Controversies are no excuse: Citizenship education in Spain

Q3 Social Sciences

Citizenship Teaching and Learning Pub Date : 2019-10-01 DOI:10.1386/ctl_00013_1

M. R. Buxarrais, E. Ortega

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引用次数: 2

Abstract

Abstract Here we discuss the current situation of citizenship education in Spain, briefly reviewing its legal and political context, and taking into account a questionnaire administered to an intentional sample of key informants. We argue that even though the compulsory subject 'education for citizenship and human rights' was ruled out from our classrooms, due to the numerous controversies that it raised, there still remain multiple individual and institutional initiatives that aim to form responsible, active and critical citizens. In general terms, however, it is clear there has been a backward step in this respect, especially because as an essential ingredient of democracy, controversial issues should be seen as opportunities or stimuli for learning, not as topics to be avoided or censored. Finally we recommend, among other things, to reinstate citizenship education as a compulsory subject (not as an alternative to religious education); to amend the current scientism, and other flaws, of our current legislation; to improve teachers' preparation for citizenship and values education, especially for a constructive handling of controversial issues (this requires clarification of the meaning of 'curricular free speech' among us); and to foster systematic research and dissemination efforts to optimize the civic qualities of our school cultures.

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争议不是借口:西班牙的公民教育

在这里，我们讨论西班牙公民教育的现状，简要回顾其法律和政治背景，并考虑到对关键举报人的故意样本进行问卷调查。我们认为，尽管“公民与人权教育”这门必修课由于引发了众多争议而被排除在我们的课堂之外，但仍有许多个人和机构倡议旨在培养负责任、积极和批判的公民。但是，总的来说，在这方面显然出现了倒退，特别是因为作为民主的一个基本组成部分，有争议的问题应被视为学习的机会或刺激，而不应被视为回避或审查的话题。最后，除其他事项外，我们建议将公民教育恢复为必修科目(而不是宗教教育的替代方案);修正现行立法中的科学主义和其他缺陷;改善教师对公民和价值观教育的准备，特别是建设性地处理有争议的问题(这需要澄清我们之间“课程自由言论”的含义);并促进系统的研究和传播工作，以优化我们学校文化的公民素质。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

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来源期刊

Citizenship Teaching and Learning Social Sciences-Social Sciences (all)

CiteScore

1.00

自引率

0.00%

发文量

期刊介绍： Citizenship Teaching & Learning is published in partnership with the Children’s Identity and Citizenship in Europe Association (CiCea). Citizenship Teaching & Learning is global in scope, exploring issues of social and moral responsibility, community involvement and political literacy. It is a double-blind peer-reviewed journal that advances academic and professional understandings within a broad characterization of education, focusing on a wide range of issues including identity, diversity, equality and social justice within social, moral, political and cultural contexts.