Education for citizenship in South Australian public schools: a pilot study of senior leader and teacher perceptions

Abstract

Preparing students for informed and active citizenship is a core goal of education and schooling in Australia. The ways schools educate and prepare young Australians for citizenship involves a range of processes and initiatives central to the work of schools, including school ethos, mission, extra-curricular activities and community-based participation. With regard to the formal curriculum, the recent introduction and implementation of the first ever Federal Australian curriculum includes provision for a new subject -Civics and Citizenship. Research evidence from other nations suggests that schools understand, approach and enact education for citizenship in a multitude of ways, yet how Australian schools construct this aspect of their work is currently under-researched. In this context, and drawing on data from interviews with school leaders and teachers of year six-eight (11-14 year olds) students in a small sample of South Australian primary and secondary schools, we explore perceptions and current approaches to education for citizenship. Our findings suggest (i) that while school leaders and teachers value education for citizenship, they do so for different reasons; (ii) that schools place values as central to education for citizenship; and, (iii) that community involvement is typically understood as occurring within rather than beyond the school.

The significance of context: autonomy and curriculum reform in rural schools

“…Semi‐structured interviews were conducted with teachers involved directly or indirectly in the reform process with a focus on their experience in schools at different stages of trialling new approaches. The constant factor for the Pioneer Lead teachers was their involvement in AoLE meetings; semi‐structured interviews allowed them to share their reflections on the experience (Ellili‐Cherif & Hadba, ; Peterson & Bentley, ).…”

Pwysigrwydd y cyd‐destun: ymreolaeth a diwygio’r cwricwlwm mewn ysgolion gwledig

“…Cynhaliwyd cyfweliadau lled‐strwythuredig ag athrawon a oedd yn ymwneud yn uniongyrchol neu’n anuniongyrchol â’r broses diwygio i drafod eu profiadau mewn ysgolion ar wahanol gamau wrth dreialu dulliau newydd. Un ffactor a oedd yn gyffredin i’r Athrawon Arloesi Arweiniol oedd eu bod yn cymryd rhan mewn cyfarfodydd ar Feysydd Dysgu a Phrofiad; roedd y cyfweliadau lled‐strwythuredig yn gyfle iddynt rannu eu meddyliau am y profiad (Ellili‐Cherif a Hadba, 2017; Peterson a Bentley, 2017).…”

Teachers’ Perception of Values Education Implementation in School

“…Teachers stated that students do not merely respond to the content of values. Teachers perceived that some students do not receive values taught from their parents [33]. Bacia and Ittel (2017) studies reported that teachers do not want to encourage and do not want to argue with their students in terms of values due to their parents are difficult to engage [27].…”

“…From this review, six studies mentioned time constraints as a challenge of teachers' for teachers in values education implementation. Teachers perceive a lack of planning due to their teaching workload [28], [33]. Teachers stated that they, not enough time to manage with values teaching initiatives due to the increased workload in school [26], [28].…”