Towards an understanding of the means–ends relationship in citizenship education

Abstract

While it is clear that all educational undertakings consist of ends and means, the relationship between the two is far from straightforward. This article proposes a framework for understanding the relationship in the context of citizenship education. Qualitative research was undertaken of three educational initiatives in Brazil: the schools of the Landless Movement, the Plural School framework in the city of Belo Horizonte, and the Voter of the Future programme, run by the Electoral Tribunals. Case studies were carried out of each, involving documentary analysis, interviews, and observations. Analysis of the relationship between ends and means in each case gave rise to two key frames: the first, ‘proximity’, refers to the extent to which ends and means are separate or unified; the second, ‘rationale’, refers to the grounds on which means are chosen. Finally, the implications of this framework for understanding curriculum are drawn out.

Keywords:

• aims of education
• Brazil
• citizenship education
• curriculum theory

Acknowledgements

This paper draws on doctoral research carried out with funding from the UK Economic and Social Research Council. I would like to thank Elaine Unterhalter for her support and guidance.

Notes

1. Primary (or fundamental) schools in Brazil have eight grades, corresponding officially to the 7–14 age group.

2. This study will only assess MST primary schools, and not other forms such as secondary, technical, higher, adult, and non‐formal education.

3. Pseudonyms have been used for institutions and participants.

4. Quotations from documents and interviews have been translated from Portuguese by the author.

5. This phrase is not here used in the mixed‐economy, welfare‐state sense of ‘social democratic’, but of democracy in a social setting.

6. Grêmios are pupil associations, elected by the pupils themselves, which organize cultural, sporting, and political activities in the school and act as a forum for pupil discussion and for representing student views.

7. The publication Learning to be a Citizen does show alternative orientations, emphasizing the rights of children as well: this is likely to be due to UNICEF influence.