media coverage in the U.S. and around the world was not limited to news…

There has been a long tradition of demonstrating formal education's direct relationship with many dimensions of development, including increased productivity, health, reduced mortality, population control etc. There has also been a literature looking particularly at the 'democratic dividend' from education, both through the lens of global…

This article examines the impact of problem-solving and creativity exercises on student interest in public policy making and behavior related to civic engagement. Researchers have long described policy making as a function of problem solving. Creativity has also been identified as an important component of the process. While these skills are…

Educators focused on community literacy and public engagement have access to a unique critical platform from which larger social issues that impact us both as a whole and on very personal levels are open to exploration. Being particularly situated to have significant impact on community, literacy work in this area may require uncommon pedagogical…

This collective case study examined how three educators (a high school social studies teacher, a university social studies teacher educator, and minister teaching an adult population) used a multimedia based curriculum guide, "Teaching the Levees", to teach about climate change to examine public priorities in relation to the environment.…

We raise questions about young people's participation in light of findings from a project ("Democracy through Citizenship") funded by the Joseph Rowntree Reform Trust Limited, and managed by the Institute for Citizenship. Following a six-month feasibility study the project took place over a three-year period in one local authority in the…

This article discusses the National Issues Forum (NIF), a national, nonpartisan program designed to encourage citizen discussion of important public issues. The programs try to recreate the town meeting concept of reaching consensus on public issues. Short workbooks are available on two reading levels for issues such as the superpowers, crime,…