Educating for citizenship through intercultural democracy

Abstract

This paper deals with the complex and multidimensional concept of citizenship and highlights how citizenship education should foster, above all, practices nourished by being together, by the exchange of experiences between those becoming cultures that people, and specifically students, are. The classroom remains a privileged place to begin to experience otherness, practice freedom, and therefore responsibility, in a respectful way for themselves and others. In brief to become aware and participating citizens. For this purpose, we need a teaching environment that does not relegate learning only to a closed space, like a transmitting setting of knowledge or skills where teachers explain and students repeat, or the instructor demonstrates and pupils imitate. For democratic citizenship, a dynamic didactics is necessary, capable of going beyond lectures through analytical and reflective spaces (why space) that accustom students to thinking and interpreting the world. Further space is crucial as well, that is an experiential-recreational setting planned to guarantee the pupils the possibility to live their environment wittingly. In conclusion, authentic citizenship education needs to bring together knowledge and know-how with the ability to stay with others, starting from contexts experienced every day.

Keywords

• citizenship
• democracy
• intercultural
• didactics
• education