Education for Citizenship in Primary Education of Greece: Proposals for Pedagogical Practices by Students of Education Faculties

Abstract

Preparing students for the honor and privilege of being able to assume the role of citizen is one of the main roles and aims of education, which is considered to be one of the most important institutions as far as political socialization and civic education of children is concerned. The power of a state lies with its citizens. In a democracy, everyone is responsible for what happens in the public sphere and thus, everyone must be properly prepared for and committed to the role of citizen. The question is whether the current education system is ready and able to form conscientious and active citizens. This study consists of 103 activities that were designed with civic education in mind by students of various education faculties of various universities in Greece (students of faculties of primary education N = 54, students of faculties of preschool education N = 49) and analyzed. The average age of the students that participated in the study was 20.3 years. The results show that students choose activities that are mainly related to environmental education and democracy and focus less on activities related with interculturalism. More advanced students (i.e. students who are closer to graduation) are usually using more measurable objectives and experiential methods. As far as students of faculties of primary education are concerned, it was observed that the prefer to implement activities related to citizenship in large classes. students of faculties of preschool education on the other hand, seem to plan and organize more complete activities, using specific verbs.