Active Citizenship Education

An Active Citizen is an entity that proactively takes responsibility and initiatives in the areas of public concern (Oxford Dictionary, 2022). One of the aspects of Active Citizenship is Civic Engagement, which involves work towards resolving community concerns and participation in the betterment of community life. Civic engagement is the process of believing that one can and should make a difference in enhancing his or her community (Ehrlich, 2000). For this, students need to be exposed to the challenges faced in society such as hunger and domestic violence (and others) so that they become capable of resolving such issues in the future (Cress, Collier, & Reitenauer, 2013).

Education can help in developing such Active Citizens and there are already many pedagogical approaches used to assure Civic Outcomes like learning how to become partners in their communities and working with others to solve community problems (Battistoni, 1997). Such Curriculum, Pedagogies, and all practices in the schools can allow engagement in and with the communities. This research aims to investigate which pedagogical practices can influence Active Citizenship in middle school students from India.