Asia Pacific Education Review Copyright 2002 by The Institute of Asia Pacific Education Development

2002, Vol. 3, No. 1, 69-82.

Teachers’ Conversations about Civic Education: Policy

and Practice in Australian Schools

Kerry J. Kennedy Simon Jimenez Di Mayer

Hong Kong Institute of Education University of Sydney University of Queensland
Hong Kong, China. Australia Australia

Suzanne Mellor Janet Smith

Australian Council for Educational Research University of Canberra
Australia Australia

Civic education has been a priority for many countries in the Asia Pacific region over the past decade. Governments of
different persuasions have recognized the need to provide stability and cohesion in their societies. This has been particularly
so at a time when globalization and other forces threaten to fragment the nation state and co-opt its citizens into broader
realms of allegiance and commitment.
Policy makers have not been slow to come up with new directions for civic education in the school curriculum and
the literature now abounds with examples from different countries. Yet missing from this flurry of policy development
has been recognition of the role that teachers play in constructing civic education programs at the school level. In the
end, it is teachers in classrooms who determine how centralized polices are understood and implemented.
Drawing on a sample of Australian teachers, the purpose of this paper is to highlight the role that teachers
play in constructing and reconstructing civic education policy in schools and classrooms. Interviews conducted
with teachers in four Australian States/Territories have revealed that teachers' personal views of civics are
more likely to influence them than external policies, their focus is more on citizenship than formal civics
programs and that they are reluctant to develop programs where civic knowledge is formalized and
disciplined based.

 
 programs of civic education. Kennedy (1997) reported
Throughout the Asia Pacific region over the past
decade governments have been interested in developing
Kerry Kennedy, Head of the Department of Curriculum and
Instruction, the Hong Kong Institute of Education; Simon Jimenez,
Civics education specialist, the University of Sydney; Di Mayer,
Senior Lecturer, the University of Queensland; Suzanne Mellor,
Research Fellow, the Australian Council for Educational Research;
Janet Smith, Lecturer, the University of Canberra. Correspondence
concerning this article can be addressed to Kerry Kennedy, Dept of
Curriculum and Instruction, The Hong Kong Institute of Education,
10 Lo Ping Road, Tai Po, New Territories, Hong Kong SAR,
CHINA. Electronic mail may be sent via to Internet kerryk
@ied.edu.hk.
* The research reported in this paper was funded by the
Australian Research Council (ARC). The views expressed are
those of the authors and not the ARC.
five country case studies spanning the US, England,
Australia, Hong Kong, and Malaysia where civic or
moral education plays a key role in the school
curriculum. Mizoue (1997) has reported similarly for
Japan. Wong (1997) has shown the historic concern with
civics education in England and in particular the role of
history in civics. Print, Ellickson & Baginda (1999)
focussed specifically on civic education and civil society in
the Asia Pacific region. More recently, Morris and Cogan
(2001) have compared civic education across six societies
(Hong Kong, Taiwan, Thailand, Japan, Australia, and the
United Sates) and have shown the continuing commitment
of the nation state to programs of civic education. Yet in
all this literature very little has been heard about the role
of teachers in civic education - what they believe, what
they do in the classrooms and what they think civic
education should be in the twenty first century.

69
70 Kerry J. Kennedy, Simon Jimenez, Di Mayer, Suzanne Mellor, and Janet Smith
The purpose of this paper, therefore, is to provide a
perspective on civic education from the point of view of
teachers. It uses a sample of Australian teachers drawn
from different States/Territories and different sectors of
education. By focusing on teachers, it is hoped to
expand existing understanding of the way civic education
policy and programs are constructed at the school level
and how they are influenced by the beliefs, values and
knowledge possessed by teachers. In this way, the
paper will highlight the role of teachers as significant
policy actors bounded by particular institutional
contexts.
Phase 1
The first year of the study focused on portraying the
views of elite policy actors who contributed to the
development of the civic education initiative. The
influence of policy elites has been documented in
policy areas as diverse as health (Taylor-Goody, 1996),
aged care (Gillin, 1996) and foreign policy (Kalela,
1976) and on policy processes in general (Benveniste,
1987). Yet relatively little attention has been paid to
the role of elites in education policy (Wirt, Mitchell
and Marshall, 1985). The reason that such influences
are important in this case is that civic education has

  

 

 
 

 

