Description
There is strong social and political interest in active citizenship and values in education internationally. Active citizenship requires children to experience and internalize moral values for human rights, developing their own opinions and moral responsibility. While investment in young children is recognised as an important factor in the development of citizenship for a cohesive society, less is known about how early years teachers can encourage this in the classroom.
This book will present new directions on how teachers can promote children's learning of moral values for citizenship in classrooms. The research provided offers important insights into teaching for active citizenship by:
• providing an analysis of educational contexts for moral values for active citizenship
• highlighting teachers’ beliefs about knowing and knowledge (personal epistemologies) and how these relate to children’s learning and understanding about social and moral values
• discussing the impact of teachers’ beliefs on teaching practices.
Evidence suggests that investment in the early years is vital for all learning, and specifically for developing an understanding of active citizenship for tolerant and cohesive societies. This book will be essential reading for the professional education of early years teachers interested in teaching for active citizenship.
Table of Contents
Foreword Teaching for Active Citizenship in early education classrooms: Research insights from the fields of moral values and personal epistemology Chapter 1 Active Citizenship, values education and personal epistemology Chapter 2 Personal epistemologies in the context of teaching and learning about moral values Chapter 3 Teachers’ personal epistemologies and teaching practices for learning moral values Chapter 4 Children’s personal epistemologies Chapter 5 Epistemic climates for teaching moral values: A holistic approach Chapter 6 Promoting personal epistemologies for learning moral values: Implications for active citizenship Index
