New Zealand Council for Educational Research
NZCER: Call for papers for set special issue: Civics, citizenship, participation and political literacy.
In the past two decades, many countries have increased a focus on civics, citizenship and political literacy in education as a way to promote ‘good’ citizenship, responsibility and participation, and to address a number of complex social, political and environmental issues.
Themes of citizenship have been a feature of the New Zealand school curriculum since the Thomas Report (1944). The current New Zealand Curriculum (Ministry of Education, 2007) prioritises citizenship as a cross-curricula theme, alongside the key competencies of participating and contributing and more ‘active’ forms of citizenship within subjects. There are many debates about the nature of citizenship learning and civic knowledge in light of the rapid decline in levels of youth voting and at the same time new forms of political participation are emerging. Moreover, pressing social, environmental and economic concerns and new opportunities for engagement mean that it is time to examine New Zealand citizenship education afresh.
This Special Issue invites contributions informed by both theory and practice that engage with themes relating to civics, citizenship, participation and political literacy. In particular, we are interested in papers which shed light on the following areas:
- Contemporary Civics and Citizenship pedagogies: the practices and processes of citizenship in schools and early childhood centres today
- Identity and Indigeneity; Reconceptualising non-colonial citizenship education
- Citizenship education in an era of mobility, migration and multi-culturalism
- Citizen learning in informal settings (eg whānau, clubs, peer groups, community, iwi and city neighbourhoods)
- Transformative citizenship education in the face of significant social, economic and environmental change
- Political literacy and democratic imagining for a digital century.
The details
Please submit an extended abstract of 800 words outlining the proposal, research approach and key findings or arguments by 11 April 2016 to josie.roberts@nzcer.org.nz
Authors will be notified by 18 April 2016 and final submission is due on 30 June 2016. (Accepted papers may include full journal articles of up to 4,500 words or teaching practice reflections of 2000 words). The editors will correspond with authors to discuss the proposed articles and the editorial process before acceptance of full manuscripts. The standard guidelines for authors apply.