Successive Federal governments in the 1990s
committed Australian schools to the reintroduction of
civic education after an absence of almost forty years.
(Thomas, 1994). The main policy texts to emerge from
each government did not reveal any significant
differences between the conceptions of civic education
being proposed (Office of the Prime Minister, 1995;
Kemp, 1997). A recent analysis of these initiatives cast
them both as neo-conservative policy texts, despite the
social reconstructionist influence evident in the Keating
government's effort (Kennedy, 1997a).
Yet to cast the new civics as neo-conservative text
represents only one level of analysis. Knight, Smith and
Sachs have made the point that "a critical and
productive educational policy studies has the task of
producing new meaning around such policies that expand
the multiplicity of voices in it." They go on:
Only when the 'official' authority of the text as knowledge and
its source as guarantor of its truth are transcended, can the
construction of really useful knowledge begin (Knight, Smith
and Sachs, 1990, p.149).
In a recent three-year study, an attempt was made to
uncover such knowledge as it related to successive
Australian government initiatives concerned with civic
education. The three phases of the project were concerned
with different institutional contexts that sought to influence
been, above all, a 'top-down' initiative. It has involved
two Prime Ministers, a Commonwealth Minister for
Schools and Vocational Education and an expert group
appointed by one government and expanded by the
next. It has been elites in both governments who exerted
considerable influence on the policy development
process.
Phase 2
In the second year of the study, State / Territory policy
actors responsible for civic education were interviewed and
a content analysis undertaken of key policy and
curriculum documents. Of particular interest were the
professional development programs in civic education
funded by the Commonwealth but designed by
State/Territory Committees. The proposed methods
enabled an assessment to be made of the inter-
governmental influences that shaped civic education at
the State/Territory level.
Phase 3
This paper reports the results of this third phase,
where teachers were considered as policy actors and
schools as one further institutional context in which
civic education was constructed. The study was
interested in gathering information that would highlight
the knowledge, values and assumptions that teachers had
about the new civics education initiatives.
the construction of civic education in Australia:  
    

 
 
 Teachers' Civic Conversations 71

 
  the methodology had to reflect this important objective. It
The research team was committed to using an
unobtrusive methodology that would respect the
life-world of schools and teachers while yielding ideas
and issues that help to better understand them. Thus in
the initial stages of this phase of the project, the team
adopted a conception of teacher involvement that saw
teachers as participants in the project actively constructing
knowledge from their experiences and contributing in a
meaningful way to the research process.
The composition and geographic location of each
member of the research team dictated the jurisdictions
from which schools would be selected: Queensland,
New South Wales, the Australian Capital Territory,
and Victoria. Each researcher approached schools to seek
participation in the project. A project description was
prepared so that there was a common understanding
amongst both researchers and schools about the scope
and purpose of the project. In total, the sample
comprised eleven schools in four States / Territories.
The research team unanimously agreed that in-depth
interviewing, rather than surveys, would be the most
appropriate way to understand teachers' conceptions of
civics education and policy. This decision adhered to the
advice of other researchers who have argued that such a
methodology is the most appropriate way to understand
school-level and school actor experiences:
Questionnaires and structured interviews that have traditionally
been central to social science research are frequently not useful
in the exploration of the kind of practical knowledge that shapes
what teachers know about teaching and what they do in
classrooms. Researchers find themselves conducting semi
structured and open interviews where they, together with their
informants, explore the meaning of concepts, categories, and
events (Gudmundsdottir, 1996, p.293).
Hoffman (1995, p.143) also identified in-depth
interviewing as being particularly appropriate for policy
research. She commented that "qualitative interviews
served to uncover and understand as far as possible the
was in this context that the idea of a "conversation" was
seen to be an appropriate conception in which to frame the
interviews. The literature provided many examples of such
an approach, applied in a wide range of educational
settings. Feldman (1998) used conversations with preservice
teacher education students to build a sense of professional
community. Jenlink and Carr (1996) saw conversations as
being useful devices to promote school level change and to
build community. Aspland, Macpherson, Booker, and Elliott
(1998) used conversations with teachers to analyse written
narratives and help develop a new model of curriculum
leadership. Support for the use of conversations as inclusive
devices also comes from communication theory where it has
been suggested that when public speakers adopt a
conversational rather than an oratorical style, they are more
likely to convince their audiences that they are all belong
to a single community with reciprocal rights and obligations
(Branham & Barnett, 1996).
Linked closely to the idea of research conversations is
the work of Clandinin and Connelly (1996) and Connelly,
Clandinin, and He (1997). Central to this work is the
idea that teachers are professionals whose stories about
their world are powerful reconstructions of their lived
experiences. What is highlighted in these stories is not
the researcher, or the research questions or a particular
approach to methodology. Rather, what are central are the
stories that teachers have to tell and the powerful learning
that such stories can generate. Such an approach to research
highlights the centrality of teachers voices in the research
process. Hargreaves (1996) has argued that the portrayal of
teachers' voices through cases and vignettes represents an
important way of understanding the work of teachers and
helps to avoid romanticising that work.
The research team was therefore guided by this
methodology and between August 2001 and March 2002
initiated "civics conversations" with thirty seven teachers in 10
schools (secondary and elementary) across four States/
Territories. Details regarding samples for each State/Territory
are contained in the respective case studies that follow.
specific rationality and the self view of the actors  
    
