Another Type of Character Education: Citizenship Education

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to share one specific section in the literature review of a doctoral dissertation. This paper aims at presenting research findings by different researchers and enabling readers to see an overview of an educational current called “citizenship education”. The concept of citizenship is connected with democratic values and an ideal citizen is not only an individual who knows much about politics, but also an active person who takes a responsible role in the daily, political life of their society. Citizenship education especially takes place at schools as a policy of the state and students are encouraged and trained to take part in the societal activities of the community they live in. Citizenship education and character education are similar in many ways and citizenship education is considered as a type of character education by some scientists. Some of these similarities include the reason why they emerged, the fact that both are connected to the core values, their close relationship with moral education, common identical methods they use, and sharing some positive character traits. To conclude, these two educational currents are alike in several respects and they complement each other. It must also be mentioned that it is important to offer both educational currents to students not only for the benefit of the individuals, but also for the benefit of the whole society and the future.