Introduction to active citizenship
Aims:
 To introduce learners to a range of ideas about and definitions of
active citizenship;
 To encourage and motivate them to discuss these ideas – in theory
and in practice;
 To explore the issues involved in the practical implementation of
active citizenship;
 To facilitate the exploration by learners of them being active
citizens and being active citizenship tutors.
Learning Outcomes:
 Learners to define what is meant by active citizenship;
 To critically engage with these ideas/definitions in relation to their
practical implementation;
 To consider the usefulness of ‘active learning for active citizenship’;
 Learners to begin to develop some personal ‘tools’ for active
citizenship;
 Explore the idea of them being potential active citizenship tutors.
Active citizenship is a term that has been used in recent years to mean a
number of things. This first session will look at a variety of approaches
and perspectives on active citizenship and will do so in an interactive and
inclusive manner: active learning. So, the model of learning employed on
this course will reflect the concept of active citizenship: active learning
for active citizenship.
Exercise 1 – What does the term ‘active citizenship’ mean to you? There
are no wrong answers and what you say and discuss will reflect where you
are coming from in relation to this subject. Are you an ‘active citizen’?
What does it mean to you?
Break up the group into smaller groups or pairs for discussion for 20
minutes.
An alternative first exercise is to provide the learners with a number of
cards with particular actions written on them. E.g. ‘Taking an elderly
neighbour to the library once a week.’; ‘Attending the local community
forum’; ‘Sweeping leaves off the pavement in front of your neighbour’s
house’; ‘Voting in elections’; ‘Being a member of your local neighbourhood
watch scheme’; ‘Being a member of a political party’; ‘Working as a
volunteer at a local charity shop’; Organizing a demonstration against
local authority spending cuts’.
Ask learners to discuss which of these are examples of active citizenship
and why. There are actually no wrong answers – all of them could
legitimately be described as ‘active citizenship’ but there are clearly some
differences between the activities. Tutors should concentrate upon
encouraging students to explore these differences.
Feedback from the groups on their discussions. – (45 minutes total)
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Interrogate the meaning of the words ‘Active’ and ‘Citizenship’ from a
number of different perspectives – including the subjective, the dictionary
definition, the government and Pathfinder Take Part definitions and
others. What do you think that these two words mean?
The term ‘active’ conjures up ideas of energetic participation and
engagement.
The Concise Oxford Dictionary defines it as: “consisting in or marked by
action; energetic; diligent...”
Likewise, ‘citizenship’ seems to suggest participation in the life of a nation
or locality. The Concise Oxford Dictionary defines citizen as: “a member of
a state or commonwealth, either native or naturalized...”
One simple idea of active citizenship then is that of participation in public
affairs: “If we are to have a healthy democracy we need to support each
other in identifying the issues that concern us, and develop the confidence
and skills to make a difference to the world around us.” (Woodward 2004)
Wikipedia defines it as: “Active citizenship generally refers to a
philosophy espoused by some organizations and educational institutions.
It often states that members of companies or nation-states have certain
roles and responsibilities to society and the environment, although those
members may not have specific governing roles.
Active citizenship can be seen as an articulation of the debate over rights
versus responsibilities. If a body gives rights to the people under its remit,
then those same people might have certain responsibilities to uphold. This
would be most obvious at a country or nation-state level, but could also
be wider, such as global citizenship. The implication is that an active
citizen is one who exercises both their rights and responsibilities in a
balanced way.” (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Active_citizenship)
Active Learning for Active Citizenship
Interestingly, in recent years the concept of active citizenship has been
directly linked to learning approaches and this is most obviously the
case in the organization Active Learning for Active Citizenship (ALAC)
which was founded in 2004 and was the forerunner of Take Part.