  
involved". Furthermore, earlier phases of the project  
   
 
drew on the use of in-depth interviews with success
(Kennedy & Connor, 1999).
If teachers were to be recognised as significant Each researcher prepared case studies of schools in
contributors to the research process in this project then their respective State/Territory. Presented below are
72 Kerry J. Kennedy, Simon Jimenez, Di Mayer, Suzanne Mellor, and Janet Smith
selected themes and issues that emerged in individual
classrooms, schools and jurisdictions. There is significant
variability in these themes and issues as a result of
priorities and concerns that were raised in different
school settings and as a result of researchers' responses
to these unique contexts. The State/Territory reflections
are followed by a brief analysis - across different
schools and different jurisdictions - to determine and
highlight what commonalities, if any, exist. Attention is
also given to a preliminary assessment of these themes
in light of policy and practice.
Emerging themes and issues in Australian Capital
Territory (ACT) schools
The following themes and issues emerged as a result
of a series of informal conversations about civics and
citizenship education that took place throughout 2001
with many schools in the ACT, a self-governing
Territory within the Australian Commonwealth and the
seat of the Federal government. Following these informal
conversations, two schools were selected as productive
sites in which to record conversations with teachers. One
of these schools was a K-10 government school and the
other a K-12 independent school. In December 2001,
conversations were recorded with 10 teachers at these
two schools.
Importance of Civics and Citizenship in ACT schools
The interviews with teachers in ACT schools
provided ample evidence that there is a great deal of
productive and thoughtful activity taking place in the
area of civics and citizenship in the ACT. All of the
teachers who were interviewed greatly valued civics and
citizenship education and were actively engaged in
seeking new spaces in the curriculum for students to
learn about civics education and for students to
participate in citizenship activities.
Benefits of Conversations for Interviewer and Teachers
Both the pre-conversations and the final recorded
conversations with teachers were invaluable for both the
interviewer and the teachers involved. The interviewer was
interested to note the important role that informal
pre-conversations played in setting up the final recorded
conversations. These initial conversations entailed conversations
with principals or longstanding teachers in the school in order
to reveal which teachers should be approached for the
recorded conversations. The final recorded conversations
yielded not only rich data related to questions about civics
and citizenship education, but more broadly, they touched
on the role of schools in the community and on the place
of values education in the curriculum. Interestingly, after
the conversations with teachers had been recorded, several
of them contacted the interviewer to say how helpful the
conversations had been in progressing their own thinking
on civics and citizenship education and in enabling them
to articulate issues which they had been grappling with.
Articulation of Civics and Citizenship in the ACT
School-based Curriculum
Because curriculum is school-based in the ACT,
there is very little consistency between schools in the
ways in which curriculum is organised, and curriculum
content varies enormously from school to school.
Approaches to a curriculum area such as civics and
citizenship therefore vary greatly between schools and
are less likely to be mandated or formalised in the
curriculum. Consequently, whilst civics and citizenship
education is an important component in most schools, it
often resides in the hearts and minds of individual
teachers rather than existing as a formalized and explicit
part of the curriculum. Whilst such an arrangement can
be seen to be a strength in terms of the passion and
enthusiasm individual teachers may bring to bear on
civics and citizenship issues, it can also be viewed as a
potential weakness. When teachers who have been
responsible for civics and citizenship education in a
particular school retire or move to another school, the
impetus is often lost and the program can lose
momentum because the program and outcomes may not
have been made explicit or formalized in the curriculum.
Civics vs. Citizenship Education
There appear to be differences in the ways in which
civics education and citizenship education are
conceptualized and reflected in the school curriculum.
Whilst civics education appears to be quite well
documented and articulated in the curriculum, citizenship
education seems more likely to remain implicit, assumed

