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Citizenship Education and Social Participation in an Unequal Society: The Case of Brazil

Publication Authors: 
Ulisses F. Araujo
Publication Year: 
2016
Publication Journal: 
In A. Peterson, R. Hattam, M. Zembylas, and J. Arthur (Eds.) The Palgrave International Handbook of Education for Citizenship and Social Justice, (pp 327-345). London, Macmillan Publishers Ltd. DOI: 10.1057/978-1-137-51507-0

Schooling has a central role in the development of moral, just and active citizens of the generations to come. In this chapter, by presenting experiences of citizenship education in Brazil, we try to demonstrate how educators can foster students to build their intelligence, identity and values through dialogue with peers, teachers, family and culture. One way to reach that is through school forums, an institutional space of participatory democracy where students, staff, families and the community can work on everyday facts in the search for solutions to the ethical issues they face. Our aim is that readers who believe in the utopia of a more just, less unequal and less authoritarian world find inspiration in the chapter to continue in the pursuit of social justice through education.

[From the front matter] In Chap. 16, Ulisses Araujo presents experiences of citizenship education in Brazil, demonstrating how educators can foster students to build their intelligence, identity and values through the dialogue with peers, teachers, family and culture. The chapter explores one particular way to reach this goal – through school forums, an institutional space of participatory democracy where students, staff, families and the community can work on everyday facts in the search for solutions to the ethical issues they face.