Purpose: The Samuel Paty murder has generated a great response from the professional community and the world of education and schools in Europe and worldwide. In a unique way, civic educators expressed horror, sorrow, and solidarity with the family and with their French colleagues. The article is dedicated to Samuel Paty and the question of…

The growth of academic discussion about teaching controversial topics in the classroom has been matched by parallel studies into conspiracy theories in recent decades. Despite the interdisciplinary interest in the latter, there has been very little discussion of conspiracy theories within educational discourse. This article takes up the discussion…

Purpose: The main goal of this paper is to analyze how the schools and teachers in three high schools dealt with the challenges of heterogeneity in the classroom using methods of citizenship and character education (CCE). Approach: To achieve this goal we conducted case studies in three high schools in Berlin, using multiple Methodological…

This case study explores the plight of some farm schoolteachers in a school district in the Eastern Cape province, South Africa and their feelings of neglect in the new democratic society. Through interviews and a teaching observation analysis, this article focuses on five teachers and discusses resource and infrastructure challenges, lack of…

Well-being is realised through the interaction of the individual's desires and capacities, and external contexts. Contexts in postcolonial societies diverge from the assumptions of functioning liberal democratic states and capitalist economies often assumed in theories of schooling. Instead, these contexts are characterised by poverty and…

Youth today are participating in political and civic life in new and emerging ways--some positive and some negative--but there is scant evidence that these new forms of engagement spawn enduring forms of participation to enhance democratization at all levels in society. How, then, do we educate for democracy and for what type of democracy,…

The aim of this study is to identify the perspectives of parents on the "Social Studies" course. The case study design, one of the qualitative research methods, was used in accordance with the nature of the study. Data related to the study were obtained through a semi-structured interview form prepared by the researchers. The data of the…

The purpose of this study is to examine the experiences of a democratic school leader and understand how his conception of leadership is congruent or incongruent with notions of democracy and democratic leadership. This small, participant-observer case study follows a democratic school leader and his staff for a year and examines those challenges…

This article examines the meanings ascribed to democracy by 74 township children in primary and intermediate schools outside Cape Town. The Xhosa children's racial and historical accounts form the qualitative substance to postulate democracy as "ubuntu" (respect). Embedded in a 'struggle for recognition', democratic belonging, being, and…

In countries that embraced democracy after the fall of communism, education became a particular focus for policy change, particularly within their citizenship programmes. Schools that had been used to inculcate obedience to and unfailing support for authoritarian regimes were now being required to adopt citizenship programmes incorporating…

The Convention on the Rights of the Child calls for children to be treated as human beings with a distinct set of rights, instead of as passive objects of care. They can and should be agents in their own lives. Child-initiated pedagogy recognizes this by respecting children's individual and collective views, interests, and motivations.…

Promoting active citizenship is seen as invaluable for educational practices in schools particularly in existing social, political, economic, and cultural context of Turkish society. The present study is part of a European Union project that aimed to help students develop knowledge, skills, attitudes and values to actively participate in…

Purpose: This article focuses on the role of school and district leadership in the development and implementation of reform aimed at increasing racial and religious tolerance. It chronicles the rise of intercultural and democratic citizenship curriculum in three North American sites--Springfield, Massachusetts, Kirkland Lake, Ontario, and San…

The First Amendment Schools project holds rich lessons in how to change school cultures into "laboratories of democracy"--as well as in how to increase the odds of success for any school reform effort. School reform programs of any sort need to make sure to build in sustainability, to provide ways to spread their lessons beyond the…

Drawing upon the African concept of "ubuntu," this article examines the epistemic orientations toward individual-society relations that inform democratic citizenship and identity in South Africa. Findings from focus group interviews conducted with 50 Xhosa teachers from all seven primary and intermediate schools in a township outside…