Shaping a Path Forward: Critical Approaches to Civic Education in Tumultuous Times

Jacob Kelley and Ashley N. Watson

The purpose of this book chapter is to offer an exploration of civic education by focusing on its emancipatory potential in a democratic society. It highlights a suite of critical approaches to civic education that can inform our understanding and practice of democracy, liberation, and struggle. In particular, this chapter enacts Freire’s notion of dialogue as a pathway for civic education that challenges the status quo and transforms society to be more just for all. It focuses on the educational, social, and political imperative to develop a critical consciousness among citizens in tumultuous times characterized by threats to the common good. By drawing on Freirean principles of education, it demonstratesthe ways in which civic education can enable us to shape a path forward by becoming active,critical, and reflective citizens who contribute to social change.

Citation

Kelley, J., & Watson, A. (2023). Shaping a path forward: Critical approaches to civic education in tumultuous times. In T. Hoggan-Kloubert, P. E. Mabrey, & C. Hoggan (Eds.), Transformative civic education in democratic societies (pp. 43–51). Michigan State University Press. https://doi.org/10.14321/jj.4303808.10