and less well documented. Civic education is mostly
made quite explicit in the school curriculum and is
largely seen as the responsibility of the school's Key
Learning Area, Studies of Society and the
Environment (SOSE)1) including the history curriculum.
In contrast, citizenship education is less likely to be
articulated within the formal curriculum of the school,
and unlike civics education, is not seen as belonging
to a particular faculty or curriculum area of the
school.
2)
Usage of Discovering Democracy Materials
Most schools were enthusiastically using the
Discovering Democracy materials and all teachers were
most familiar with the materials. The civics component of
many of the school's programs was frequently written
around the Discovering Democracy materials. Whilst
weaknesses in the materials were readily identified by
most of teachers, they nevertheless praised elements of
the materials and used them widely. One potential
problem which emerged with the widespread usage of
the Discovering Democracy materials in schools, was
that they could easily be lulled into a false sense of
security that they had "done civics and citizenship",
when in fact they had used the materials to assist with
civics education, whilst more general citizenship issues
had barely been addressed.
Values Education, Civics, and Citizenship
Very few schools had addressed issues surrounding
the values on which civics and citizenship in their
school had been founded. Whilst some teachers
inferred that citizenship education is values based and
assumes a particular set of values and mores, these did
not appear to have been adequately negotiated,
discussed or articulated. It would seem that more
debates are urgently needed on the values on which
civics and citizenship education is to be founded in
each school.
Literacies for Civics and Citizenship
Negotiating the terrain of civics and citizenship
education appears to require a certain literacy or set of
literacies for staff and students. Is there in fact a
civics and citizenship literacy and what might this
Teachers' Civic Conversations 73
entail?
Student Agency in Civics and Citizenship
Whilst students in schools appear to be active and
eager participants in civics and citizenship education,
there seems to be very little evidence of their input into
curriculum content or directions in this area. It is
possible that conversations about civics and citizenship
are also needed with students in schools in order to
determine their hopes, aspirations, experience, and needs.
Issues from Schools in New South Wales
This section summarizes preliminary themes that
emerged from the conversations about civics and
citizenship education that took place with seven teachers
of History and Geography at two schools in New South
Wales3) , the most populous State in Australia with its
capital city in Sydney.
Teaching for Citizenship: Skills and Content
Extensive research has demonstrated that a teachers'
subject matter background is a dominant context shaping
their professional lives (Shulman, 1986; Grossman,
1990). One finding from this research suggests that
subject matter (such as History or Geography) is an
informative lens through which teachers often view, react
to, and interpret other subject matter (Wilson &
Wineburg, 1988). Other research has found that the
subject department is an equally critical context that
shapes teachers' professional lives, their pedagogy, and
conceptions of subject matter (Siskin, 1989).
While teachers raised other issues in conversations
about civics, subject matter was clearly on their minds -
what should be taught in civics, what was already being
taught, and why for many teachers, skills were much
more important than content when teaching civics
education.
When teachers elaborated their views about civics,
they consistently drew attention to the importance of
skill development. For some teachers, the importance of
developing 'citizenship skills' far outweighed the
importance of 'civics content' when teaching civics. As
other research has found, the importance that teachers
place on skills and the types of content they esteem can
74 Kerry J. Kennedy, Simon Jimenez, Di Mayer, Suzanne Mellor, and Janet Smith

Table 1. Summary of Skills and Content Identified for Civics Education

 


             

   
   
 

 
    


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often be a result of a conception of citizenship that is
either emerging or one that is firmly in place (Jimenez,
2001). Table 1 provides a summary of the content and
skills that teachers consistently identified.
On their own, the identified content areas are
traditional and conservative, according to Gilbert (1996)
and Giroux's (1980) conceptions of civics education
subject matter.
However, of the seven teachers, only two indicated
that these content areas were 'essential' for students to
know. Instead, teachers focused the conversation around
skill development and argued that skills, not content,
should be the cornerstone of civics in schools. Those
teachers who deemed skill development as imperative
tended to eschew the importance of learning 'dry'
political content, such as the division of powers, how
laws are passed, and so on. One teacher went so far as
to say that content was irrelevant in terms of citizenship
development. The emphasis that teachers placed on skills
over content mirror alternative conceptions of civics
education and conceptions of citizenship found in the
literature (Gilbert, 1996; Giroux, 1980; Parker, 1996).
The Perceived Visibility of Civics in Schools
The perception that civics is highly visible in schools
varied considerably between case study sites. At both
schools, teachers considered both the formal and
informal curriculum as potential sources of civics-related
teaching, content, and activity. Teachers felt that in the
formal curriculum, civics would most likely be addressed
by the Key Learning Area, Human Society in its
4)
Environment (HSIE) department, in such subjects as
Commerce and Legal Studies. In the informal
curriculum, teachers also identified such familiar
civics-related activities as the Student Representative
Council. In general, considerations of civics and its
visibility were often framed in a traditional conception,
drawing on the formal subject context, with content and
related activities based mainly on politics and
government.
However, when teachers considered activities that
reflected citizenship, rather than activities that reflected
civics as a school subject, the scope of our
conversations widened greatly, as did the scope of what
might constitute civics and citizenship education.
Discussions focused on both actual and potential
activities that embraced such things as community
involvement with physically and mentally challenged
youth, protecting the environment, and working with the
poor. One teacher spoke of the schools participation in a
Rock Eisteddfod5) as a highly engaging citizenship
activity as it captured a majority of students' interests
and allowed them to interact with students from other
schools. Another teacher identified racial disharmony in
the town, and while the issue was often far too
sensitive to address directly with his Year 9 class, the
teacher identified it as a highly relevant citizenship
issue, and indirectly, it was a fundamental context to the
school's overall environment and students' daily
interaction.
At one school, it was clear that teachers felt
engaging students in citizenship activities was already an
integral part of their school's mission, and something the

