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"The job of a citizen is to keep his mouth open"-

Ganter Grass

he message emerging from a recent research series on

youth civic and political participation is clear: today's
youth are not disengaged from associational and small 'p'
political life, but they are increasingly disenchanted with
formal political institutions and practices. 1 While the profile of youth participation that emerges from the series is
complex, sometimes contradictory or contested, and ultimately incomplete, nonetheless the parameters are evident. Generation Y (those born after 1979) has less formal
political knowledge than previous generations and is highly suspicious of political spin and insincerity. Despite being
the most educated generation in Canadian history, many of
them don't grasp how governments and political institutions work nor do they understand the impact of politics on
their everyday lives. Only one in 20 Canadians between 18
and 30 years of age has ever belonged to a political party,
compared to one-third of those aged 60. And as is well
publicized, they are much less likely to vote than older
Canadians. While older generations across the western
world also exhibit disaffection from politics, it is much
more acute among youth.
CIVIC (OR CITIZENSHIP AS IT IS ALSO CALLED) EDUCATION REMAINS
A SINGULARLY IMPORTANT AND EFFECTIVE INSTITUTION TO ADDRESS
GAPS AND DEFICITS IN POLITICAL KNOWLEDGE AND SKILLS.

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While less politically literate, youth are savvy and sophisticated in other ways. For example, they are quick to use
online tools and networks to mobilize socially and politically, even if they often do not identify these initiatives as
being political. They are impatient with traditional ways of
doing politics, are turned off by parties, dislike hierarchical
approaches to organization and mobilization, and don't
think politics is an effective way to make change. They use
the marketplace to practice consumer citizenship and turn
to buycutts and boycotts as forms of political expression.
This generation lives online, getting much of its news
and information from the Internet and from non-mainstream media sources. They are more likely than older
Canadians to participate in political demonstrations, to volunteer, and to be members of groups or organizations.
They volunteer for different activities and are motivated by
different reasons (e.g., reciprocal relationships, skills development, social purposes). They look for engagement that
has personal meaning and delivers faster results than traditional political routes.
For educators, this is a good news/bad news story. Youth
are not apathetic or uninformed about important societal
issues; in fact they care deeply about the state of their local,
national and global communities and are hungry for meaningful opportunities to participate. Unfortunately, many of
them feel that they lack the knowledge and skills to engage
in formal political arenas. They tend to have lower levels of
internal and external efficacy than older generations. 2 They
are more likely to think that they have no influence on
what government does and to believe that governments do

not care about what they think. This erodes their confidence. As Llewellyn et al, authors of CPRN's paper on civic
learning, note: "Few students interviewed could envision
how greater youth voice or representation of youth issues
in government could make a difference." 3
This decline in formal political participation, including
voting, is complex and cannot be explained by any single
theory. The evidence points to an interconnected and overlapping web of factors, including generational effects,
socio-economic circumstances, changes in socialization
patterns, decline in deference, devaluing of the public
sphere and politics', disenchantment with political practices and institutions, failure of political institutions to
reach out to youth and attend to their needs and expectations, the pervasive influence of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) on all facets of youth life, low
levels of political efficacy, and declining political literacy.
The rest of this article focuses on one piece, albeit pivotal, of the civic and political health puzzle: the role of the
education system in preparing young people for active citizenship. Civic (or citizenship as it is also called) education
remains a singularly important and effective institution to
address gaps and deficits in political knowledge and skills.
It plays an important role in preparing youth to undertake
the public responsibilities and rights associated with democratic citizenship. As James Sloan, the Co-Director of the
Centre for European Politics, University of London, aptly
puts it: "Schools have been correctly identified as the basic
building blocks for socialization into democracy in the UK.
Citizenship education could nevertheless be taught in a
more practical way explicitly showing young people how
they can influence the political process."'4 Canada's diversity renders this task of enabling youth to develop a strong
sense of belonging and a shared citizenship even more necessary, but also more challenging than ever before.
However, it would be a mistake to expect one actor acting alone to remedy such a multi-faceted challenge. As
Llewellyn et al remind us; "Civic literacy is not and cannot
be considered a 'teacher problem'. Rather government
resources, policy, societal norms, and legal change influence the civic culture of schools and the citizenship role of
educators."5 Achieving a higher level of civic literacy will
require the collaborative development of a pan-Canadian
strategy that engages all governments, educators, youth,
families, the community sector and political parties. CPRN
positions a reframed, revitalized and diversified civic education as a key plank of that strategy,
While Canada does not want for scholarly work on the
theory and pedagogy of citizenship education, it has not
had the equivalent of the galvanizing Crick Report on civic
education in the UK, which resulted in the 2002 introduction of citizenship classes as a mandatory part of the
national curriculum. 6 While one might argue that such an
approach is not practical or desirable in a federal state, one
need only look to Australia, also a federation, that has
implemented national initiatives to improve citizenship literacy or to the Netherlands, which recently passed legislation to establish a comprehensive political program to promote the teaching of civic engagement. 7 However, a topdown, federally driven initiative is not what is envisioned
here. To the contrary, the Council of Ministers of Education, Canada (CMEC) - a provincial / territorial institution

