Page 45 - Šolsko polje, XXX, 2019, št. 5-6: Civic, citizenship and rhetorical education in a rapidly changing world, eds. Janja Žmavc and Plamen Mirazchiyski
P. 45
m. banjac ■ knowledge on political participation among basic school pupils
are only second to them. Others would preach the opposite (McCowan,
2009). But regardless of what the finesses and little (or substantial) nuanc-
es in the approaches might be, citizenship is still regarded, by and large,
as a status that is to be learned and obtained. This view misses something
very important that also Lawy and Biesta acknowledge, namely citizen-
ship as practice:
Citizenship-as-practice not only encompasses problems and issues of
culture and identity but draws these different dynamic aspects together
in a continuously shifting and changing world of difference. Such a view
of citizenship, as we […] argue, provides a more robust entry point for un-
derstanding and supporting young people’s citizenship learning in this
area (Lawy and Biesta, 2006, p. 37).
This view or approach can be crucial especially in relation to politi-
cal participation as one of the key topics within citizenship education. Po-
litical participation itself entails the activity of communities and individ-
uals within them. Only through active engagement are people integrated
into society and, by and through this, they are involved in a myriad of po-
litical, as well as economic and cultural practices. Only active subjectivi-
ties are engaged with the very contexts of their lives. And, as Isin (2009)
contends, only if citizenship is understood as political subjectivity, our at-
tention can be shifted away from passivising fixed categories to the ac-
tions through which these categories are critically interrogated and dis-
composed. As such, it “shifts our attention from already defined actors to
the acts that constitute them” (Isin, 2009, p. 383).
For our purposes, it remains in this part of the paper to elucidate
further the status of political participation within the citizenship educa-
tion and why pupils’ knowledge and skills connected with it are deemed
as profoundly relevant in today’s democratic societies, including Slovenia.
Although public participation and engagement are often addressed
and delivered as content to pupils within the citizenship education frame-
work, terms and concepts such as these two are prevailingly depoliticised.
Pérez Expósito (2014, p. 230) argues that
the demotion of the political occurs by replacing political participation
with less controversial categories, such as civic engagement, which are
also theoretically less clear and well grounded. The depoliticisation of
the forms of participation in which students are encouraged to be in-
volved entails a view of adolescents as depoliticised subjects.
The depoliticisation operates in various ways, of which one is so-called so-
cietal depoliticisation (Wood and Flinders, 2014). It
43
are only second to them. Others would preach the opposite (McCowan,
2009). But regardless of what the finesses and little (or substantial) nuanc-
es in the approaches might be, citizenship is still regarded, by and large,
as a status that is to be learned and obtained. This view misses something
very important that also Lawy and Biesta acknowledge, namely citizen-
ship as practice:
Citizenship-as-practice not only encompasses problems and issues of
culture and identity but draws these different dynamic aspects together
in a continuously shifting and changing world of difference. Such a view
of citizenship, as we […] argue, provides a more robust entry point for un-
derstanding and supporting young people’s citizenship learning in this
area (Lawy and Biesta, 2006, p. 37).
This view or approach can be crucial especially in relation to politi-
cal participation as one of the key topics within citizenship education. Po-
litical participation itself entails the activity of communities and individ-
uals within them. Only through active engagement are people integrated
into society and, by and through this, they are involved in a myriad of po-
litical, as well as economic and cultural practices. Only active subjectivi-
ties are engaged with the very contexts of their lives. And, as Isin (2009)
contends, only if citizenship is understood as political subjectivity, our at-
tention can be shifted away from passivising fixed categories to the ac-
tions through which these categories are critically interrogated and dis-
composed. As such, it “shifts our attention from already defined actors to
the acts that constitute them” (Isin, 2009, p. 383).
For our purposes, it remains in this part of the paper to elucidate
further the status of political participation within the citizenship educa-
tion and why pupils’ knowledge and skills connected with it are deemed
as profoundly relevant in today’s democratic societies, including Slovenia.
Although public participation and engagement are often addressed
and delivered as content to pupils within the citizenship education frame-
work, terms and concepts such as these two are prevailingly depoliticised.
Pérez Expósito (2014, p. 230) argues that
the demotion of the political occurs by replacing political participation
with less controversial categories, such as civic engagement, which are
also theoretically less clear and well grounded. The depoliticisation of
the forms of participation in which students are encouraged to be in-
volved entails a view of adolescents as depoliticised subjects.
The depoliticisation operates in various ways, of which one is so-called so-
cietal depoliticisation (Wood and Flinders, 2014). It
43
