| 摘要: | The article was aiming at presenting an overview of citizenship education in Canada. It fell into five parts.
First, it gave a brief description of the Canada school system. Despite the fact that education is administered provincially in Canada, there has been a fair degree of similarity across the country.
Second, it described the historical development of the policy of Canadian citizenship in general and education in particular. Based on the government’s conception of “ideal Canadian”, three stage were roughly divided after world war II. The first stage, from 1946 to 1950’s, Canadian government attempted to create a national identity around the ideal of Canada as the land of conquering; the second stage, from 1960’s to early 1970’s, Canada as the bilingual/bicultural reality; the third stage, since late 1970’s Canada as the pluralist ideal.
Third, it explicated the goals of Canadian citizenship education on the basis of a Delphi study. The traditional trinity of civic education: Knowledge, civic virture and participation, emerged from the deliberations of the Delphi panel. An informed citizenry in Canada, they said, would have a special knowledge of Canadian political, social and economic circumstanced informed by an appreciation of core organizing concepts that shape the practice of citizenship in democratic society.
In the fourth section, eleven current approaches to citizenship education in Canada were introduced. They were: history and the social studies; political education; law-related education; human rights education; gender equity education; global and international education; environmental education; medial literacy; multicultural education; economic education; and community service.
Lastly, it concluded that citizenship education is one important means to keep Canada from the threatening of her national existence, which are regionalism, Quebec separationism and Americal hegemony. |
