Citizenship, Social and Economics Education
ISSN 2047-1734

CONTENTS [click on author's name for abstract and full text]

Editorial

http://dx.doi.org/10.2304/csee.2011.10.1.1

Welcome to the first issue of Volume 10 of Citizenship, Social and Economics Education, consisting of articles from New Zealand, the USA, Scotland and Sweden, and a curriculum development and classroom practice article from Nigeria. In this issue there is some emphasis on citizenship and values education through history teaching as well as through language acquisition, and articles on financial education relating to pensions and perceptions of self-efficacy in music learning and teaching. The classroom practice article considers learning about participatory democracy in Nigeria.

In a study of the first five years of a standards based assessment in New Zealand, Stephen Agnew focuses on the subject of economics, and in particular on the performance of ethnic minorities. His findings lead him to ask questions about the suitability of the economics curriculum for students in low socio-economic groups and the efficacy of the assessment regime in use. Believing that ease of economic decision making is important for all students, he raises questions about the decline in uptake of the subject in such groups and whether this could be related to subject difficulty or lack of motivational teaching.

Lucey & Norton’s article examines the retirement understandings and dispositions of a group of pre-service teachers. Career development and retirement prospects are important strands in personal and professional development, and pre-service teachers would benefit from a sound grasp of the potential issues for their own situations as well as for the messages that they will formally and informally pass on to their prospective students. The study’s findings of poor knowledge, over-dependence on employer advice and concerns about ongoing lack of financial stability and prospects of saving for the future prompt calls for further study and seem to suggest a set of issues that teacher educators could usefully pursue with pre-service teachers.

Alan McManus’s article arises from considerations for teaching and learning the history of World War I that emerge from school group visits to a study centre located at the Flanders battle sites. The personal engagement with and emotional connection to the human tragedy of war that this author has witnessed in the young people visiting and studying at the centre has prompted this challenging article that supports teachers in taking a study of historical events beyond factual learning and into explorations of philosophical and social issues that are crucial to citizenship and values education.

The nature of individuals’ lingual identities is investigated by Ann-Christin Torpsten. The subjects of the study are students in Sweden for whom Swedish is a second language. A life-story approach is used to investigate their lingual identity and possibilities for their development as active, multicultural global citizens. The stories are interpreted by reasoning about language and the creation of meaning as well as by tracing similarities and differences in culture and cultural capital. The right to maintain and develop both their first language/languages and their culture emerges as an important social and educational value to be fostered in school for all young citizens.

Angela Jaap and Fiona Patrick have studied perceptions of self-efficacy in connection with the development and demonstration of musical talent. Talented musicians are often perceived as gifted, but individuals’ perceptions of what they have achieved and how their talent has been fostered and developed are revealing about the importance of interpretations of self-efficacy and levels of control of the processes involved. The interviews conducted in the study lead the authors to conclude that there is an important relationship between development of talent, concepts of agency and self-efficacy, and sustained effort that can be identified in learning in musical contexts. The impact of perceptive and sensitive teaching is recognised, and these findings could be seen to have relevance for learners in any subject context if aligned with similar levels of motivation to learn. The implications for learning and teaching that have human development and fulfilment as major aims are evident.

In our Curriculum Development and Classroom Practice section of this issue we have an article from Oyeleke Oluniyi that gives a clear account of the development of democratisation in Nigeria. Some of the challenges facing citizens are outlined, and a strong link is made to the importance of education in providing opportunities to learn about and recognise the implications of participatory democracy. The author has been conducting research into classroom-based activities that can serve as models for democratic action in communities and the country as a whole.

There is, as always, a variety of subject context in the articles selected for this issue of CSEE, but again, underpinning values relating to the dignity and development of the human person form a discernible thread linking each article to the aims of citizenship, social and economics education.

Cathy Fagan
University of Glasgow

Has the Academic Performance of Low Socioeconomic Students and Students from Ethnic Minorities Improved in the Subject of Economics over the First Five Years of a Standards-Based Assessment Regime?

STEPHEN AGNEW Economics Department, University of Canterbury, Christchurch, New Zealand

http://dx.doi.org/10.2304/csee.2011.10.1.3

This article aims to establish whether the first five years of full implementation of the National Certificate of Educational Achievement (NCEA) has seen improvement in the achievement of students from low socioeconomic status (SES) schools, and from ethnic minorities, in the subject of economics. The findings show that the academic performance of low-SES students in economics has significantly worsened from 2004 to 2008. When data are stratified by ethnicity and SES status, Asian students have seen an increase in academic performance in economics across all SES groupings. Pacific Island students have seen no significant change in their academic performance in economics for low- and medium-decile school students, but a significant improvement in academic performance for students from high-decile schools. Maori students have seen significant improvement in academic performance in economics in medium- and high-decile schools, but have experienced a significant deterioration in academic performance in low-decile schools. There has also been a large decrease in the number of students from low-SES schools taking the subject of economics. This raises questions around the relevance and suitability of the current secondary school economics curriculum to low-SES students, as well as around its suitability for the new NCEA assessment regime.

