Dr David Zyngier Education Faculty Monash University Victoria Australia

1. Putting Action (back) into Active Citizenship and Praxis (back) into Practice – the Doing Democracy Research Project in Australia Dr David Zyngier Education Faculty Monash University Victoria Australia

3. Outline • Background to a broader study of the understandings of democracy by Pre-service Teachers, Teacher Education Academics, and In-service Teachers • review the New Citizens and Civics Education (CCE) in Australia • Use framework of: • Barber’s Strong Democracy (Barber, 2004), • Westheimer and Kahne (2003) Kinds of Good Citizens - responsible, participatory and justice oriented • Gandin and Apple (2002) Thin & Thick Democracy

4. Doing Democracy: Global Doing Democracy Research Project part of a comparative and contrasting study of education students, teachers and their educators in Australia, North America, South America, Africa, Asia and Europe The research explores three themes: • the apparent predisposition among teachers is to understand democracy and politics in a thin way; • the potential for teachers to do thick democracy in education; and • teachers understanding of the importance of power and difference in relation to democracy. The focus of this research study is how education supports, cultivates and engages in/with democracy.

5. thin as opposed to thick democracy Conceptualize the visible tension between: • the superficial features often associated with teaching about democracy that focus on civics and citizenship • fundamental scaffolding which, permits people to appropriate the deeper meaning of the term democracy (Gandin & Apple, 2002) • students know that civic engagement is not an individual, private endeavour.

6. A Critical Citizenship? • various Australian academic research suggests that the CCE Project only requires some augmentation to make it critical • sustainability • Globalisation • ‘further work is required to promote depth and breadth’ (Dejaeghere & Tudball, 2007, p. 41) • ‘investigation of and participation in activities that support sustainable practices, social justice and underpin the future well being of societies from a local to a global level’ (Dejaeghere & Tudball, 2007, p. 44) • The goal of critical citizenship is to provide the conditions for collective social change’ (Dejaeghere & Tudball, 2007, p. 49) • ‘primary goal of CE is to prepare the next generation of citizens for enlightened political engagement’ (Print and Coleman, 2003, p. 130 • new CCE should ‘generate cooperation, networking, trust and cohesiveness’ (Print & Coleman, 2003, p. 136) that is compliance and homogeneity in Australian schools )

7. Thin democratic discourses • activities such as students contributing food to a food drive or in a more active participatory manner organising a food drive for the poor. (Westheimer & Kahne, 2004)

8. Thick democracy discourses • Explore why people are hungry and act to solve its root causes (Westheimer & Kahne, 2004)

9. What do Pre-service Teachers, Teachers & Education Academics think about Democracy? • Pre-service Teachers N= 55 • Teachers N=65 • Education Academics=40

10. Pre-service teachers Teachers Academics Is Australia a Democratic society?

11. Academics Pre-service teachers Teachers Is the USA Democratic?

12. Academics Pre-service teachers Teachers Since the Bali Bombing is Australia a more or less democratic country?

13. Academics Pre-service teachers Teachers Are elections important to Democracy?

14. Academics Pre-service teachers Teachers Do you feel that you are actively engaged in democracy?

15. Should teachers strive to inculcate a sense of democracy in students? Academics Pre-service teachers Teachers

16. What a thick democracy might look like in school education • Discussion …