EN BRIEF Un message clair ressort d'une serie r6cente de recherches sur [a

participation civique et politique des jeunes : les jeunes d'aujourd'hui ne sont
pas d6sengag6s de la vie associative et politique (avec un (, p ,, minuscule),
mais sont de plus en plus d6senchantes par les institutions et pratiques politiques officielles. MCme s'il s'agit de la generation la plus instruite de r'histoire canadienne, un grand nombre de jeunes ne saisissent pas le fonctionnement des gouvernements et institutions politiques et ne comprennent pas
les retomb6es de la politique sur leur vie quotidienne. Ne devrions-nous pas
nous pr6occuper autant de la capacite des Canadiens de reconnaitre et de
soutenir une saine gouvernance democratique, ainsi que d'y participer, que
d'autres formes de lacunes de connaissances? Au Canada, ii n'existe actuellement aucun consensus au sujet du modele ou des mod6les de citoyennete
6 promouvoir dans les ecoles. Aucune recherche ne porte non plus sur la
fa(;on dont M'education h la citoyennet6 est r6ellement enseign6e A 1'6cole ou
sur la mani&re de surmonter les obstacles qui entravent la mise en ceuvre
d'approches efficaces.

- is well placed to convene, coordinate and support a panCanadian process to develop a national strategy for citizenship education. This work could build on its pan-Canadian
Literacy Action Plan and Forum on Literacy initiative,
scheduled for spring, 2008.
The state of adult literacy in Canada has raised serious
concerns about Canada's ability to compete in a knowledge-based global economy and about the unacceptable
waste of human potential it represents. Recent reports
indicate that Canadians also have low rates of health and
financial literacy.8 If we accept the premise that a healthy
democracy is dependent on an informed and vigilant citizenry, then we must be no less exercised about the current
state of civil literacy among today's and tomorrow's young
adults, It is not a leap to argue that the public's demand and
support for public policies that promote health, social and
economic goals is more likely to occur when Canadians not
only understand those substantive policy issues, but also
have the civic competence and skills to use political
processes and practices to turn these policy ideas into concrete programs that improve everyday life. Should we not
be as worried about Canadians' ability to recognize, participate in and support good democratic governance as we
are about other forms of knowledge deficits?
A starting point for serious nation-wide discussion about
citizenship education should be a fulsome exploration of
what the term civic (or political) literacy means. Quoting
William Gaston, Henry Milner defines civic literacy in
straightforward terms: "the willingness and ability to engage
in public discourse and evaluate the performance of those
in office." He goes on to say that "operationalizing these
two aspects of citizenship as measurable dimensions of civil
literacy" involves "ability manifesting itself in the form of
political knowledge, and willingness in the form of political
participation."' Crick's concept of what the British refer to
as 'political literacy' issomewhat more expansive: "the knowledge, skills, and attitudes needed to make a man or woman
informed about politics, able to participate in public life
and groups of all kinds, both occupational and voluntary;
and to recognize and tolerate diversities of political and social
values."1" Looking closer to home, the words of a young
woman participating in CPRN's 2005 National Youth Dialogue bring the theory down to earth and connect nicely
with the concepts articulated by Crick and Milner/Gaston.

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We see Canada as a dynamic place to live in, full of activism, participation and inclusion. We want government not to be something untouchable but rather a community
in which we not only hear what everyone has to say, but we truly listen and care about
the issues relevant to our people. We want citizens to know why they are paying taxes,
to understand how the system works and to have the chance to have their voices heard
11
in decision-making.
Related to definitions of civic literacy is another foundational issue: what model
or models of citizenship do we want schools to be promoting? What model(s)
should trump: personally responsible citizens, participatory citizens, social justice-oriented citizens? This is not an abstract issue; it has real consequences for
democratic life. Different models of citizenship emphasize or privilege different
attributes and have different implications for citizens' expectations, public dispositions and behaviours.
Ontario is the only Canadian jurisdiction that mandates a compulsory Civics
half-course; most provinces require graduates to have successfully completed at
least one Social Studies or History course which includes some learning about
government and civics. An examination of provincial/territorial curriculum
guidelines and behavioural codes of conduct reveals similar aims and procedures: 1) they position civic knowledge as primarily procedural and legislative in
content and assume that civic literacy progresses from knowledge to engagement; 2) they suggest that knowledge of fundamental civic values be taught;
and 3) they advise similar pedagogical approaches to strengthen student knowledge and commitment to democratic practice. Unfortunately, this suggestion is
not sufficiently elaborated and often lacks examples of concrete approaches,
methods and materials for discussing real world political problems in the classroom.

