Traditional approaches to citizenship education, globalization, towards a peace education framework.

摘要

The Royal Society of Canada defines global change as the consequences of any biospheric, geospheric, atmospheric, oceanic or socioeconomic process that affects the global environment. Change in our global environment is being induced increasingly by human rather than natural forces. In this post Cold War global era, there is a growing interdependency of global forces which have implications for complex peace and human security issues. In light of this, it is questionable whether traditional approaches to citizenship and citizenship education in the realm of social studies are preparing students with the necessary knowledge, attitudes, skills, values, and modes of behaviour that will enable them to comprehend and effectively meet the challenges of the 21st century. If students in their adult life are going to meet these challenges, citizenship education will need to be reformulated and reconceptualized. This thesis argues that peace education is more capable of meeting the needs of students in the 21st century because it is more pervasive, comprehensive, holistic, integrative, systemic, and ecological than traditional approaches to citizenship education. Citizenship education is, however, regarded as a fundamental and constitutive element of peace education.;The thesis is developed through an investigation of four major areas. The first area investigates the philosophical development and traditional approaches to citizenship and citizenship education. The second area investigates education for peace. The emphasis here is on peace rather than education and its widening conceptual parameters, including; (1) negative peace, (2) positive peace, (3) holistic Gaia peace and peace with the environment, (4) holistic inner and outer peace, and (5) culture of peace. The third area investigates the study of peace through education. The emphasis here is on education and some of the different approaches or themes to peace education, including; (1) peace education as teaching about nuclear war, (2) peace education as disarmament education, (3) peace education as peace and conflict studies, (4) peace education as peace and justice, (5) peace education as global education, and (6) peace education as citizenship/political education. The fourth area investigates the limitations and challenges of citizenship and citizenship education presented by forces of globalization. This is done by investigating the five major attributes of citizenship and citizenship education from a peace education perspective. These five major attributes include; (1) sense of identity, (2) rights and entitlements, (3) responsibilities, duties and obligations, (4) activism in public affairs, and (5) social values. Some potential objections to a peace education curriculum are also investigated.