school had been doing well before Discovering
Democracy (DD). At this school, there was the feeling
that civics, through recent junior syllabus changes in
History and Geography and DD materials, was being
"foisted" upon the school. As one teacher stated, civics
would only ever be the responsibility of History and
Geography, whereas "the responsibility for citizenship
falls to all of the departments within the school".
Teachers felt the school was already fulfilling its
citizenship mission, through its long-standing history of
social justice and active involvement in the local
community. It was evident that teachers felt the school
was fulfilling this in a more holistic way than they
believed the revised syllabi or DD recommended. In
contrast, at another school, teachers welcomed the
direction and guidance provided by the syllabus, in part
because of a perception that civics was not yet being
formally 'endorsed' at the school.
Discovering Democracy: Use and Familiarity
In general, most teachers were at least aware of DD
and the associated materials. However, the ways in
which DD was drawn upon and how its materials were
used varied considerably. At one school, the impetus to
use DD materials was a result of recent changes to the
junior History syllabus in 1998. While at the time of
our discussion (August 2001) these materials had not yet
been formally included in the curriculum, the Head
teacher for History indicated that her staff would
incorporate some of these materials in the following
school year. At another school, teachers recalled how
they had applied for a DD grant in 1999, by writing a
proposal that included a DD-related program into the
school curriculum. They were successful and were
awarded a sum of money that was put towards
professional development and resources, presumably for
civics. Their proposal outlined a program that would use
civics related materials as texts to improve student
literacy, and as a way to promote student awareness of
citizenship. The program never became part of the
formal curriculum, and one teacher stated this was a
function of limited staff resources, time constraints, and the
departure of a teacher who guided the proposal. None of
the participating teachers at this school indicated that DD
materials were being accessed or used in 2001. As other
research has found, a teacher champion can often facilitate
the visibility and use of a new initiative such as DD
Teachers' Civic Conversations 75
(Erebus Consulting Group, 1999).
At both schools, DD was not an active part of the
formal school curriculum, nor were teachers very
aware of the materials and how they could be
incorporated into their subject areas of Geography and
History.
Concluding Remarks
One very positive outcome of the conversations was
how valuable many teachers felt these conversations
were to them professionally. Almost all teachers
indicated that the conversations were a useful forum in
which to reflect on their own ideas and needs about
civics. Many indicated that the conversations provided a
unique and valuable opportunity to consider and debate
the meaning of civics and citizenship, and to debate its
purpose in an educational context. Teachers' views about
civics are invaluable. Their views will shape and
transform policy, and ultimately, will inform how
students learn about citizenship in schools. It is
imperative that conversations and dialogue continue so
that policy can be improved and more accurately
incorporate the diversity of citizenship.
Perspectives from Queensland Schools
This section summarises preliminary themes that
emerged from the conversations about civics and
citizenship education that took place with seven
teachers in three schools in Queensland, a State in the
North Eastern area of Australia whose capital city is
Brisbane. These included two upper primary school
teachers and five secondary teachers (two Heads of
Social Science Departments, one Legal Studies teacher
and two Studies of Society and the Environment
(SOSE) teachers.
Civics and the Curriculum
Even though all teachers agreed that the
development of civic knowledge and citizenship
outcomes was very important, most had difficulty
articulating their personal views of civics and
citizenship. However, they were very comfortable and
articulate explaining what they were doing in their
classrooms and in the school.
76 Kerry J. Kennedy, Simon Jimenez, Di Mayer, Suzanne Mellor, and Janet Smith
The secondary teachers talked about civics and
citizenship education predominantly within the context of
the formal curriculum and in relation to the mandated
syllabus. They thought that the rest of the school staff
would also agree that civics and citizenship education
was the responsibility of the Social Science
department, just as literacy would be viewed as the
domain of the English department. For example,
"Everyone has got their own thing to do... they've got
to get through their curriculum". By contrast, the
primary teachers involved in this research highlighted
the importance of a whole school approach, involving
an integrated approach across KLAs and across year
levels with a major focus on citizenship outcomes.
Thus, while civics and citizenship education could
potentially become the shared purpose of the whole
school, the balkanised nature of departments and
subject teaching areas in secondary schools in general
is a particular challenge to overcome. Likewise the
secondary teachers often talked about the content that
needed to be addressed in the formal curriculum
(related to politics and government) and the associated
challenges of doing that, while, in general, the primary
teachers talked more about more generic skills for
citizenship development.
Discovering Democracy and Studies of Society and
the Environment (SOSE)
The teachers agreed that the new Queensland SOSE
syllabus provides lots of opportunities for developing
civic knowledge and citizenship outcomes in an
integrated way relevant to the students' interests.
However, they cautioned that learning outcomes
associated with civics and citizenship education need to
parallel what teachers are already being asked to report
on as directed by mandated syllabus documents,
otherwise teachers would see them as 'add-ons' to an
already overcrowded curriculum. Despite this,
Discovering Democracy materials have been well
received and utilised. Of particular note was the view
that the DD materials fit well with the outcomes of the
new Queensland SOSE syllabus. Generally, the teachers
selected and used aspects of the materials as resources
for their formal curriculum programs within their school
or department.
The Student Context
Teachers felt restricted in the scope of what they
could hope to achieve in developing civic knowledge
and citizenship outcomes, by the characteristics and
values and attitudes of their students, their families and
the broader school community. Teachers expressed a
desire to make the learning more relevant to the
students, and the need to involve them in a process.
Simply telling them about it is 'too dry'. One teacher
said "citizenship education has always had a bad
reputation. Traditionally it's been a subject for kids who
don't want to do History or Geography... and being
compulsory through to Year 10, we get kids at the
lower end. So teaching Cit Ed has always been a
struggle for teachers. And the content we're looking at
is often 'too academic' for them... Talking about
government can be very dry so we try to localise the
content and make it relevant... We try to concentrate on
local things". However the teachers said they often
found it difficult to make the learning relevant to the
students' personal everyday lives while at the same time
trying to broaden their outlook to more national and
global considerations. For example, "... the new [SOSE]
syllabus looks at issues of peace and the
environment...and you're talking to a group of farmers
and children of defence force workers... they are all into
war and killing things! You know, you walk through the
playground and you hear about how many pigs they
shot on the weekend... and how many trees they can
knock down before anyone notices... how much DDT
dad's got buried under the shed... they're not interested
in..."
There was a view that within adolescent cultures and
sub-cultures, political issues and having a social
conscience are not valued. Furthermore, there was some
feeling that secondary students like to know what
'subject' they're doing and exactly what content
knowledge they need to 'know' for assessment purposes.
Thus, activities outside the formal curriculum, such as
Student Councils, needed to be involve the students in
making decisions about 'real' issues. Students need to
feel empowered, they need to know that their decisions
will be acted upon - 'it's all that empowerment stuff...
you know making them realise that they can make a
difference'. Linked to this is an emphasis on developing
skills for citizenship.
Concluding Remarks

