Safetyfication: A Dangerous Trend in Citizenship Education

• In Event: Race, Equity, and Critical Consciousness in Democratic Education

Abstract

Invocations of safety have become increasingly widespread in the scholarship related to citizenship education in the last few decades. Examples range from demands to hold ‘safe’ conversations around racism through to claims to keep young citizens safe in the digital world. These calls for safety have, however, raised little opposition and debate. In this paper, I conduct a systematic literature review to explore the ‘truths’ (Foucault, 1980) that underlie the discourses of safety and citizenship in the educational scholarship published from 2012 to 2022. Three main assumptions were identified in the 103 articles discursively analyzed: safety as an educational right, children as vulnerable citizens and educators as safety providers. The (dangerous) implications of these assumptions for citizenship education are discussed.

Author

• Marta Estelles, University of Waikato