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MARY PAT MACI(INNON, is a Senior Fellow with the University of

Ottawa, Graduate School of Public and International Affairs, and the
former Director, Civic Engagment, Canadian Policy Research Networks.
She is a co-author of a recent CPRN report, Lost in Translation:
(Mis)LUnderstandingYouth Engagementand co-led CPRN's 2005 national youth dialogue and summit. She has written and spoken extensively
on deliberative approaches to democratic renewal and civic engagement. mmackinn@uottawa.ca

Llewellyn et al conclude that "all provinces consider citizenship as grounded in

the individual child's understandings and knowledge, and rarely in collective
efforts to examine root causes of social or political problems." They push further,
asserting that "the research literature, government curriculum and policies, and
civic literacy programs show that schools typically avoid
political controversy despite considerable evidence that
teaching political conflict increases engagement. The kind
of value-neutrality obsessively nurtured by institutions
...may have wrought damage to the institutional capacity to
influence youth in meaningful ways. In much of common
parlance, for youth and adults alike, 'being political' is a bad
thing."
Important though these conceptual questions are,
equally vital is the question about how citizenship education is currently taught and more crucial still, how it should
be taught to prepare youth for the complexities of citizenship in the 21st century. What skills do they need to be
active citizens? Much has been written about effective pedagogical approaches (e.g., project-based learning, community service learning, exposure to politicians and activist
role models, developing communities of civic practice, and
studying current social controversies). At the same time,
however, there is a dearth of empirical research on how
Scivic education and skills development (and what models
of citizenship they privilege or promote) are actually being
taught within schools, including a systematic identification
of how to overcome the barriers standing in the way of
implementation of effective approaches.
As we think about how best to advance civic education
and engagement to the forefront of schools' and governments' agendas, we would do well to align with other
countries that are gearing up for this challenge. The Bertelsmann Stiftung 2007 Carl Bertelsmann Prize (an annual
prize since 1988 recognizing innovative approaches to
solving key socioeconomic problems) was awarded to two
66

projects exemplifying leadership in "Civic Engagement as

an Educational Goal". The two winners were Great Britain's
Citizenship Foundation and the state of Baden-Wurttemberg, Germany for its Topic-oriented Project on Civic
Engagement. (A Canadian project, Youth and Philanthropy
Initiative [www.toskanfoundation.org], was in the top 15
of 200 nominees.) The Bertelsmann publication elaborating on this year's award concludes that promoting civic
engagement among the young calls for "an overall strategy
that recognizes that youth participation [is] a basis for civil
society." This will mean moving youth civic engagement
"from the outskirts of the educational policy debate to centre stage,'1 3 Canada would do well to join in this campaign
to ensure that we invest in our youth to prepare them for
active citizenship. All aspects of democratic society will suffer if we continue to short-change youth by failing to give
them a strong foundation to support their political and
civic expression and participation, I

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Notes
1 See Lost in Translation: (Mis)UnderstandingYouth Engagement - A Synthesis Report. 2007. Canadian Policy Research Networks www.cprn.org
The paper synthesizes learnings from CPRN's six commissioned papers
and its dialogues/workshops and research on youth engagement.
2 See Brenda O'Neill, Indifferent or Just Different? The Political and Civic
Engagement of Young People in Canada.CPRN, 2007.
3 Kristina R. Llewellyn, Sharon Cook, Joel Westheimer, Luz Alison Molina
Giron and Karen Suurtamm, The State and Potential of Civic Learning in
Canada,CPRN, 2007. www.cprn.org
4 James Sloan,"Rebooting Democracy: Youth Participation in Politics in
the UK,"ParliamentaryAffairs 60, no.4 (2007): 548 567
5 Ibid, 21.
6 Bernard Crick, Educatingfor Citizenship and the Teaching of Democracy in
Schools: FinalReport of the Advisory Group on Citizenship (London: Qualifications and Curriculum Authority, 1998).
7 Bertelsmann Stiftung (ed), Civic Engagement as an Educational Goal. Carl
Bertelsmann Prize 2007. Deutsche Nationalbibliothek.

8 Canadian Council on Learning, Health Literacy in Canada: Initial Results

from the InternationalAdult Literacy and Skills Survey, 2007 http://www.
ccl-cca ca/CCL/Newsroom/Releases/20075019ReleaseHealthLiteracy.
htm; Larry Orton, Financial Literacy: Lessons from International Experience, CPRN, 2007. hrtp://www.cprn.org/doc.cfm?doc=1759&l=en
9 Henry Milner, Civic Literacy - How Informed Citizens Maake Democracy
Work (Tufts University: University Press of New England, 2002).
10 Bernard Crick and A. Porter (eds), Political Education and Political Literacy (London: Longman (in Simon Clarke. 2007, The Trajectory of 'Political
Education' In English Schools: The Rise and Fall of Two Initiatives. Citizenship Teaching and Learning, vol.3, no.1 (1978)accessed on October 1,
2007 http://www.citized. info
11 Towardsan Action PlanforCanada-OurVision, Values and Actions (Ottawa:
CPRN, 2006).
12 This section draws from Llewellyn et al, 27-35.
13 Bertelsmann Stiftung, 105.