To be or not to be: Citizenship Education in Greece. Nikos Panagiotou

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1 To be or not to be: Citizenship Education in Greece Nikos Panagiotou The paper aims to present, evaluate and discuss Citizenship Education in Greece by examining the way it is constructed. In order to answer the question of how we educate the citizens, the paper presents the current situation and emphasizes on the need to move from teaching citizenship to experiencing citizenship, i. e. to pedagogy of empowered citizenship. In doing so Citizenship Education is seen as a way to strengthen social responsibility and active pupil participation in both, national and European level of politics. First my paper will discuss the concept of Citizenship Education, then present Greek Citizenship Education in order to construct my argument regarding the need to foster through the existing curriculum to a postmodern citizen education, to the pedagogy of empowered citizenship. Citizenship Education The development of citizenship, especially through education shapes the way that active involvement and participation as well as a feeling of responsibility towards the community is constructed and promoted. The notion of citizenship, as Arcodia (2002, p. 1) argues has not remained static as each historic period has developed and transformed the concept because social and political notions of citizenship are constructed within changing cultural environments. Hannah Arendt (1958, p. 34) contends that citizens inhabit three spheres of citizenship: the private, the public and the political sphere. Citizenship or civic education is construed broadly to encompass the preparation of young people for their roles and responsibilities as citizens and in particular, the role of education in that preparatory process (Kerr 2000, p. 201). For Chryssochoou (2009, p. 3) citizenship education is about the cultivation of discursive, interacting and intercultural skills, through which students are allowed to become constructively engaged in the civic and political aspects of public life while for Karakatsani (2002, p. 61) is based on the acquisition of democratic values, on the understanding of the rules of social and political life, on individual and collective responsibilities, and also on education, which helps the creation of personal judgment through the practice of discussion. According to Kaldi (2008, p. 139) a fundamental principle of citizenship education is enactive learning and participation in micro- and macro- levels of real life. Following these definitions and the recent developments, we consider that Citizenship education should be approached as the utilization of students to a set of legal rights and responsibilities, as guidelines of conduct, and as a mean of promoting participation. Citizenship education is been developed in specific frames, which are influenced, by the dominant culture and power knowledge relations. In an older approach it contained a nationally determined fix between norms of citizenship and the territorial state, it moved to a broader approach influenced by evolutions in European level and the need to respond to changes occurred in the society level. In our approach of Greek Citizenship education we take into account these frames and relations that shape and still shaping curriculum existing form, while we

2 2 suggest the need to enrich current modern approaches with a more cosmopolitan one that of the pedagogy of empowered citizenship, in order to correspond to the new challenges emerged, as citizenship establishes a kind of civic solidarity in the sense of a Habermasian public sphere (Chryssochoou 2006, p. 3) Greek Citizenship Education Citizenship Education in Greece, encompasses citizens rights and obligations. It is based upon the Greek Constitution where in Article 16 defines them as follows: Educating Greeks to become free and responsible citizens is one of the basic aims of education, which constitutes the main goal of the State (Greek Report on Education for Democratic Citizenship, 2006). Citizenship Education had and to some extent still has geographical, legal, political, cultural and social aspects through its understanding as a socio-psychological or affective state. Citizenship education acquired its present form in the period between when Greece had its first socialist party government, which came to power in 1981(Karakatsani 2002). The major aims, described in law 1566/1985, of the Curriculum in Primary and Secondary education, were personal development and knowledge acquisition, social and political education. Citizenship education, considered that it should promote a common sense of belonging based on equality, Justice and peace. School is one of the principal agents to contribute to this achieving, but in addition citizenship is seen as a social dimension that includes social education as well. These developments had a direct impact on the orientation of citizenship education since and as Karakatsani (2002, p. 61) argues the curriculum no longer aimed at the enforced adjustment of the student to community life but instead at the student becoming an active, critically thinking citizen