Recent political changes in South Africa emphasize democracy and the role of schools in promoting democratic virtues. The importance of schools responsibility in developing democratic virtues is also internationally recognized, although different authors

Recent political changes in South Africa emphasize democracy and the role of schools in promoting democratic virtues. The importance of schools&rsquo / responsibility in developing democratic virtues is also internationally recognized, although different a

The study sought to explore the priorities and practices of educators with regard to the mediation of moral qualities/democratic virtues related to education for citizenship by means of a case study in one school. In South Africa educators are regarded as among the stakeholders responsible for the mediation of values and morals in children and youth so that they will be effective citizens of democracy. Hence the school is seen as an important context in which this could take place. Citizenship education usually contains a moral element. Practices of moral development generally draw on the work of Kohlberg, which is linked to a Piagetian understanding of development. Vygotsky&rsquo / s approach focuses on the contribution that the context has on cognitive<br /> development and suggests that this may also be important for moral development. However there is little evidence available concerning the effectiveness of specific interventions. Two groups of educators and one group of learners were interviewed.<br /> Educators were asked what moral qualities/democratic virtues they regarded as important to nurture in the learners at this school and what they did to nurture these virtues. Learners were also asked the same question and what they saw their educators doing in order to mediate these moral qualities/democratic virtues. Any constraints and successes were explored together with what educators thought could be done to improve the situation. The theoretical understanding of the research was constructivist and it followed a qualitative case study approach. Data were collected using semistructured interviews and were analysed using a thematic analysis approach. Before the research was undertaken permission was sought from the Western Cape Education Department and the study was conducted following the guidelines for ethical research set by the American Psychological Association. The main priorities that emerged as moral qualities/ democratic virtues that educators thought were important to nurture, were accountability, respect, and commitment to &ldquo / being good.&rdquo / Socially desirable behaviours that were highlighted were the following: economic initiative, citizenship, and politeness and consideration. Cognitive qualities that they thought were important to nurture were the following: open mindedness, literacy, and numeracy. There were also skills that the educators thought were important to nurture in their learners which did not seem to have a moral dimension. The main practices mentioned were: modelling, active instruction and discussion, and discipline. Educators highlighted the importance of consistency throughout the school. Constraints mentioned were the following: lack of discipline, socio-economic factors, and lack of parental involvement. Supportive factors mentioned were parental support, and consistency and collaboration.

No description available.

Denna studie syftar till att undersöka hur elever i årskurs 1 på gymnasiet uppfattar att de, inom ramen för kursen Samhällskunskap 1b, kan använda en samhällsvetenskaplig analysmodell för att analysera ett samhällsproblem. Studien utgår från två forskningsfrågor: Hur uppfattar elever på gymnasiets högskoleförberedande program att de ska använda analysmodellen? Vilka olika kvaliteter kan skilja mellan en utvecklad och en mindre utvecklad uppfattning av hur analysmodellen ska användas? Undersökningen tar sin utgångspunkt i en yrkeserfarenhet av att elever ofta undrar hur de ska bli bättre på att analysera. Metoden som använts är att 50 elever besvarat en analysuppgift som syftade till att analysera varför ungdomar inte engagerar sig i det formella, demokratiska arbetet. Till hjälp att utreda frågan hade elevgruppen tillgång till analysmodell och källmaterial från den senaste demokratiutredningen, Låt fler forma framtiden! De svar som samlades in analyserades med en fenomenografisk metod, som syftar till att kategorisera olika uppfattningar som undersökningsgruppen har kring hur analysmodellen ska användas. Resultatet, utfallsrummet, är 6 beskrivningskategorier som skiljer sig avseende hur analysmodellen behandlas, strukturell aspekt, och i vad som behandlas i svaret, referentiell aspekt. Den mest avancerade hanteringen av analysmodellen ser dess delar som en helhet och som en struktur, samt väver in material från källor som stöd för sin argumentation. Den minst avancerade hanteringen behandlar, utan koppling till källor, endast en enstaka del av analysmodellen. I analysarbetet kartläggs också de kritiska aspekter som undervisning behöver fokusera på för att hjälpa eleven från en mindre avancerad uppfattning till en mer avancerad uppfattning, det vill säga för att lära sig att analysera med mer kvalité. Den mest centrala kritiska aspekten visar sig vara att se hur källmaterial är bas för en mer vetenskaplig analys. / It is the writer’s professional experience that upper secondary students often wonder how to improve their skills in analytic reasoning. The aim of this study is to examine conceptions of Swedish upper secondary school-students when it comes to use a model for analytical reasoning in the course Social studies 1b. The research questions are: How do upper secondary student perceive the usage of a model for analytic reasoning? Which qualitative differences can there be between a less complex and a complex conception of the model for analytic reasoning? The research method has been to give an analytic task to 50 upper secondary students aiming to analyze the problem with the diminishing engagement among Swedish youth in the formal democracy process. The participantswere asked to analyze this problem by using the analytic model and a number of sources originating from the Commission on Democracy Report (2014). The student´s answers where analyzed by a Phenomenographic method aiming to find categories of student´s conceptions of the skill of analyzing according to the model. The result, called the learning outcome, was 6 hierarchically structured categories of conceptions, differing from one another in how the analytic model was perceived, the structural aspect, and of how the content of the analysis was handled, the referential aspect. The most complex conception of the analytic model was to perceive it parts as a whole and also use its disposition as a model for the structure of their answers. The least complex conception only handle singular parts of the analytic model and does not use the source material as a factual base for their reasoning. The most central critical aspect to consider when designing teaching for improving the student´s analytic skills is to make them discern the need for source based reasoning if the aim is to develop a more scientific approach.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the differences in how Swedish newspaper have written about school segregation in Sweden.  The newspapers that have been studied in the study are Aftonbladet (social democratic), Dagens Nyheter (liberal) and Svenska Dagbladet (conservative). The differences between the newspapers were examined based in the framing theory and  dimension individualism and collectivism.   The result showed that Aftonbladet framed school segregation as a social problem when it was thought to be caused by the private schools, the free school choice and Fredrik Reinfeldts government (2006-2014). Dagens Nyheter framed school segregation mostly as a social problem but initially defended the free school choice becuase they considered housing segregation as the main cause of the problem. Svenska Dagbladet framed school segregation as both a social problem and an individual problem. They highlighted that society must support the resource-poor pupils who do not use the free school choice. But they also wrote that school segregation was an excessive problem.

