In: Citizenship as a Challenge
Search for other papers by Paula Leal Tejeda in
Current site
Google Scholar
PubMed
Purchase instant access (PDF download and unlimited online access):
Abstract
This chapter provides insights into what secondary school students understand by citizenship and citizenship education in Chile and how the education system, through the curriculum and the school, influence those understandings. It is justified on the grounds of a renewed interest in citizenship in both the international and the Chilean education context. In the case of Chile, this interest was shown in several reforms in education that have been led by the Governments since the return to democracy in 1990, after the dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet. These reforms have considered the need to include more topics related to citizenship education in the educational curriculum, to make it more relevant to a new globalised scenario and to help students become citizens. However, there is a lack of literature that explores these reforms specifically in terms of citizenship education, taking students’ views as a priority. This chapter is based on a study undertaken with grade 12 students (the last grade of secondary school) conducted in a city in southern Chile in 2013. This group of students was chosen because the curriculum aims to prepare young people to exercise active citizenship when graduating from school. A case study method was used to address the aims of the research; two secondary schools, one municipalised (public, secular) and one subsidised (private, faith-based), were selected.