There is a sense in these teachers' conversations that
the value and status of civics and citizenship education
in a department or school, and consequently the
inclusion of it in formal and co-curricula activities, is
dependant upon someone being a 'driving force' in the
school/department. Thus, the departure of such a person
from the school impacts upon the ongoing and
coordinated nature of a focus on civics and citizenship
issues in that school. Often it is teachers' personal
interests, prior experiences and backgrounds which
impact upon whether they take up the challenge of
foregrounding civics and citizenship education beyond
that prescribed by the mandated syllabus.
Perspectives and Issues from Schools in Victoria
Thirteen teachers from three schools contributed to
discussions about civics and citizenship in Victoria, a
southern State of Australia whose capital city is
Melbourne.
Knowledge of Discovering Democracy
The arrival of the Discovering Democracy materials
was the first the teachers in the schools knew of the
Discovering Democracy policy. They had not been part of a
wider discussion and most of them did not realise such a
conversation was taking/had taken place. Thus the kit was,
for them, 'uncontextualised' by any discussion of the
Discovering Democracy policy's learning objectives etc.
Therefore for the staff of these three schools discussion of
Civic & Citizenship (C&C) education policy occurred solely
within the school community. Interpretation of the policy
was confined to their own community's goals, values, and
preferred learning outcomes.
General Response to the Discovering Democracy
Units/materials
Teachers said the materials convey an uncontested view
of civics and citizenship, of Australian history, and 'doesn't
fit our SOSE program'. However all three schools visited
have 'dipped into' Discovering Democracy resources, with
the 2 primary schools having used only the Federation unit.
The Federation unit did 'help us fill in gaps in our own
knowledge', so this Discovering Democracy objective was
Teachers' Civic Conversations 77
achieved for the primary teachers. 'It enabled us to stay
one step ahead of the kids'.
Specific Concerns
Teachers in the two primary schools did not think
civic knowledge is very important, but they think 'rules
and regulations' in relation to the students' own school
environment are important. One school did a unit on the
school's R&R, and the other had a range of structures
and activities which connect to these kinds of
school-specific civic knowledge (SRC etc).
Both primary schools value decision-making,
problem-solving and negotiating as important processes
of learning and they are explicitly taught, with a
view to achieving particular attitude formation and
values objectives. These may be related to civics'
process objectives, but primary teachers don't believe
that these young children will retain more specific data.
(Examples from the Federation unit given to support this
argument for non-retention. What the children had
remembered from this unit were the flags they had
designed, with their own personal icons built into the
flags' designs.)
The Discovering Democracy materials do not assist
teachers in these three schools affirm the values and
learning activities they regard as most important. The
civic attitudes and values (See Prior's Dimensions 2-5)
are the concern of all the primary teachers. In the
second primary school there was also considerable
explicit attention given to Dimension 6. The teachers
believed these were citizenship dispositions, something
they saw as rather more than civics.
The secondary school staff thought both civic
knowledge (as constructed by Discovering Democracy
and Prior, though it was believed these were different
constructions of the terms) and citizenship outcomes
were important. Their first approach, with the Grant
scheme was to conduct an audit of the civics being
taught through the formal curriculum across the whole
school. From this they concluded they 'were already
covering the civic knowledge territory quite adequately'.
However, the school community wanted a greater
emphasis on citizenship values and dispositions to be
achieved, both through the formal curriculum, and
through school-based decision-making processes (i.e.,
those which were already functioning were to be
augmented).
Thus it must be concluded that in these three
78 Kerry J. Kennedy, Simon Jimenez, Di Mayer, Suzanne Mellor, and Janet Smith
schools the Discovering Democracy policy has meant
little change to the teaching programs/pedagogy in
civics because they pre-existed the policy. And the
Discovering Democracy policy has meant little change
to the teaching programs/pedagogy in citizenship, since
it does not explicitly address these areas.
All staff in all three schools saw the achievement of
C&C learning outcomes as encompassed by the Prior
6)
Six Dimensions , as 'legitimate and achievable learning
outcomes of a successful C&C program (curricula and
extra-curricula) in a school. Dimension 1 (even as
defined) was seen as limited, and Dimension 6 was seen
as hard to achieve... but we should be trying much
harder'.
Positive Impacts of Discovering Democracy Program
The existence of the Discovering Democracy
Program meant that staff (including the principals) were
able to re-examine their C&C policies, within their
normal curriculum and administration reviews. It
empowered the staff to raise curriculum and social
questions and to engage the parent community in that
discussion, in ways that might not have otherwise been
possible. By raising the profile of C&C, school
communities were able to interpret the C&C objectives
in ways that made sense to their community. One school
won a grant to do specific innovative C&C curriculum
work, and another trialled and instituted new processes
of students being involved in school decision-making,
and established a range of extension activities for
children.
Most of the C&C curricula work, though not all, has
been achieved through the SOSE curriculum. New units
have been written, and an impetus has been developed
to raise the profile of SOSE generally. This has been
regarded as a success in all three schools, though in the
secondary school it has been a most significant shift of
realisation by the whole staff of what are some of the
central concerns and activities of the SOSE Key
Learning Area.
The co-curricula outcomes have been achieved
through school-based decision-making bodies. The
processes previously utilised in the schools were
re-examined in the light of the levels of engagement
accorded the students and parents and other community
stakeholders.
One of the key benefits of the Discovering
Democracy policy was that it provided significant
monies for professional development. This strategy was
universally applauded by all staff interviewed. The PD
strategy provided a detailed explication of the
Discovering Democracy program and materials (enabling
a subsequent freedom to decide how useful or in what
ways they could be utilised by the school). It also
provided time for teachers to reflect on what the schools
were doing and what they might like to change. Time
for reflecting on practice (especially as a group, during
or after the PD) was seen as the best most valuable
outcome of the policy.
It can be concluded that Discovering Democracy was
used by all three schools to promote C&C, to re-focus
on implementing their policies and programs (curricula
and co-curricula). All three schools made use of the
Discovering Democracy policy and program to address
their own C&C concerns. They constructed the
Discovering Democracy policy and program as an
opportunity to raise the profile of the issues and
pedagogic approaches they valued. They grasped what
they saw as an opportunity to review their goals, and in
the case of two of the schools they were significantly
reviewed and augmented and in the third it resulted in a
realisation that they needed more information/knowledge
themselves. However they made little use of the
Discovering Democracy materials, which 'lie languishing
somewhere in the library, I guess!... we can always ask
the librarian...'.
Particular Interest in Leadership
Leadership is a live debate in all three schools. The
key issues were seen to be how to:
Offer opportunities to engage in leadership activities
to all not just some students.
Make decision-making 'real', how to have it be
about things that matter to students.
Keep a range of decision-making processes
complementary, not conflictual or overlapping.
Acknowledge and affirm citizenship successes, even
if small, in such a way as to retain in students a
sincerity and thoughtfulness about the leadership
tasks.
Avoid creating division or complacency within
student community, especially when supporting
'difference'.
Connect and reinforce the concepts of 'leading' and