who participated in community life. In October 2001 a major general curriculum reform in Greece reorganised the subject content of Citizenship Education, reconsidered the place of the subjects, and redefined the wider educational philosophy. This reform was both structural and functional, as it promoted new curriculum contents and at the same time decentralisation and greater school autonomy. In these reforms citizenship education appears different to earlier content-driven curricula (Chelmis/Matsagouras 2002, p. 63). Under this reform emphasis is placed not upon the number of the subjects taught but mostly upon the themes discussed and the outputs achieved, such as the knowledge regarding Greek state, EU etc. Flouris and Pasias (2008, p. 209) argue that the curriculum reform of , is of utmost importance in the politics of school knowledge of this period, especially in compulsory education since new Curriculum has been implemented in the form of Cross Thematic Curriculum Framework Syllabus Design. There are qualitative distinctions between the statements and aims in relation to the previous curricula that mirror the different approaches. More specifically in 1984 curriculum, acquisition of knowledge is the primary aim, while it is sixth in the 2001 curriculum. The 2001 curriculum stresses the development of personal skills, personal empowerment and active participation, in contrast with the earlier conservative stance (Chelmis/Matsagouras 2002, p. 64). This is a major change that reflects the

3 difference between older approaches and the new one, by placing greater autonomy on the teacher and to the pupils and moving away from a centralized system. The new Greek citizenship education curriculum for Chelmis and Matsagouras (ibid,p. 66) does not propose specific methodologies or models of teaching, but offers general instructional guidelines that might be adopted to maximise student learning. These guidelines include the following points: - interconnect citizenship education with other disciplines (history, geography, music, arts, mathematics, language) and with hybrid disciplines; - pupils learn through autonomous involvement and research: within this the teacher facilitates and inspires; - learning activities that are based on pupils interests and experiences; - developing emotional security, tolerance and acceptance between classmates is vital; - to multiply approaches and trigger pupils interest and involvement. According to the Greek curriculum, citizenship education encompasses all the contexts of a person s development and learning, by discussing individual rights and the limitations of personal freedom in order to enable them to coexist peacefully within society. Specific modules will help to develop a good citizen who is socially conscious, aware of individual, communal, civil, political and social rights and of civic responsibilities. In addition it is seen as a process that takes place throughout people s entire live, and in that sense it is approached as a type of public and continuous education. These developments in the curriculum are in line and in accordance with similar developments in European level as it results among others upon the emphasis placed upon lifelong learning inside and outside of school context. At primary level, the aim of Citizenship Education is to provide the children with an initial awareness of civic values and prepare them for the later stages of education. According to the guidelines of the Hellenic Ministry of Education (2005, p. 25) in primary education, citizenship education is both a cross-curricular educational topic and a separate compulsory subject in its own right the unified cross-curricular framework of primary education has the following aims for citizenship education: intellectual development through an understanding of the different values of human society; moral development through helping pupils to critically evaluate issues of equality, justice and cultural development through helping pupils to acquire a national and cultural identity and understand the nature and role of different groups to which they belong, and the multiple identities they possess. Greek Citizenship Education is organized across compulsory education, and provision made for inter-disciplinary and cross-thematic approaches to learning, built on examining contemporary sociopolitical and economic issues, problems and themes (Nikolakaki 2006). In the first four grades (6-10 years of age) of primary school, citizenship education is provided as a combination of subject matters, namely history, environmental studies, geography and science, under the heading Social and Environmental Studies. In primary Education children are also expected to learn about democratic processes, the law and human rights. The content of the modules, examines the individual as a physical and psychological entity, its relation with objects and beings and its relationships with other people, team spirit and group affiliation. The activities include: a) reading and commenting on texts and images related to civic education b) 3

