A Critical Examination of Contemporary Trends and Developments in the Research on Citizenship and Civics Formation for Preservice Teachers

• In Event: Teacher Formation and Practice in Democratic Citizenship Education

Abstract

Funded by a Government of Canada Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council Partnership Grant, this paper offers the first systematic review of the English language literature related to citizenship formation for pre-service teachers. Through an analysis of 116 articles, two broad areas of focus were identified within the literature over the last fifteen years: (1) pre-service teachers’ beliefs about citizenship, democracy, and related themes, and (2) the influence of pedagogical practices and program models on pre-service teachers’ citizenship dispositions and teaching practices. Drawing on critical and anti-oppressive insights in education, we examine the extent to which both regional and international themes and trends in this body of literature advance the creation of more genuinely democratic and socially just societies.

Authors

• David Michael Scott, University of Calgary

• Jennifer A. Tupper, University of Alberta