Preparing culturally literate citizens through dialogue and argumentation: Rethinking citizenship education

Abstract

Cultural literacy, as a set of values and dispositions developed through dialogue and constructive argumentation with people representing different cultural identities, is an essential skillset of a twenty‐first‐century citizen in any part of today's world. Especially within the current European landscape of continuous immigration and change, the fluidity and rhetoricity of identity construction require a notion of citizenship education that can adapt to this dynamic process. Moreover, the practical aspects of being a citizen in its authentic, global, democratic sense are not sufficiently emphasized within current curricula. In this paper, we present an innovative citizenship education curriculum based on dialogic, argumentative and cultural literacy skills, which addresses this gap through proposing discursive practices of cultural identity construction at a collaborative level (small group or whole class) inspired by wordless texts (picture books and animated films) on core civic cultural values such as tolerance, empathy and inclusion. Through applying a design‐based research methodology with teachers from three education levels and four European countries, we conclude that dialogic lesson plans aiming at the development of cultural literacy dispositions can act as an innovative and adaptive citizenship education curriculum in diverse contexts.

Intercultural Education for the Twenty-First Century: A Comparative Review of Research

“…This marked shift from a static, de facto view of intercultural education as a competence to deal with other cultures, towards a more dynamic, etic, culture-transcending perspective of intercultural education is highly significant. First, it shows how the recent reality of the new waves of immigration due to the Middle East crisis is reflected on actual challenges that educational systems face, in particular when it regards an 'alwaysin-the-making' citizenship education (Rapanta et al 2020). Second, it highlights the importance of cultural literacy as "an indispensable tool for transcending the clash of ignorances (…) as part of a broad toolkit of worldviews, attitudes and competences that young people acquire for their lifelong journey" (UNESCO 2009, 118).…”

“…This gap in existing intercultural education initiatives is addressed by the DIALLS project. Rather than drawing on definitions about what intercultural education and dialogue should look like, DIALLS promotes the view of cultural literacy as an always-in-the-making dialogue praxis (Maine et al 2019;Rapanta et al 2020). This is achieved through the implementation of a pedagogy that promotes genuine dialogue and constructive argumentation, where all viewpoints, and subsequently the cultural subjectivities expressed within, are equally welcome and encouraged to be expressed.…”

Deliberative Teaching as an Emergent Field: The Challenge of Articulating Diverse Research Agendas to Promote Educational Experiences for Citizenship

“…Thus, developing skills and political affections to achieve this is key. In that sense, our view of sustainable citizenship departs from a notion of adaptive or individualized citizenship, establishing intimate relations with Veugelers’ (2020) idea of critical–democratic citizenship, or Rapanta et al’s (2020) notion of culturally literate citizens, both of which recognize argumentative deliberation as a relevant means of education.…”

Álbumes sin palabras: revisión teórica de los artículos publicados entre 1975-2020

“…Entre artículos que analizan a través de álbumes sin palabras el potencial para el desarrollo de la empatía y conciencia social se encuentran centrados en la migración como los estudios teóricos de Duckels y Jacques (2019) o la conciencia ecológica con la investigación de Ramos y Ramos (2014), como ejemplos ilustrativos. En ese sentido, Rapanta et al (2020) subrayan la importancia de la formación docente para abordar estas temáticas complejas con el alumnado y la necesidad de inclusión en el currículum educativo. Del mismo modo, el análisis en estas investigaciones muestra una mayor diversidad de títulos y una mayor profundidad de la comunicación estética.…”