4 group discussion c) role-playing d) situational drama e) stories/dialogues related to the topics. As a separate subject Civic Education is provided under the heading Social and Civic Education in the two upper grades, years of age (Coloubaritsi 2007, p. 5). In secondary education, citizenship education is more frequently offered as a separate subject. The modules taught are European Civilisation and its Roots, Introduction to Law and Civic Institutions, Social and Political Organisation in Ancient Greece, History of the Social Sciences, courses that introduce aspects of European citizenship through the evolution of Europe, familiarizes students with the disciplines of law and political science, while it links them with Greece historic past. The activities included, are: a) commenting texts, identifying concepts b) debates c) simulations d) projects. In both primary and secondary education, citizenship education figures as a compulsory subject. Citizenship education at all levels is included in history, geography, religious and moral education, protection of the environment etc. In primary education, citizenship Education differs from the approach adopted at secondary level, since in the primary level there is greater emphasis in learning the principles that govern society life than on the acquisition of theoretical knowledge. In both levels the average recommended hours of teaching is less than 20 hours. As part of citizenship education, pupils in both primary and secondary schools should be taught: a) to research, debate and discuss topical issues, problems and events b) to reflect on spiritual, social, moral and cultural issues c) to resolve differences by looking at alternatives, making decisions and explaining choices (National Curriculum Guidelines). The general aim, of Citizenship Education is to promote the knowledge of fundamental values of democracy, democratic practices, and human rights. It is based on the acquisition of democratic values, on the understanding of the rules of social and political life, on individual and collective responsibilities, while it aims to critically engage the student through the practice of discussion. Greek curriculum after the latest reforms, conceptualizes citizenship close to the Greek national identity incorporating though to a bigger context that of European identity. It defines what it means to be a Greek by characterizing others through the comparison of an unexamined ideal of Greece. Greek Citizenship education promotes and is linked with the rich tradition of its ancient history and philosophical movements (Chryssochoou 2006). Greece integration in European Union has influenced both the directions and the content of the curriculum as can be seen by the fact that the new Greek Curriculum framework is in accordance with the European Education Policy Framework as can be seen by the following aims: - To provide opportunities for personal growth and communication skills as well as positive attitude toward co-operation and initiative taking in order to enable individuals develop as responsible citizens. - To assist the development of European citizenship identity while preserving national identity and cultural awareness. - To assist lifelong learning. - To promote a spirit of co-operation and involvement in community affairs (Coloubaritsi 2007, p. 3). For Chelmis and Matsagouras (2006, p. 64) the new curriculum does not treat skills like democratic participation, or concepts such as peace, welfare, democracy, 4

5 5 and development, as peripheral or as an indirect by-product of the instructional process, but as core concepts and skills around which learning activities are structured and which are best nurtured through the aid of different hybrid disciplines such as environmental education, health education, traffic education. It tends to focus on formal structure of political institutions, constitutional frameworks, formal rights of citizens, debating current issues and moralism in various combinations. Core concepts and skills are evolved around the following main topics that jointly contribute to the needs of citizenship education: Social life, social institutions, the world-wide community, communication, arts, civilization, history, geography, music, arts, mathematics and language. For secondary education the curriculum provides four main topics: The individual within society, the individual and the state, the individual and the European Union, the individual and the world-wide community. Cultural understanding is developed in the new Greek Curriculum Citizenship, through the concentration on the liberal democratic traditions as well as the historical, economic and political knowledge. Specific curricula may be characterized as theme-centred (teaching method), child-centred (content), and multi-epistemic or multi-disciplinary because they engage multiple disciplines in the study of topics (Chelmis/Matsagouras 2002, p. 63). In addition a number of interdisciplinary and extra-curricular activities that aim to raise awareness of European citizenship among pupils take place in primary schools. These activities include: children s literature from European countries, research into games [sic] played by children from other European countries relate them to the culture, tradition of each and