the promotion of culture in citizenship education and its influences
THE PROMOTION OF CULTURE IN CITIZENSHIP EDUCATION AND ITS
INFLUENCES ON STUDENTS’ MULTIPLE IDENTITIES IN CHINA
ABSTRACT
Numerous existing studies have demonstrated culture as a new dimension in understanding citizenship education. This exploratory paper investigates the promotion of culture in citizenship education and its influences on students’ multiple identities in China. Data mainly were drawn from questionnaires completed by students and semi-structure interviews with students, teachers and school leaders from four participating junior secondary schools in Beijing. The findings indicated that local, national and global cultural elements coexisted together in citizenship education in schools. To different extents, they affected students’ attitudes and perceptions of their local, national and global identities. Specifically, students had a strong identification with national culture; while a selective acceptance of the local and global culture. Students’ multiple identities were also influenced by other factors, such as personal experiences and family backgrounds.
INTRODUCTION
The classical theories of citizenship and citizenship education have been challenged by the process of globalization, in which the old concepts such as: nation state, citizenship and identity have been affected, and culture becomes a primary
concern. Though existing studies (including Kymlicka, 1995; Miller, 1999; Rosaldo,
1997; Stevenson, 2007) have tried to integrate culture as a new dimension in the
concept of citizenship and add cultural elements in citizenship education practice, they are not sufficient enough to explain the role of culture in citizenship education, especially in the case of China. Moreover, they are insufficient to understand the influences of the promoted culture in citizenship education on the students’ attitudes toward different cultural elements in the global context and on their local, national and global identities respectively. These insufficiencies make up the focus of this exploratory paper.
With particular reference to four junior secondary schools in Beijing, this research explores the promotion of culture in citizenship education in junior secondary schools. The researcher examines what are the cultural tasks allocated by the state to school citizenship education in the context of globalization; how school responses to that allocated cultural tasks; how culture is promoted in citizenship education in the context of China; how promoting culture in citizenship education influences students’ attitudes towards diverse cultural elements; and how it influences students’ local, national and global identities. Data mainly were draw from over 830 questionnaires completed by students and 42 interviews with students, teachers and school leaders (six students, three teachers and one school leaders from each of the participating schools). The supplementary data included relating documents and the observations. The research findings can be generalized into three major patterns: I, coexistence of local, national and global cultural elements in citizenship education; II, strong identification with national culture; III, selective acceptance of local and national culture. Pattern I deals with the promotion of culture in citizenship education in subjects schools, while Pattern II and III deals with the influences of the promoted culture on students’ identities on the multiple levels. Students’ multiple identities
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were also influenced by other factors, such as personal experiences and family backgrounds.
This paper first reviews the relationship among three key concepts in this study: citizenship education, identity and culture. Second, it provides the background of the study and describes its design and implementation. Third, it presents the questionnaire findings of the students’ views regarding the promotion of culture and its influences on their multiple identities, and provides possible explanations for their views by exploring the interview findings. The study then concludes with a discussion of the theoretical implications for understanding culture and citizenship education in the age of globalization.
CITIZENSHIP EDUCATION, CULTURE AND IDENTITY
This section reviews the existing literature to gain a basic understanding of the concepts of citizenship education, identity and culture. From the civic republican perspective, obligation is the core of citizenship, and citizenship education should
help students to learn and practice their civic obligations (Galston, 1991; Heater,
1999). From the liberal perspective, however, individual rights are the core of
citizenship, and citizenship education should teach students to cherish and defend
those rights (Marshall, 1950; Schuck, 2002). Identity, an essential element of
Guibernau, 2007; Smith, 1991).
Globalization, which has triggered heated discussions among scholars, and has significantly, impacted the concepts of the citizenship and identity. Hyperglobalists
( e.g
. Albrow, 1996; Luard, 1990; McGinn, 1997; Ohmae, 1990; Veseth, 1998) argue
that globalization has greatly challenged the status of the nation state, extended the concept of citizenship to include the global level, and may lead to the emergence of a single identity beyond that of the nation state that is shared throughout the world.
Skeptics ( e.g.
Green, 1997; Hirst, 1997; Huntington, 1996; Mann, 1997) deny that
globalization has decreased the role of the nation state, arguing that it remains the primary protector and guarantor of citizenship rights. Moreover, skeptics dispute the possibility that globalization will create a single, supranational identity; instead, they suggest it may foster the development of multiple identities.
In the process of globalization, especially cultural globalization, culture
emerges as a new dimension of citizenship and citizenship education. Kymlicha (1995)
that accounts for the various ways in which culture is expressed or embodied and
Stevenson (2007) depicts it as a dialogue process through which society develops new
competencies and ideas by sharing experiences and interpretations. On this basis, new theories of citizenship education are introduced, which purposefully include culture as
a crucial elements, including theories on multicultural (Banks, 1990, 2001, 2007) and
cosmopolitan citizenship education (Falk, 1993; Osler & Vincent, 2002).
The majority of studies exploring citizenship education, identity and globalization do so from a general perspective, and are largely set in Western contexts.
