Citizenship education in France and Britain: evolving theories and practices

Author: Starkey H.

Source: The Curriculum Journal, Volume 11, Number 1, 1 March 2000 , pp. 39-54(16)

Publisher: Routledge, part of the Taylor & Francis Group

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Abstract:

In the late 1990s both the British and the French governments gave new impetus to citizenship education. This article examines the theories and world views that underpin the formal syllabuses for citizenship education in England and France. It notes that whereas the English curriculum aspires to create a diverse society founded on multicultural citizenship, an insufficiently strongly agreed statement of values undermines the implementation of the project. The French syllabus, on the other hand, emphasizes a commitment to anti-racism, human rights and civil action against injustice. Its theoretical basis in the French Republic, committed to individual equality without distinction, denies any recognition to the existence of social groups based on culture or ethnicity. This blindness to difference also tends to undermine citizenship education as a social project intended to promote integration through schools. Whereas French citizenship education is intended to integrate individuals into a predetermined, existing republican framework, English citizenship education apparently aims to create a new society and a new national identity. The article concludes that such a project requires an explicit commitment to and promotion of human rights as the basis for a social consensus and citizenship.

Keywords: CITIZENSHIP; FRANCE; NATIONALITY; TEACHING; LEARNING

Language: English

Document Type: Research article

Publication date: 2000-03-01

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