present them to the rest of the school (Kaldi 2008, p. 139). The educational materials include textbooks, teachers guidebooks and supportive additional material, offering knowledge about the political system of democracy and promoting relevant skills/behaviours with the aim to develop a knowledge that will give students the opportunities to participate in the process of democratic public deliberation. Despite though the efforts made, citizenship education, as it results from our research, continues to be national in orientation and practice. Despite the fact that there is a considerable amount of information and activities regarding European citizenship, Greek Citizenship education lacks a global perspective promoting Cosmopolitan Citizenship in the sense of a concern about the global future, linking global with local. It is essential though to note an important evolution of the new Citizenship curriculum, which is the way, that European citizenship is promoted, not as an extension of national border, but rather as a broader idea as a sense of shared community. The once nationally determined fix between norms of citizenship and the territorial state is being increasingly eroded from below as well as from above (Chrysochoou 2006, p.8). From below, due to changes occurred in the society level (second generation of immigrants, etc) while from above In addition equally important are the changes regarding the incorporation of directions from the ongoing international debate, where cross-disciplinary connections and relationships rather than divisions between academic disciplines are stressed (Papoulia- Tzelepi/Spinthourakis 2007). Now there is a widespread recognition for the necessity of curriculum continuity between primary and secondary schools as a key factor in the drive to raise standards for the way citizenship is taught. From a developmental perspective the new Greek citizenship education curriculum attempts to conciliate long-established practice to the new theory of an integrated curriculum by retaining

6 6 the traditional format of separate curricular subjects and concurrently making interdisciplinary associations. Characteristic features of traditional civics such as the systematic presentation of information regarding local, national and international socio-political institutions and the concept-based teaching processes remain, but there is an opening towards other curricular subjects which contribute to the aims and goals of citizenship education (Chelmis/Matsagouras 2002, p. 61). The new Greek citizenship education curriculum as it results from our analysis is influenced by various changes and trends such as globalization, European integration, changes in the Greek society, immigration, etc., which in turn are reflected in the goals, content, of the school textbooks, and activities. To be It seems that in the Greek curriculum, citizenship education conforms to what Biesta (2007, p. 742) identifies as the instrumental approach in the making of the democratic person: a person as an isolated individual acquires a pre-defined set of knowledge, skills, and dispositions. Greek civic education teaches a form of rationality that frames knowledge and learning rather in technical terms (Nikolakki 2006). It emphasizes more on the teaching methods rather than to engage students in the study of topics. In Greek citizenship education the teaching units used to follow a linear model of the structural format of basic sociology or political science elements. This model does not share common ground with the way children experience/sense their socio-political environment (Chelmis/Matsagouras 2002, p. 67). In addition learning about the role of political systems and institutions but not about what is going on in every day politics and the role that students can take in terms of civic action and protest undermines the status of citizenship education contends (Kontogiannopoulou-Polydorides 2002, p. 163). For Coloubaritsis (2007, p. 5), the question is what kind of curriculum is needed and what kind of action and towards which direction schools should practice democracy and active citizenship? According to our approach, critical and empowered citizenship education, in the form of involving than not just teaching, in promoting skills and values that can articulate and extend the knowledge and the aims needed in postmodernity. The current approach in citizenship education in Greek curricula demonstrates the need to broaden current understandings of citizenship so that their multiple dimensions could be recognized. To that direction we believe that the existing Greek citizenship curriculum should promote what we suggest as Pedagogy of empowered citizenship that incorporates the current international debate, while it promotes civic competence that moves away from the current instrumental approach of the Greek Citizenship Education. It endorses active citizenship as a compound of knowledge, skills and attitudes: knowledge about how society works and the skills needed to participate effectively. It recognizes the complexity of a process whereby multiple factors contribute to how individual, construct a multifaceted self-identity, which simultaneously includes elements of the culture(s) of their parents as mediated through each young person s own experience. It is a pedagogy of critical thinking that empowers students to become critical thinkers and transformative actors (Giroux 1987, p. 34). It is an approach that challenges current understandings of citizenship education in Greece, as it incorporates a stronger social, co-operative and relational dimension, which is critically important for groups such as