The national framework for active learning for active citizenship
document states: “Active learning for active citizenship is:
• a flexible approach to personal and community development through
experiential learning (learning through experience and reflection) in group
settings. It offers proven strategies to build stronger communities through
promoting personal effectiveness, social enterprise and lifelong learning;
• shaped by the values of participation, co-operation, social justice and
equality with diversity. These values require the work to be: (i)
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community based, (ii) learner centred, and (iii) developed through active
and reflective learning;
(http://www.takepart.org/assets/documents/take-part-framework/)
Another commentator Michela Cecchini links citizenship with learning
approaches and states: “Citizenship learning is:
-
social learning (learning in society, about society, for society)
based on experience and practice, through learning by doing,
through exploration, action and cooperation
implies the democratisation of learning by focusing on the learner,
valuing his/her situation and experience, fostering his/her
autonomy and responsibility in the learning process
is achieved through multiple, interconnected, transversal learning
approaches, for example through civic education, human rights
education, intercultural education, education for peace, global
education and media education.” (Cecchini, 2003)
Exercise 2 – Do you think that education and training, such as this
course, can lead to more active citizenship ? Are there any barriers or
constraints to this happening ? That is, are there any other factors than
education and training that might play a part here ?
Small group or pair discussion for 15 minutes. Possible constraints might
be that people don’t have enough time to actively participate, don’t know
where to begin (feel overwhelmed), may feel demotivated, think that ‘it
doesn’t make any difference anyway’. Also, things such as a potential
change of government in 2010 might make a difference.
In the larger group discuss how we might address some of these potential
barriers to participation – (45 minutes total)
The overall aim of Active Learning for Active Citizenship is to develop
engaged and critical communities of people who will take part in the
decision-making structures processes and structures within their localities
and maybe also at a national and international level. It is believed that
this will lead to a wider empowerment of individuals and communities.
As such, active citizenship is a ‘values-based’ idea and practice. What do
we mean by this? Ask learners for some ideas.
So, active citizenship, on this course, means learning about how to take
part in politics at different levels including:


How the political system works, locally to globally, the decisionmaking processes, people and power structures;
Developing the knowledge, skills and confidence to engage with the
political processes at different levels.
Three core ideas are at the centre of active citizenship education:
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


The critical and engaged citizen, confident to ask ‘why?’, seeking
the facts and challenging and changing things;
A commitment to social justice, equality and inclusion;
A commitment to openness and accountability in public affairs, with
easy access to information, debate and decision-making.
We believe that these ideas must be underpinned by social values.
Oxfam’s definition of a ‘global citizen’ can guide us on this. Such a citizen
is someone who:







is aware of the wider world and has a sense of their own role as a
world citizen;
respects and values diversity;
has an understanding of how the world works;
is outraged by social injustice;
participates in the community at a range of levels, from the local to
the global;
is willing to act to make the world a more equitable and sustainable
place;
takes responsibility for their actions.
So, social justice, participation, equality, diversity and cooperation are key parts of our active citizenship and active learning
agenda.
Exercise 3 – What do these values mean when we put them into
practice? What might get in the way of us doing this?
Divide the group into smaller groups or pairs and provide them with some
case studies.
Case Study 1 - You see a group of young white men on the opposite side
of the street at night. As they pass a black woman on the same side of the
road as you coming towards you, you hear them shout something. You
think you hear an offensive word being said. What might you do? Think
about some of the issues involved.
Case Study 2 – You notice, in a work situation, that your male line
manager seems to constantly favour communicating with other men in
meetings and appears to overlook the comments made by women
colleagues. What might you do? Again, consider some of the issues
involved.
Case Study 3 – On public transport on the way to work you notice that
some white conductors consistently seem to treat passengers from
minority ethnic groups more harshly than they do white passengers. One
example is that they are more being more openly critical when such
passengers have forgotten to bring their travel pass etc. What might you
do? What issues are involved here?
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Case Study 4 – At a football match, a small group of very vocal supporters
of your own team, sitting near to you, sing a chant that includes a racist
comment. What might you do? As with all of the case studies, what issues
are involved here?
Small group or pair’s discussion on case studies– 30 minutes.
Feedback on discussion. (1 hour total)
While the government’s citizenship agenda tends to focus upon the ‘rights
and responsibilities’ approach, active citizenship goes beyond this
traditional framing of the issue and concentrates upon the active element.
A good citizen may well vote in elections as part of their engagement with
and responsibilities within civil society. However, as the Take Part, Active
Citizenship website states:
“For many people, ‘citizenship’ is the embodiment of the rights and
responsibilities that they are due, and owe, from living in a particular
nation state. For Take Part though, this is not enough. Firstly, of course,
we must add the term active to citizen, with the fundamental implication
that citizens should be actively involved in the mechanisms of governance.
