ABSTRACT
When is a citizen not a citizen? This question may sound like the beginning of a joke but it is meant to make a serious point about everyday life in a democracy. We could add the question ‘where is a citizen not a citizen?’ and interject with the short answers ‘never and nowhere’. We do need positive answers, however, and in this chapter we will be
exploring the ‘when and where’ of citizenship and citizenship education. Citizens act out their everyday lives in a range of different worlds, some of them more public, some of them less so. Citizens move from domestic situations, to work-place institutions, to the market-place and many other public arenas. These are all locations where their interactions and decisions are significant and have effects and where their principles are open to scrutiny. A citizenship education programme for children will concern itself with such everyday situations. It needs to start with the familiar personal and inter-personal worlds of the school and classroom and then spread its focus to the wider world. In this chapter we will also explore the ‘what’ and the ‘how’ of
citizenship and citizenship education. The term citizenship is complex and understanding it includes discussion of rights, freedoms and responsibilities. Understanding citizenship education also includes discussion of values underpinning active citizenship.