They examine the role of culture in citizenship and citizenship education in the global context, and how citizenship, citizenship education and identity are related to each other. However, they do not specify the role of culture in helping students explore
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their local, national, and global identity, and neither examine nor reflect the specific context of China.
Thus, the study has made an effort to examine studies that focus on the case of
China. Some extant studies examine the concept of citizenship in China (Keane, 2001;
Law, 2011; Tan, 2007, 2010; Wong, 1999; Xin, 2004), while others explore the
practice of citizenship education in this country (Kwong, 1985; Lan, Gao, Lv, & Xing,
2007; Law, 2011; Lee & Ho, 2005). However, few extant studies do so from a
cultural perspective, and most attempt to understand neither the role of culture in
China’s citizenship education, nor its influence on students’ multiple identities.
THIS STUDY
This study’s central research problem addresses how the promotion of culture in citizenship education affects students’ perceptions of their multiple (local, national and global) identities. This study’s research questions further this exploration by focusing on cultural task of citizenship education, how and why culture influences students’ attitudes and identities. Specifically, this study poses the following research questions:
1.
What is the task of culture in citizenship education in China?
2.
How do schools respond to this cultural task, and why?
3.
What are the major (a) local, (b) national, and (c) global cultural elements and values promoted in schools? How do schools foster these cultural elements and values among students?
4.
What are students’ attitudes towards these cultural elements and values?
5.
How do the students’ attitudes affect (a) their perceptions of their multiple
(local, national and global) identities, and (b) their affiliation and identification with local, national and global communities?
6.
In addition to school and individual factors, what other factors shape students’ attitudes?
In the early 2013, the researcher spent three months in the four selected participating schools in Beijing: sending out and collecting questionnaires, conducting semi-structure interviews. Questionnaires was relatively cheap and efficiency, and interviews were useful to provide opportunities for in-depth probing and clarification
(Lodico, Spaulding, & Voegtle, 2006).
Based upon the literature review on citizenship education in China and the research questions, the researcher developed the draft questionnaires with four parts.
Part I covered personal and family background information. Part II examined what cultural elements were promoted in schools and through what means were they promoted. Part III asked about the influences of the promoted culture on students. Part
IV examined students’ attitude towards multiple cultural elements and their multiple identities.
In the pilot, six students completed the questionnaires. After finishing the questionnaires, each student was invited to individually discuss the difficulty, clarity, and readability of the items in the questionnaires and the appropriateness of the response options. According to their opinions, the researcher slightly revised a few response options (such as changing the subject name “Political Education” into
“Ideology and Morality”). The time of completion is about 20 minutes.
This study conducted 42 interviews with students, teachers and school leaders
(six students, three teachers and one school leaders from each of the participating
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schools). To enhance the reliability and validity of this study, the whole process of interviews was audio-taped with permission and transcribed right after the interview, so that to provide complete records and as much useful information as possible for analysis. To strengthen the reliability of this study, the researcher adopted three
strategies suggested by experienced senior researchers (Denzin & Lincoln, 2008;
Lincoln, 1985; Woodside & Wilson, 2003): triangulation, member checks and
clarification.
MAJOR FOUNDINGS
This section reports the major findings of this study, which can be generalized into three major patterns: I, coexistence of local, national and global cultural elements in citizenship education; II, strong identification with national culture; III, selective acceptance of local and global culture. Pattern I deals with the promotion of culture in citizenship education in subjects schools, while Pattern II and III deals with the influences of the promoted culture on students’ identities on the multiple levels. The research findings were drawn mainly from the questionnaires and were supplemented with interview data.
Coexistence of Local, National and Global Cultural Elements in Citizenship
Education
This first pattern concerns the basic situation of promoting culture in school’s citizenship education: multiple cultural elements - local, national and global - coexisted together in citizenship education in the four participating schools. Based upon the collected questionnaires (Table 1), the respondent students from the four subject schools agreed that they were able to get access to the local, national and global cultural elements in citizenship education in school.