Understandings of Retirement Concepts among Pre-service Teachers

THOMAS A. LUCEY & EDGAR A. NORTON Illinois State University, Normal, USA

http://dx.doi.org/10.2304/csee.2011.10.1.14

The purpose of this study was to interpret the retirement understandings and planning dispositions among the population of preservice teachers at a Midwestern institution of higher learning. Teacher education majors were surveyed about their knowledge of retirement topics and their attitudes towards retirement funding. There were approximately 4400 prospects, of which 303 responded and 211 completed all survey items. Respondents indicated that they had very little knowledge about retirement concepts. They trusted employer-sponsored advice more than information from other sources and feared that limited resources would prevent them from saving for retirement. The authors recommend further research that employs broader samples and focused methods to provide a fuller interpretation of related issues.

Poppies and Pedagogy: learning from the ‘Great War’

ALAN McMANUS School of Education, University of Glasgow, United Kingdom

http://dx.doi.org/10.2304/csee.2011.10.1.27

Teaching World War I as history, teachers can be forgiven for focusing on the facts. A wide-angle view of the ‘Great War’ will take in the assassination in Sarajevo; Nationalism, Imperialism, Militarism and Alliances; battle maps and artillery; strategy and bodycounts; and the Treaty of Versailles and the League of Nations. But it may leave out the emotion still evoked by the war itself today. Emotion is often considered anathema by academics anxious to demonstrate their objectivity. However, the author argues that where there is emotion, there are values and that as educators, we have a duty to provide opportunities for learning from those four years, 1914‑18, so that this war can come into focus as a warning for the Nationalism, Imperialism, Militarism and Alliances of today. His reflections are therefore offered not only for the inspiration of teachers of history but also for those leading discussions on themes of citizenship and values.

Global Citizenship and Lingual Identity: the ability to perform in different lingual settings

ANN-CHRISTIN TORPSTEN School of Education, Psychology and Sports Science, Linnaeus University, Kalmar, Sweden

http://dx.doi.org/10.2304/csee.2011.10.1.37

The aim of this article is to interpret second-language pupils’ encounter with the Swedish school regarding first- and second-language learning. An empirical context called experienced learning is investigated by interpreting student teachers’ oral and written narrated learning memories. Using a life-story approach, the interpretation focuses on lingual skills, lingual identity and citizenship. The study looks at participation in Swedish as a second language and mother tongue education when the subjects encountered the Swedish school system. Participating in those lessons is described as positive. Participating made it easier to improve skills in the second language and mother tongue. Mother tongue skills were transferred to the second-language improvement. It became much easier to continue developing the second language when skills in the mother tongue increased. Language skills were positive for continued learning, linguistic development, development of bilingualism and multilingualism. Through widened linguistic horizons it becomes possible to develop identity as multilingual persons. When skills increase in different languages such as Swedish as a second language and mother tongue, the subjects become aware of their identities as multilingual persons. They become aware of their possibilities of being active, multicultural, global citizens. Their ability to perform in different lingual settings becomes visible.

The Role of Perceived Self-Efficacy in the Development of Musical Ability: what can the study of successful musicians tell us about teaching music to able children?

ANGELA JAAP & FIONA PATRICK School of Education, University of Glasgow, United Kingdom

http://dx.doi.org/10.2304/csee.2011.10.1.46

The role of perceived self-efficacy is important to human social development and to learning in general, but how it relates to music talent development is not well understood. This article explores the concept of perceived self-efficacy as it relates to the development of musical talent by considering what is meant by the concepts of high ability in music and self-efficacy, and by discussing the results of interviews with successful professional musicians. The interview data suggest the need for four aspects of self-efficacy to be present in order to fully develop talent: individual judgement of capability; a belief that outcomes are tied to individual actions; self-regulation of activities related to learning; and persistence in the face of difficulties. The implications of this for music teaching are also discussed.

The Democratisation Process and Classroom Teaching in Nigeria

OYELEKE OLUNIYI Osun State College of Education, Ilesa, Nigeria

http://dx.doi.org/10.2304/csee.2011.10.1.56

Democratisation has become a household concept in Nigeria following the collapse of military rule. It is not out of place to link democracy in Nigeria to the wave of democratisation blowing across the globe, especially in Latin America, Africa and Eastern Europe following the end of the cold war, with the collapse and fragmentation of the former Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR). This article looks at some of the difficulties for democratic action in Nigeria. The importance of teaching democratic values in schools is recognised, and some topics used to provide curricular support for learning about participatory democracy are outlined. An investigation into methods for classroom teaching is described and some advice offered for policy makers and curriculum planners.

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