This active involvement does not stop with voting, or even with
volunteering, because both of these activities can be carried out ‘within
the rules’, without challenging existing structures to do things differently.”
So, what does this ‘going beyond’ mean in practice? Take Part again:
“Active citizenship is concerned with more than learning ‘the rules of the
game’ and how to participate within existing models and structures. From
Take Part’s perspective, active citizenship should be defined more broadly
to encompass active learning for political literacy and empowerment,
addressing structures and relations of power and working to change
these, where necessary, in the pursuit of social inclusion and social justice
agendas (Lister 1997). It also relates to how people can promote
community cohesion and social solidarity, thereby strengthening civil
society as well as empowering individual citizens.”
This passage introduces us to some important ideas; ‘political literacy’;
‘empowerment’; ‘structures and relations of power’ and ‘social
inclusion and social justice’.
Exercise 4 – What is political literacy? What are ‘structures and relations
of power’? What do you understand by the terms ‘empowerment, social
inclusion and social justice’? Can you think of some examples?
Small group or pair’s discussion – 20 minutes.
Feedback and discussion. (1 hour total)
So, going beyond the more traditional approaches may well mean taking
action to address inequalities, challenge power structures and working for
change within society. And these things are not easy!
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Activity for break between 1st and 2nd blocks - We would like you to
go away and think about some issues and concerns within your own life or
that of a close friend or colleague and how they might be addressed by
active engagement. We are not asking you to come up with a ‘solution’ to
these issues but instead to think about what the active citizenship agenda
might offer as regards trying to begin to address them.
Write some brief notes down and bring them to the next session.
Important – Don’t reveal anything that you don’t feel comfortable talking
about within this group.
An alternative to this take-away exercise is to provide the learners with
some case studies of problems, issues and concerns, to choose one of
them, and ask them to think about how active involvement might begin to
address it. Write some brief notes on your thoughts.
Case Study 1 – An elderly neighbour trips up on some local very uneven
paving stones. She is injured slightly – enough to warrant a trip to her GP.
What might you do? Think around some of the issues involved.
Case Study 2 – Your local authority announces that it is going to close
your local swimming baths and library because of the need for spending
cuts. What might you do? What issues are involved here?
Case Study 3 – The Race Equality Council in your town/city is facing
closure because of the local authority announcing that they are ceasing to
funding it. They are inviting people to get involved in trying to change the
council’s mind and are asking for some specific ideas on actions. What
might you do? Issues involved?
Case Study 4 – Your employer seems to be consistently discriminating
against minority ethnic groups of people in its employment practice,
resulting in an all-white workforce. What might you do? What issues are
involved?
Case Study 5 – Your friend confides in you that her male partner is not
‘treating her properly’ and you have seen some bruises and scratches on
her face. What might you do? What issues are involved here?
END OF FIRST FIVE HOUR BLOCK
Introduction to Active Citizenship – Block 2
Exercise 1 –Invite learners to talk about ‘their’ issues and concerns and
how they might be addressed by active engagement. Five minutes each.
Alternatively, invite learners to talk about their thoughts on their chosen
case study. Five minutes each.
Discussion on the content of these report-backs. (90 mins total)
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Briefly recap on some of the key ideas from the previous session: active
citizenship; active learning for active citizenship; social values; global
citizenship; political literacy; empowerment; power and social justice.
Check with learners that they have retained some ideas about these
concepts.
Exercise 2 – Show a selection of the five Free Dave clips from the Louder
website http://www.louder.org.uk/index.php
Show a selection or all five of the clips and get feedback from the group
and discuss the issues that arise – This exercise takes the group into
issues connected to campaigning and does so in a lively and irreverent
way. (1 hour total).
Exercise 3 – With the knowledge you have gained from this course,
combined with your own experiences, we would like you to begin to draw
up an Action Plan for yourselves as Active Citizens. First, discuss this in
pairs for 10 to 15 minutes. How might you go about doing his? You could
start by listing the issues and concerns you have that you would like to
address. You could then go on to think about what you might do to
address them.
Provide the learners with an action plan matrix.
We would like you to make a plan for yourself – what you are going to do.
The plan should be realistic, have timescales, achievable goals and also
some flexibility. (45 minutes total)
The aim of the Train the Take Part Trainers programme of which this
course is a part is to develop and nurture learners who wish to become
active citizenship trainers themselves. This is you! So, in the rest of this
course we will continue to look at active citizenship within the context of
learning approaches. The focus now will be on the idea that you might
begin to think about yourselves as potential active citizenship
trainers.