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Table 1
Culture Students Learned in Citizenship Education in Schools a
Domain Cultural Elements
Local Beijing’s history
Beijing’s cultural classics
Beijing’s scientific and technological achievements
Beijing’s art (e.g. music, paintings)
Beijing’s folks (e.g. diet, holiday)
Scientific and technological achievements of the world
Art of the world (e.g. music, paintings)
Folks of the world (e.g. diet, holiday)
Mean
All
(M)
School
A
School
B
School
C
School
D
(M
A
) (M
B
) (M
C
) (M
D
)
3.17 3.22 3.14 3.18 3.15
2.87
2.72
3.06
3.12
2.87
2.76
3.09
3.08
2.95
2.80
3.15
3.24
2.82
2.51
2.82
2.92
National China’s history
China’s cultural classics
China’s scientific and technological achievements
China’s art (e.g. music, paintings)
China’s folks (e.g. diet,
3.54
3.23
2.96
3.20
3.59
3.12
2.81
3.19
3.45
3.19
3.02
3.24
3.63
3.34
3.06
3.25
3.46
3.22
2.90
3.06
3.14 3.09 3.16 3.30 2.93
Global holiday)
History of the world 3.00 2.78 2.96 3.17 3.04
Cultural classics of the world 2.70 2.44 2.70 2.84 2.79
2.54 2.23 2.58 2.67 2.60
2.77
2.64
2.79
2.73
3.14
3.18
2.60
2.44
Mean by Schools
2.81
2.66
2.85
2.80
2.76
2.57 a
1= not learnt, 2= learnt a bit, 3= learnt some, and 4= learnt a lot
Similarly, the interview data also illustrates Pattern I. In the interviews, all of the interviewed students agreed they had opportunities to get access to the local, national and global cultural elements in citizenship education in their schools. As student C/S12 said in the interview, “a variety of different cultural elements were involved in our school: (there are) Chinese culture of course, and culture of other countries in the world… Chinese culture is closely related to Beijing culture…”
Students from other subject schools also expressed the same opinion, such as students
A/S21, B/S31 and D/S23. At the same time, the views from the school principals and teachers confirmed the students’ opinion. The four interviewed school principals and most of the interviewed teachers, such as A/T02, B/T02, C/T03 and D/T01, indicated that they had consciously added different cultural elements into school environments, curriculums and activities, so that to help the students to get aware of them.
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Strong Identification with National Culture
Pattern II – strong identification with national culture – is characterized by students’ high degree of recognition towards the national cultural elements promoted in schools. In Pattern II, students showed an obvious fondness for the promoted national culture, and in return, the promoted national cultural elements made a significant influence on students’ perceptions of and attitudes towards their multiple identities. Based upon the collected questionnaires, though schools promoted local, national and global cultural elements at the same time, students were more concerned about the cultural elements of the national domain. The students from the four subject schools consistently asserted that the national cultural elements (OM
N
=3.21) were more accessible than either the local cultural elements (OM
L
=2.99) or the global cultural elements (OM
G
=2.73) (see Table 2 for details).
Table 2
Cultural Elements Students Identified in Citizenship Education in Schools a
Domain
Local
National
Global
Overall Mean
(OM)
2.99
3.21
2.73
School A
(OM
A
)
3.01
3.16
2.50
Overall Mean by Schools
School B School C
(OM
B
)
2.99
(OM
C
3.06
)
3.21
2.74
3.32
2.87
School D
(OM
D
)
2.84
3.12
2.75 a
1= not identified, 2= identified a bit, 3= identified some, and 4= identified a lot
As presented in Table 2 above, students from all of the four subject schools found national cultural elements as the most easily accessible cultural elements among the three domains. They gave much higher score to the national cultural elements than the cultural elements of the other two domains. On the one hand, this might be regarded as the result of schools’ dedication to promoting national culture; on the other hand, however, this could be seen as an evidence of students’ high sensitivity and recognition of the promoted national cultural elements.
This was supported by the interview data. In interviews, when students were asked to recall the cultural elements they accessed in schools, more than 60% of the interviewed students (15 of 24 students) referred to national cultural elements in their first answers. Some students even directly used the words “national culture”; while the others just listed some national cultural elements, such as Chinese history, national arts and handcrafts, Chinese traditional folks, Confucian Analects, Traditional
Chinese Medicine, and so on.
Selective Acceptance of Local and Global Culture
Pattern III – selective acceptance of local and national culture – is characterized by students’ subjective attitudes towards the promoted local and global culture. As shown in Table 3, students’ identification with local culture with local culture did not necessarily lead to identification with local identity. Similarly, though students’ identification with global culture was relatively weak, their identification with global identity could be relatively strong.
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Table 3
Students’ Recognition of Multiple Cultural Elements and Identities a
Overall Mean
(OM) School A
Overall Mean by Schools
School B School C School D
Local culture
National culture
3.43
3.55
(M
A
)
3.56
3.66
(M
B
)
3.34
3.44
(M
C
)
3.55
3.69
(M
D
)
3.19
3.36
Global culture
Local identity
National identity
3.42
3.45
3.60
3.41
3.48
3.59
3.33
3.37
3.51
3.51
3.58
3.71
Global identity 3.49 3.38 3.40 3.63 a 1= not agreed, 2= agreed a bit, 3=agreed some, and 4= agreed a lot
3.39
3.32
3.54
3.52
The interview data was helpful to understand Pattern III. Some students explained that “though I do not like Beijing local culture very much, I live here; my families and my friends are here, there is no way I do not like this city and do not care about its development.” (B/S22, L151) Some also mentioned that culture was only one of the many factors affecting their multiple identities, such as their birthplace, travel experience, and family background and etc.
CONCLUSION
With reference to Beijing, this study has explored the promotion of culture and its influences on students’ multiple identities. It has three major theoretical implications: first, enriching our understanding of school’s role in implementing national education policy, while pursuing the educational goals of its own; second, explaining the cultural task in citizenship education in China and the role of culture in citizenship education in the global context; third, extending knowledge of how culture may influence students’ their affiliation and identification with local, national and global communities, namely, their multiple identities.
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