The thesis focuses on the characteristics of the current the qualification teachers of civics and current state of this course. The theoretical part will be explained the basic concepts: competence, approbation, cross-cutting themes, textbook civics, civics in General education program. Empirical research will be carried out quantitatively by questionnaire. The aim is to ascertain the qualifications of current teachers in Vysočina. Furthermore, this work investigates how these teachers are satisfied with the educational content of the subject civics.

The diploma thesis deals with the concept of civic and political participation in elementary and secondary school. Introductory part of the thesis defines terms of civic and political participation, there are also findings about civic attitudes of young Czechs based on international comparative researches. The focus of the thesis is to analyze the representation of the theme of participation at different levels of the Czech education system and to compare the concept of the theme in curriculum documents of selected states. This is followed by an analysis of the approach to the topic of participation by authors of approved Czech textbooks. The analyzes show that the theme of participation is insufficiently embedded in the Czech national curriculum and these deficiencies are reflected in the approach to the topic in school educational programs and textbooks. In the light of these findings, a didactic analysis of the topic of participation is carried out. The diploma thesis sets down the theoretical minimum for a given topic. The last part presents proposals of didactic procedures in teaching focused on topics of civic and political participation. Additionally, the thesis recommends projects of non-profit institutions and other initiatives that focus on selected aspects of the topic of participation.

This study focused on the teaching of Civic Education in Zambia. Specifically, the study examined pedagogical practices in relation to the teaching of Civic Education in schools. It is argued in this study that following right pedagogical practices in the teaching of Civic Education can lead to social change and transformation of society. As such, the purpose of the study was to ascertain therefore the extent to which Civic Education was enhancing or impeding social change and transformation in society. In order to realize the objectives of the study, an exploratory research design was used. The study found out that Civic Education in schools was not modelled on practices that can lead to social change and transformation of society; service learning approaches were rarely promoted in Civic Education lessons; teaching approaches in colleges and the university with respect to Civic Education are greatly lacking; teaching and learning materials in Civic Education were not readily available in schools; teachers of Civic Education were not grounded in the key theoretical and pedagogical perspectives underpinning Civic Education. The study therefore concludes that with correct pedagogical practices and approaches Civic Education can lead to social change and transformation of society. / Educational Foundations / D. Ed. (Socio-Education)

Diploma thesis - The theme of communism in the current school education program - is dealing partly with defining the basic concepts such as ideology, totalitarianism, socialism, communism or nazism. The individual terms are characterized on the basis of specialized literature and basic information about them is provided. It also concentrates on the theme of the Russian Revolution and its impact on the development of communism in Europe. Furthermore, the work provides evidence of how insufficient is the theme of communism in civic education lessons in primary schools currently discussed. Although there are also modern civic education textbooks published in recent years, the topic of communism appears there only occasionally. As for the websites that can be used for processing of this topic, pages of General educational program or program One World in Schools can be used. These, however, provide materials only, and it is up to the teachers to decide how to use them in lessons of civic education when discussing this topic. The practical part consists of the actual learning program that is broken down by lessons. The conclusion is accompanied by all the necessary attachments. Based on the application of the program in practice it was found that students in the program understood the basic information and also appreciated working with modern technology in the teaching. It is also shown that the program was successfully implemented in practice.