The meaning of citizenship: Identifying the beliefs of teachers responsible for citizenship education in Chile

ABSTRACT Based on evidence from a 2019 survey of a sample of Chilean secondary education teachers responsible for citizenship education, this article examines their beliefs regarding citizenship and how these beliefs relate to their justifications of both legal and illegal protest actions in a societal context of wide socio-political crisis and mobilization. Using exploratory factor analysis, two types of citizenship are identified as structuring the beliefs of teachers: duty-based citizenship, related to what the literature conceives of as a minimalist or personally responsible-type of citizen, and activism-based citizenship, or the citizen type defined in the literature as justice-oriented. Then, exploring bivariate correlations with teachers’ justification of different protest actions, we found that duty-based citizenship beliefs are related to a pattern in which protest (legal or illegal) is considered less justifiable, whereas activism-based beliefs correlate positively with a greater justification of both legal and illegal (blockades of streets and strikes) protest actions. We examine these findings, distinguishing between teachers’ beliefs and justifications as educators and as citizens, arguing that the context of socio-political crisis and mobilization is a key factor for interpreting the tensions and dilemmas of teaching citizenship in Chile.