'responsibility' (more an issue with younger
children and those cultures inexperienced with
leadership).
Once the matters reported above had been discussed,
the interest of the teachers being interviewed was solely
limited to their teaching of the values and goals agreed
to by their communities. It was at this point of the
Civic Conversation that the disconnection of civics
education in the schools from Discovering Democracy
was most palpable. This lack of link between
Discovering Democracy and their programs meant that
they were not prepared to 'integrate' them in the
Conversation any longer. They talked animatedly and
at length about their values programs, the programs
planned for the following year, the reaction of their
students to the programs they currently have, the links
between parent and other community stakeholders to
the school and how to assess civic and citizenship
outcomes.
They all believed they were 'making a difference' to
the students' learning by their programs, but they wanted
their students to be able to confidently know how to
'make a difference' themselves, for themselves, their
peers, and their communities.
Teachers' Civic Conversations 79
civics and citizenship, even when they find difficulty
expressing these views, and furthermore, such views
have not been challenged by recent initiatives. This is a
particularly important insight with regard to teaching
materials in Discovering Democracy - a resource that is
heavily content dominated. Teachers may use the
materials but they will not necessarily be persuaded by
the underlying perspective of citizenship the materials
suggest. It is a teacher's personal values and
understandings that construct civic and citizenship
education in these schools rather than a major policy
initiative that has been supported and endorsed by two
successive Australian governments.
An interesting aspect of teachers' personal values
related to civics and citizenship is how they are
developed. There is an indication in one of the case
studies that experienced teachers tend to be able to
articulate such values more effectively. Even more than
this, however, there is a hint in at least two of the
cases that where there has been whole school
development of civics and citizenship education, there is
even stronger resistance to external attempts to impose a
contrary perspective. This is an important area to
examine more closely as further themes are identified
across sites.
At the same time teachers in these schools have
been able to discern uses of the materials that suit
    
