Abstract
During the last decades, citizenship education has become a key priority, as it is one of the main concerns for governments and international organizations. Since 2004, the European Commission has been developing several programmes and projects with the aim of disseminating democratic values and raising awareness of the power of education and its role in the creation of democratic and participative citizenship. In light of this, heritage education, as one of the main dimensions of citizenship education, plays a key role in building a local identity to confront the challenges of global citizenship. The main aim of this study is exploring the conceptions that future secondary education teachers have regarding citizenship, democracy and heritage as well as identifying the relationships between education and the training they have received as future teachers.
TopBackground
There is an increasing interest in creating teaching methods and tools to raise critical citizens, and this should be started from the school. We need to educate who are able to make decisions and take action adequately to deal with social and environmental conflicts with an impact in their lives, at a local or global scale (Bolivar 1998, Wamba y Jiménez, 2006; Castells, 2006; García-Pérez y Moreno-Fernández 2015).
Key Terms in this Chapter
Category System: Classification of different aspects divided into previously established levels or previous hierarchies, i.e., categories. The application of this method requires the division into groups with characteristics in common.
Heritage Education: A field of education centered on teaching, learning, acquiring knowledge, valuing, preserving and disseminating Cultural Heritage and its role as a generator of senses of identity and social belonging.
MAES: A professional master's degree that trains graduates to become Secondary School Teachers and Vocational Trainers.
Education for democratic citizenship: Education, training, dissemination, information, practices, and activities aiming to empower learners with the knowledge, skills, and understanding as well as to molding their attitudes and behavior. Its final objective is enabling citizens to exercise and defend their democratic rights and responsibilities in society, to value diversity, to play an active part in democratic life, and to promote its protection and the rule of law.
Teacher's conceptions: Ideas, opinions, or ways of understanding the world that teachers have and that generally influences their teaching practice.
Citizenship Education: Field of knowledge or subject with the aim of encouraging the education of whole and free persons through the strengthening of self-esteem and the exercise of freedom, and responsibility. It also encourages personal dignity and the generation of critical-thinking citizens. Efficient and responsible citizens are expected to be supportive, participatory, respectful, and fully aware of their rights and obligations.