2nd International Forum on Citizenship Education for Children and Youth
World Ecitizens | TES Article |WE EJournal | Sponsor Us | Etopia
wec.mirandanet.org.ukRecommendations
for Actions: Suggestions from Experts
(These recommendations are availabe as a Word document in English and in Chinese)
We, the delegates from Australia, China, Denmark, Japan, Korea, Singapore, UK, USA, are gathered in Beijing for the 2nd International Forum on Citizenship Education for Children and Youths held from 22nd -24th October 2008. Throughout the forum we shared the innovative practices undertaken by the participating countries and discussed the current issues. During the forum, we reached a general consensus on citizenship education, that is a framework centered around developing qualities, attitudes, habits, capabilities, concepts and skills that prepare students on a path of continued personal growth and enabling them to be active protagonists in transforming society. The following recommendations are proposed to deal with the challenges in promoting citizenship education.
1. Recommendation for School Principals
The principals’ endorsement of citizenship education has a positive
influence on creating a united vision for the entire school. Therefore
we should recommend that principals should be the first point of citizenship
education as well as being engaged in its implementation.
2. Recommendation for Teachers
There is a need for ongoing teachers’ professional development programmes,
teachers’ continuous plan-action-reflection cycle, teachers’ sharing
experiences with other teachers. Teachers should model the desired behaviour.
Students learn best when the environment is joyful, loving and encouraging.
They need to encourage critical thinking, allowing students to form their own opinions on issues by researching, giving students opportunities to work on projects in teams, discussing current issues and community challenges free of control and ridicule, and encouraging children to participate with less teacher lecturing.
3. Recommendation for Students
Citizenship can be more effectively internalized when learners are
expected to take an active part in experiential learning. Therefore,
students
are encouraged to debate the meaning of the citizenship and involve
themselves in community volunteer work to share personal learning.
4.
Recommendation for School Culture
A successful citizenship education fosters a culture of character
in the school, bringing out the best in every child, creating a
caring environment, fit for joyful learning and striving for excellence.
5.
Recommendation for Parents
Parents play a critical role in bridging between learning at home
and learning at school. Therefore, we recommend different approaches
to
be adopted to
involve the parents effectively. New communication channels can
be developed such as: establishing a Parent and Teacher Association
of the School
or Parent-Teacher and Parent-Teacher-Student association. One
new channel of communication
might be a web-based interactive newsletter sent to families
monthly informing
them of what has happened and will be happening in the school.
Such
a communication should include interesting short stories told
by teachers about the children,
advice about parenting and letters and articles from parents.
6. Recommendation for Professional Institutes
We recommend that the professional institutions consider the
relevance of action research methods that help to develop ownership
amongst
all the key
stakeholders. Small-scale qualitative and quantitative methods
can be employed in order to share the findings, to assess what
has been
learnt
and to create
new knowledge. The resulting case studies and reports can be
disseminated within an iterative process in which new knowledge
is created and
new policy is developed collaboratively.
7. Recommendation for
Community
The community needs to learn to have love for and faith in
the youth, supporting them in their idealism, creating opportunities
for their
involvement in
community matters and welcoming them in doing acts of service
for their community.
8. Recommendation for government and
public
The governments at different levels and the public at large
should create and maintain a supportive social environment
including
the public media
and websites, thus to ensure the healthy development of
children and youth.
9. International Exchange and Collaborations
International exchange and cooperation, as illustrated
with the two forums, proves to be an effective mechanism
for sharing
lessons
and
expertise
among the participating countries. Our ongoing discussions
at this forum, followed
by plans of action will remain as the starting point
of this collaboration. In addition, Chinese delegates can
be invited
to visit other countries,
to attend similar conferences when held overseas, as
well as being exposed to
different models of citizenship education. Communication
between the international institutions and practitioners
should not
be limited to once every two
years at the forum. An ongoing dialogue need to be continued
in various forms.
The themes for the next forum might relate to the evaluation
and assessment
of the impact of citizenship education projects.
Download this page as a Word document in English or in Chinese.
[Back]
