Citizenship Education in the Social Science Subjects: An Analysis of the Teacher Education Curriculum for Secondary Schools

Abstract

Citizenship education is widely acknowledged as a necessary part of the school curriculum for various reasons. For young people, it is assumed that citizenship can best be learnt through the school curriculum. This means that teachers need to thoroughly understand what citizenship means and how to pass this knowledge on to students. This paper examines the nature of civics and citizenship education offered in the social sciences teacher education program at a teacher education institution in Australia. It analyses ten social science subject syllabuses to find out how pre-service teachers are trained about teaching citizenship education in schools when they graduate. Findings show that a multiple conception of citizenship and a cross-curriculum integration model are adopted in the ten subjects. The study recommends a stand-alone offering of citizenship education at the teacher education level.