By the analyze the training programs of child welfare professionals (Vilnius Pedagogical University), it was remarked that democracy education is integrated into different study modules. Both in Lithuania and United States of America civic and democracy education is integrated by main documents, data, and texts, which is civic and democracy education theory and practice based on projects for active citizenship. One of the most improved project for democracy education could be Project Citizen, which is accredited as alternative democracy education program by Lithuanian Ministry of Education and Science and Education Department of United States of America. According to this program Foundations of Democracy could be both theoretical and practical example for democracy education. It is used in all educational levels in United States of America, and in elementary level in Lithuania. This program is based on active and critical educational methods which stand on four democracy dimensions: Authority, Privacy, Responsibility and Justice. This program is developed in Center for Civic Education in Indiana (USA), as the Project Citizen. The hypothesis of the research - Tyrimo hipotezė – taikant demokratinio ugdymo programą, būsimieji vaiko gerovės profesionalai įgis demokratinio ugdymo teorinės ir praktinės patirties, ir efektyviai taikys dirbdami su ugdymo institucijų bendruomene. The object of the research – programs for democracy education – Foundations of Democracy and Project... [to full text]

Student Number : 8908713V - M Ed project report - School of Education - Faculty of Humanities / This research report focuses on educators’ current attitudes, skills and knowledge in relation to democracy in South African education today. The research report also considers what needs to be done to make democracy a reality that informs education as opposed to simply adhering to policy and legislation that speaks of fine ideals but may well have limited impact on the lives of the majority of South Africa’s citizens. I contend that one of the main barriers between democratic theory and practice is ambiguity and the resulting uncertainty and insecurity. I believe that many South Africans, many world citizens in fact, struggle to articulate what democracy actually means. If this grey area is to be addressed and ambiguity defused then educators need to be clear about what it is they are trying to educate learners for. This can only be realised when educators have internalised ‘lived democracy’ and, as a result, feel both an ownership and commitment to democracy as a lived practice.

The diploma thesis deals with the issue of a cross-curricular subject Civic Education for Democracy. The aim of the thesis is to introduce the significance of education for active citizenship and to create a project that helps pupils to see themselves as an active member of their community. The theoretical section consists of three parts. The first part introduces a project-based learning approach, its significance, principles and historical context. The second part summarizes the fundamental features of the current form of the cross-curricular subject according to the Framework Educational Programme for Basic Education. The last part deals with education for active citizenship and its value. In this part there are two modern reviewed curriculums introduced, which may bring some new impulses to a new conception of the Czech cross-curricular subject Civic Education for Democracy. In the practical section design and realization of the project are described. The aim of the project is to help pupils to see themselves as an active member of their community who is attentive to his/her surroundings and who is able to have an impact in the society where he/she lives. The project is designed in such fashion so it could be adaptable to different kinds of subjects and groups of students. The next part of the...

Democracy does not automatically maintain itself by prescribed constitutions and procedural codes (Dewey, 1939), but rather its citizens must have certain dispositions to protect and strengthen it (Biesta, 2006). According to John Stuart Mill (1859/1991), people can tyrannize one another within the structures of a democracy, a concept he phrased “tyranny of the majority” (p. 7). To safeguard against such tyranny and to maintain a democratic way of life conducive to progress, I contend that our schools must be tasked with developing critical thinking dispositions in our future adults. The literature on education for democracy was reviewed and aligned with the critical thinking dispositions defined in the present study. Critical thinking dispositions are taught through interactions that promote them, not only limited to methods of direct instruction, such that they are infused throughout all academic subjects at all grade levels (Facione, 1990). Therefore, the present study explored the relationship between teachers’ critical thinking dispositions and their teaching styles. The main research question was: How do critical thinking dispositions differentiate between teaching styles? To best answer this question 10 mixed methods case studies were conducted of the teachers at one private pre-kindergarten through eighth grade school. The data were collected through a quantitative questionnaire, the California Critical Thinking Dispositions Inventory (CCTDI), and through qualitative observations and interviews. Subsequently, each strand, qualitative and quantitative, was analyzed individually and sequentially. Finally, through cross-case analyses, 10 distinctions in teaching styles were found for teachers who scored high on the critical thinking dispositions: truth-seeking to teacher explorer, truth-seeking to student teaching, open-mindedness to student teaching, inquisitiveness to fallibility, analyticity to emotional adaptability, analyticity to fallibility, analyticity to observational listening, systematicity to nurturing, confidence in reasoning to curriculum expansion, and confidence in reasoning to self-actualization. Understanding these relationships is the start of possibly being able to use teachers’ CCTDI profiles to predict teaching styles and to guide teacher education. Implications for future research include more focused studies around the consistent relationships emerging from the present study and research about students’ development of critical thinking dispositions in relation to teaching styles.