About this book series

In all countries citizenship education (with a variety of different subject names) is a component of the school curriculum.   Sometimes it is a school subject, sometimes a cross curriculum theme and sometimes it is focused on extra-curricular activities. Its purpose, in whatever form it takes,  is to prepare students to become future citizens. This is as true in democratic societies as it is in authoritarian societies.  Visions for the role of citizens in different societies will differ but irrespective of the vision, the role of citizenship education is to support it and prepare young people for the role they are expected to play in the future.  Currently, however, there are two key issues that make the expected role of citizenship education problematic. First, the function of citizenship education appears simple: support the values of the society of which young people are a part, equip them with the necessary skills for involvement in that society and ensure that on graduation students can play the role expected of them.  Yet even though schools may do all they can to perform this role, they are not the only influence on students.   It is acknowledged that such influences are multiple: parents, peers, and traditional media being amongst the most important. More recently social media have been shown to Different students are influenced in different ways by these. Thus school purposes for citizenship education may have to contend with competing values making agreed outcomes difficult to achieve for all students.Second, the broad macro context that characterises most societies have become more unstable and unpredictable. Contentious politics, international terrorism, populism, rising nationalism, fundamentalisms of different kinds and globalizaton all serve to fragment societies and detract from social cohesion. The common vision that is meant to bind societies, and hence form the basis of citizenship education, is thus under threat from different directions. Global values, versus national values, religious values versus secular values, multicultural values versus monocultural values, liberal values versus conservative values: it is these binaries, and others like them, that currently characterise social actions and social exchanges that serve to undermine the development of cohesive societies in many parts of the world.Thus this Series is designed to provide support for policymakers, researchers and teachers who have responsibility for citizenship education in their respective domains. It will help them with new thinking, new ideas and new directions to support the development of citizenship education in the volatile times characterised by the 21st century.

Researchers interested in authoring or editing a book for this series are invited to contact the Series Publishing Editor: alice.xie@springernature.com.

All proposals will be reviewed by the Series Editors and editorial advisors.
Part of this series
SpringerBriefs in Education
Electronic ISSN
2524-8499
Print ISSN
2524-8480
Series Editor
  • Kerry J Kennedy

Book titles in this series