Civic education versus citizenship education: where is the point of convergence?.
Date
2018-06
Authors
Muleya, Gistered
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Journal of Lexicography and Terminology, Volume 2, Issue 1
Abstract
Defining Civic Education and Citizenship Education is
rather problematic especially to the practitioners and
researchers in the field of Civic Education. Based on
anecdotal evidence, the practitioners and researchers
in the field of Civic Education, tend to view them as
one and at times they apply them interchangeably. It
is important to state note that the two terminologies
are not the same as they carry different meanings.
Admittedly, they can be used interchangeably
depending on the context upon which one wants to use
them, provided the point of convergence is created or
attained. Otherwise, by any stretch of the imagination,
there is need to examine the daily application of
the two concepts and arrive at the correct point of
convergence. In other instances, it would be counterfactual
for one to try and use them under the guise
of implying Civic Education to mean Citizenship
Education or the other way round. No wonder
Muleya (2017b:125-148) argues that contemporary
conceptions and assumptions of Civic Education and
Citizenship Education tends to reflect some level of
ambiguity in the manner the two concepts are taken
or viewed. Therefore, in this article the author wants
to demonstrate that Civic Education and Citizenship
Education though have a point of convergence might
in fact not mean one and the same thing. In this article,
the author distinguishes between Civic Education in
its broadest definition and Citizenship Education in its
implicit position of belonging to a particular discipline
in schools. It is this implicit and broadest position
between the two concepts that tend to create confusions
among the practitioners and researchers in the field on
how they apply them in formal and non formal learning
settings. The author is aware that such a distinction is
not easy to sustain because the two concepts are always
driven by the ideological strands which might not be
addressed in this particular article. What characterises
Civic Education and Citizenship Education is an issue
of particular interest in this article. The distinction
between Civic Education and Citizenship Education
allows the author to show the shifts as well as the points
of convergence between the two concepts. Before
discussing the characteristics of the two concepts, the
author intends to address the definitions associated with
these two concepts. The author noted that in this article,
he intends to clarifications on the similarities and differences
between Civic Education and Citizenship Education. The
reason for this is simply meant to bring out the useful points
of convergence between two concepts.
Description
Keywords
Civic Education. , Citizenship. , Citizenship education. , Convergence.