Title: Exploring the challenges and practices of citizenship education in National and Civic Education grades ten and eleven in Lebanon
Abstract: Throughout the twentieth and twenty-first centuries, Lebanon's pluralisms of multiconfessional
and multicultural communities continue to sway the nation to and fro
between conflict and post-conflict statuses. Since 1946, however, leaders in government
and education have focused on citizenship education as a fundamental vehicle for social
cohesion, justice and peace. Understandings of citizenship that teachers and students have
as well as their experiences of teaching and learning it inside the National and Civic
Education classroom provide insight into the challenges and practices of learning for
active citizenship.
Across 16 schools, data was collected from 19 civics teachers through semi-structured
interviews. Also, 435 students in years 10 and 11 participated in a self-reflective survey
pack and class discussion. The first section of the survey pack allowed students to
construct their conceptualizations of citizenship while the second section inquired into
their learning experiences.
The teachers presented a nationalist-based citizenship and an education that allowed
students to practice democracy and demanded strategies of memorization for learning
content knowledge. The students conceptualized a maximal notion of citizenship and
argued to replace current practices of memorization with collaborative and dialogic
learning activities. Students also found the textbooks prescriptive and, consequently,
hypocritical. Teachers and students experienced difficulties and limitations with the
curriculum, timetable and the management of emotions during controversial discussions.
Students and teachers in Lebanon have, for the first time to date, described their
conceptions of citizenship and discussed their civic education classroom experiences.
From the evidence, I discovered the limitations of dialogic and participative classroom
learning activities, a catch-22 of citizenship learning and a model of education for active
citizenship. The innovative methodology pioneered a participative learning activity and
an exercise demonstrating the capabilities of students contributing to education reform.
Publication Year: 2009
Publication Date: 2009-09-01
Language: en
Type: article
Indexed In: ['crossref']
Access and Citation
Cited By Count: 4
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