  
 their own purposes. State based curriculum


  
   
 requirements have much greater force than those
In this section of the paper, themes that were
common across the case study sites are identified and
discussed.
There is scepticism about an emphasis on "civic
knowledge" as part of civic and citizenship education.
Described by teachers as 'dry', teachers seem to prefer a
focus on skills and on civic attitudes rather than civic
knowledge. In one sense this may simply be a reflection
of a long standing debate in social education about
"process and content". There has been a strong shift in
recent years from curriculum authorities to reinstate
content as the dominant partner in this debate so it
would not be an unusual response from teachers. Yet it
seems to be more than this - a more deeply felt
personal issue.
In all the case study sites there is a clear indication
that teachers have strongly held personal views about
promoted by the Commonwealth and thus the
Discovering Democracy materials have been used in
line with changing priorities at the state level. That is,
they can be used as a resource rather than a program
on their own. This process has always been envisaged
by many of those associated with the DD initiative,
but there is nevertheless a quite structured approach to
content in the materials that suggests a more rigid
attitude to the importance of that content. Yet again, it
is teachers who make that judgment, not those external
to schools.
A final theme that is emerging from these case
studies is the difference in attitudes to civics and
citizenship education between primary and secondary
school teachers. There is a tendency in secondary
schools for teachers to see a single subject department
as having responsibility whereas in primary schools there
is evidence that teachers are more likely to see it as a
whole school responsibility. Nevertheless, in at least
80 Kerry J. Kennedy, Simon Jimenez, Di Mayer, Suzanne Mellor, and Janet Smith
one case study a subject based approach has not
inhibited a more general school community approach
being developed. It does not seem, therefore, that
structures in themselves prevent more inclusive
approaches to civics and citizenship education. Other
factors include school traditions, teacher personalities and
teacher commitment.
 
 Youth Affairs.
The "conversations about civics" reported here have
attempted to bring to life the role of teachers as policy
actors in the process of making civic education come to
life in Australian schools and classrooms. It is a clear
recognition that teachers play a crucial role in the policy
production process. Understanding that role and
recognising the centrality of teachers to it is important
at all levels of education and across institutional
contexts. Too often, elite policy makers take the high
ground when it comes to the production of educational
policy as though the creation of a new policy is
enough to make it successful. Yet a truly sustainable
policy process has to both recognise and celebrate the
contributions that teachers make for they are the final
arbiters of policy and its true success depends on
them.
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1. The abbreviation SOSE is used throughout to denote
the Key Learning Area that includes History,
Geography, Social Studies Commerce and Legal Studies.
2. Discovering Democracy is the Commonwealth governments
civic education program for Australian schools. A central
feature of the program has been the development of
curriculum materials for primary and secondary grades. A
description of those materials, as well as a history of the
programme, can be found at <http://www.canberra. edu.au/
civics/discovering/discovering.html>. Further details can be
found at <http: //www.curriculum.edu.au/ democracy/index.
htm>.
3. Hereafter, civics or civics education, for reader ease.
4. HSIE is the New South Wales equivalent of the Key
Learning Area, Studies of Society and the Environment.
States in Australia are responsible for education thus
there can be variation in terminology and nomenclature
across State boundaries.
5. A specially organised musical event that features teams
from different schools participating in a modern dance
exhibition. It has become a very popular forum for
building teamwork and fostering school spirit through
he medium of dance.
6. 1) Civic Knowledge (e.g.: Understanding cultural
contexts in which a community exists)
2) A Sense of Personal Identity (e.g.: A positive
attitude to self)
3) A Sense of Community (e.g.: A commitment to
family, village or nation)
82 Kerry J. Kennedy, Simon Jimenez, Di Mayer, Suzanne Mellor, and Janet Smith

4) Adoption of a code of Civil Behaviours (e.g.: A

respect for others)
5) An informed and empathetic response to social Received April 15, 2002
issues (e.g.: Caring for the environment) Revision received June 3, 2002
6) A disposition to take social action (e.g.: Engaging Accepted June 19, 2002

in community service)