Within political philosophy and particularly in the work of Chantal Mouffe and Hannah Arendt, "agonism" has been described as representing the notion of being able to challenge and dissent in a productive way. However, little is known about how agonism is used in the educational literature, other than some applications relevant to…

When citizens participate in policy production, the advantages go beyond policy outcomes--though the presumption is that participation leads to better public policy. Robust democracy characterized by agonistic exchanges among policy actors ought to encourage learning, dialogue, empow­erment, equity, and a shared spirit of inquiry. This article…

The Junior G8 competition allows groups of young people from each of the G8 countries to have their voices heard on a global stage--the annual G8 summit. An international essay competition results in the selection of teams of students who travel to the G8 summit to provide a youth perspective on global issues. The 2006 competition focused on four…

Discusses Canadian national unity and the social studies curriculum. Suggests regarding Canada as a political whole composed of many cultures. A new K-12 social studies curriculum, which includes a comprehensive program in Canadian citizenship, is needed. The elementary, middle, and secondary students would study citizenship, Canadian political…

States that northern politics deserve a place in Canadian curricula because of its intrinsic interest and the opportunities it offers to study the relationship between aboriginal peoples and the Canadian state. Discusses territorial governments and the economic and constitutional problems facing them. Concludes that studying the north may bring…

The project's activities during the past year to develop a process for analysis of the working of pressure groups in the political decision-making process are discussed in this report. In addition, information is given on the organization and developmental processes which the team used in the formulation and adaption of a unit. In the first part…

This project's study of pressure groups in Canadian urban government proposes the development of an interdisciplinary social science cirriculum for the secondary school student in grades 9 through 12 which would give meaningful perspective toward the various decision-making structures and processes. Other major objectives are: 1) to enable the…

The curriculum material the Nanaimo District Senior High School curriculum development project is designing is based on the City of Nanaimo and its environs. The problem selected for their substantive research is the socio-political process in a growing city including the role and impact of: 1) civil service, elected officials, voters, and…

In June 2003, the International Institute for Educational Planning (IIEP) organized its annual Policy Forum to discuss the impact of increasingly multi-ethnic and multicultural societies on education in general and the implications for educational planning in particular. The proceedings of this Policy Forum are presented in this volume. Part I,…