There is a companion 10 hour course on Becoming a Take Part Trainer,
and we don’t want to replicate the material in that course. However, it
might be useful for you to consider this role of Active Citizenship tutor
during the remainder of this course. What do you need in order to be able
to fulfil this role?
The ALAC framework we referred to in the last session is very useful as
regards clarifying the active citizenship agenda as well as the role of
learning within it:
“Society needs active learning for active citizenship, and the Take
Part approach to it, because:
• it helps equip individuals and communities with the skills, confidence
and experience to tackle the distinctive political, social and technical
challenges and opportunities that confront us in an increasingly global
society;
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• all individuals are members of communities, and community change
emerges from individuals working together; and
• it enables people to gain understanding of how power works and how
they can learn to influence decisions and policies.
Take Part is for:
• everybody or anybody: many people in positions of authority and power
could benefit as much from engaging in active citizenship learning as
could those seeking empowerment; and
• people who wish to engage effectively in developing their communities.
Take Part is delivered:
• around four essential elements: – valuing your own skills and
experience;
– knowing yourself through and with others;
– knowing how the external world operates; and
– knowing where to go to get what you need.
This challenges the notion of individualism and competition by bringing
people together to reflect upon and analyse the barriers to, and
opportunities for, creating change for themselves and others. We suggest
that, once people make these connections and see their own concerns
and limitations reflected in the struggles of others, they can collectively
develop strategies around how to overcome the barriers and make
positive changes:
• through learning with other people;
• through practice rather than by absorbing theory. Outcomes are
unpredictable; this makes some formal educational processes – with
preset outcomes – unsuitable. Experiential learning is key;
• with conversation and dialogue as key tools to facilitate learning; true
conversation takes place when we are open enough to accept others’
points of view as worth our full consideration. Conversation is an
opportunity to interrogate our own prejudices;
• by enabling people to gain new skills, insights and understanding
through tackling real-life challenges in the community; and
• in a way that recognises success is not just about accreditation; impact
on individual perceptions or impact on relationships in communities areas
important. Progression does not always equal accreditation.”
Exercise 4 – Discuss these ideas in small groups or pairs. Feel free to be
as critical as you wish. Provide the learners with a handout which
highlights the main points of the ALAC statement above. These are:
“Society needs active learning for active citizenship, and the Take
Part approach to it, because:
• it helps equip individuals and communities with the skills, confidence
and experience to tackle the distinctive political, social and technical
challenges and opportunities that confront us in an increasingly global
society;
• all individuals are members of communities, and community change
emerges from individuals working together; and
• it enables people to gain understanding of how power works and how
they can learn to influence decisions and policies.
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Take Part is delivered:
• around four essential elements: – valuing your own skills and
experience;
– knowing yourself through and with others;
– knowing how the external world operates; and
– knowing where to go to get what you need.
This challenges the notion of individualism and competition by bringing
people together to reflect upon and analyse the barriers to, and
opportunities for, creating change for themselves and others.
Brief feedback to the larger group on these discussions – (1 hour total)
Of course, some learners may have decided by this stage that they don’t
want to pursue being a trainer in active citizenship. We should provide
them with some ideas about what they might want to go on to do –
(TRISH/ JOL/JOY/ CHRIS – can you help me out here please????)
So, to reiterate, the aim of Train the Take Part Trainers, the programme
of which this is a course, is to facilitate the training of a group of trainers,
nationally, who are able to deliver training on Active Citizenship, for any
organisation that wants it. One of the outputs of the programme will be
the creation of an online database of trainers that will be made available
to the voluntary and community sectors and public sector bodies such as
local authorities. You could also possibly become a tutor with the WEA if
you wish to.
Conclude the session by inviting learners to share some thoughts they
have about the course and active citizenship. Evaluate the course...
*Note to tutors – we can actually model active citizenship in the way
that we approach teaching the course. If we are open, inclusive,
democratic and listen very carefully to our learners and follow them in
their learning paths, then we are actually teaching active citizenship by
example.
Note to me -In addition to this we need a generic Tutor Briefing doc.
Pathfinder stuff on Training Tutors***
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