7 the second generation of youth immigrants in Greece. Therefore it could transform schools into a place where collective action takes place and where a learning ground for the promotion of democratic empowerment is created. Pedagogy of empowered citizenship can foster the current curriculum approach and more specifically the active, participative dimensions of citizenship education, by integrating into the lives of the youths the development of an ethos of global citizenship (Pike 2008, p. 42) which, while global in scope, it equally incorporates national as well. Pedagogy of empowered citizenship is rather a down to up approach than an up to down approach that corresponds to the idea that politics are done through and by the citizens rather than to them. Likewise the proposals of the European Commission which suggest that the aim [of Citizenship Education] is to empower people to participate actively (in the decision-making processes) in their communities (European Commission 2005, p. 13). The Pedagogy of empowered citizenship entails what Biesta suggested: the best way to educate for democracy is through democracy (Biesta 2007, p. 14). My proposal is linked to the current ongoing international debate, where citizenship education is considered not [being] about the study and appreciation of rights won in the past and the icons and concepts that relate to these, but the involvement of young people in establishing rights in their own schools and societies teaching citizenship is learning citizenship through participation (Ross 2007, p. 10). As research has shown (Brophy/Good 1992; Biesta, 2007) students not only learn from what they are being taught; they learn more and learn more strongly from many of the other situations in which they take part. Teaching students to think in this type of pedagogy entails that they become critically literate in which they are able to understand their own histories, analyze socially oppressive social structures, and evaluate alternatives to the existing order (in Nikolakaki 2006, p. 451). Similar to the suggestion here, is Ross (2006, p ) idea for Enactive learning of citizenship, which is not about the study and appreciation of rights won in the past, and the icons and concepts that relate to these, but the involvement of young people in establishing rights in their own schools and societies, and extending rights to the third generation (Kaldi 2008, p. 138). Similarly Νikolakki (2006) introduces the concept of critical citizenship education as an approach regarding education in postmodernity. In that case Pratte (1988) states that democratic citizenship involves not only the acquisition of knowledge and information relevant to social life or political issues, but also active decision-making on matters of social concern (in Nikolakki 2006, p. 450). The necessity to move from an instrumental approach, to more critical ones results from the IEA Civic Education Study: Young people do not seem to adopt readily behaviors implied in school subject teaching through textbooks But perhaps schooling can foster reflective thinking, opening up possibilities to formulate new conceptualizations and actions. Perhaps schooling may (should) be left more with processes than content regarding citizenship education (in: Coloubaritsis 2007, p. 3). 7

8 8 Post-modern citizenship education makes think against conventions, against the obvious and against prejudices (Nikolakaki 2006, p. 454). In that sense, the strengthening of civic competence through citizenship education can be seen as a call to substantive democratic reforms in advancing the quality of social and political governance while on the same time it might be a way to promote democratically acceptable and socially inclusive ways of accommodating a constantly growing number of non-citizen pupils coming from different immigrants groups in its school structures (Chryssochoou 2009, p. 24). Despite the fact that citizenship education not only in Greece but in the rest of Europe, for the foreseeable future will continue to be national in practice, experiencing citizenship, as it is suggested by the pedagogy of empowered citizenship, can greatly benefit the further development of Greek citizenship education that will promote a strong social responsibility within the class, the school and the local community, in order to meet a fundamental principle of citizenship education: enactive learning and participation in micro- and macro- levels of real life (Kaldi 2008, p. 143). References Arendt, Hannah (1958): The Human Condition. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. Arcodia, Charles (2002): The Problematics of Citizenship Education within the Australian Context. Paper presented at Australian Association for Research in Education Annual Conference, Brisbane, 1st-5th December Accessed on 12/03/2011 Biesta, Gert (2007): Education and the Democratic Person: Towards a Political Conception of Democratic Education. In: Teachers College Record 109(3), pp Chelmis, K. Sarantis (1995): Analysis of social and political education curriculum. Athens. Chelmis, K. Sarantis (1999): Citizenship values and political education in Greek primary school: An historical perspective. In: Ross, Alistair (ed.): Young Citizen in Europe. Proceedings of the first Conference of the Children s Identity and Citizenship in Europe Thematic Network. London: published by CiCe pp Chelmis, Sarantis/Matsagouras, Elias (2002): Citizenship education in the new inter-disciplinary National Curriculum of Greece. In: Ross, Alistair (ed.): Future Citizens in Europe. Proceedings of the fourth Conference of the Children s Identity and Citizenship in Europe Thematic Network. London: published by CiCe, pp Chryssochoou, N. Dimitris: (2006): Greek Report on Education for Democratic Citizenship. Athens: Hellenic Ministry of National Education and Religious Affairs International Organizations Section. Chryssochoou, N. Dimitris (2009): Making Citizenship Education Work: European and Greek Perspectives. Hellenic Observatory Papers on Greece and Southeast Europe, GreeSE Paper 27. London: The London School of Economics and Political Science. Couloubaritsis, Alexandra (2007): Active citizenship education and sustainable development as pedagogical aims in the Greek primary school curriculum. Proceedings of Second South-European and Mediterranean Conference on Citizenship Identity and Culture: The challenge for Education, April , University of Patras, Greece Cogan, J. John /Derricott, Ray (1998): Citizenship for the 21 st Century: An International Perspective on Education. New York: Routledge. European Commission in the framework of the Socrates Programme (2005). ACT! Active Citizenship Training: Measuring the Impact of Informal Learning on Active Citizenship. Scientific Report. Flouris George, Pasias George (2008): A Shift in the Citizenship Paradigm: The Case of the Greek Elementary Education Curricula ( ). In: Ross, Alistair/Cunningham, Peter (eds.): Reflecting on Identities: Research, Practice and Innovation Proceedings of the tenth Conference of the Children s Identity and Citizenship in Europe Academic Network. London: CiCe 2008, pp

9 9 Giroux, Henry (1987): Citizenship, public philosophy, and the struggle for democracy. In: Educational Theory 37/1987, no. 2, pp Hellenic Ministry of Education (2005): Citizenship Education in Greece. In: European Commission (ed.): Citizenship Education in Schools in Europe. Brussels: Eurydice 2005, pp Karakatsani, Despina (2002): Educational practices, citizenship education and moral regulation: the example of Greek curriculum. In: Ross, Alistair (ed.): Future Citizens in Europe Proceedings of the fourth Conference of the Children s Identity and Citizenship in Europe Thematic Network London: published by CiCe, pp Kaldi, Stavroula (2008): Project-based Learning to Promote Citizenship Education in Greek Primary Classrooms. In: Ross, Alistair/Cunningham, Peter (eds.): Reflecting on Identities: Research, Practice and Innovation Proceedings of the tenth Conference of the Children s Identity and Citizenship in Europe Academic Network. London: CiCe, pp Kerr, David (2000): Citizenship education: an international comparison. In: Lawton, Denis/Cairns, Jo/Gardner, Roy (eds.): Education for Citizenship. London: Continuum, pp Kontogiannopoulou-Polydorides, George (2002): Cultural Appropriation of Social and Political Education. In: Steiner-Khamsi, Ghita/Torney-Purta, Judith/Schwille, John(eds.): New Paradigms and Recurring Paradoxes in Education for Citizenship: An International Comparison. New York: JAI, pp Nikolakaki, Maria (2006): Postmodernity and Globalization through Education: in search of a new critical citizenship. In: Ross, Alistair (ed.): Postmodernity and Globalization through Education: in search of a new critical citizenship. London: CiCe, pp Papoulia-Tzelepi, Panayota/Spinthourakis, Joulia (2007): History teaching and the educated citizen: the case of history teaching in the Greek gymnasium. In: Cajani, Luigi/Ross, Alistair (eds.): History Teaching, identities and Citizenship. Sterling: Trentham Books, pp Pike, Graham (2008): Citizenship Education in a Global Context. In: O Sullivan, Michael/Pashby, Karen (eds.): Citizenship Education in the Era of Globalization Canadian Perspectives. Rotterdam: Sense Publishers, pp Pratte, Richard(1988): The civic imperative: Examining the need for civic education. New York: Teachers College Press. Ross, Alistair (2006): Teaching and Learning Citizenship Education in a Changing Europe. In: Marszałek, Adam (ed.): The New Educational Review. Toruń: Adam Marszałek, pp Steiner-Khamsi, Ghita/Torney-Purta, Judith/Schwille, John (2002): New Paradigms and Recurring Paradoxes in Education for Citizenship: An International Comparison. New York: JAI. Nikos Panagiotou, Democritus University, Department of Education Sciences in Pre- School Ages, New Chili, 68100, Alexandroupoli, Greece, npanagio@psed.duth.gr