[Call for papers] Special Issue | Citizenship education, European identities and young people on the margins

2025-01-16
Invited Editors

Thiago Freires, University of Porto

Liliana Jacott, Autonomous University of Madrid

Alistair Ross, London Metropolitan University

Citizenship education as a formal subject area promoted in schools has always been a field of tension, with disputed views about its role, goals and strategies. Across Europe, different policies and curricula have been put in place, with strategies varying from defining citizenship education as a compulsory separate subject to a cross-curricular theme (Freires et al., 2024).

Over the years, citizenship education has been devoted to supporting students in becoming active, informed and responsible citizens, willing and, more importantly, able to take responsibility for themselves and for their communities (EC/EACEA/Eurydice, 2017). In this sense, citizenship education emerges as a privileged area to discuss attitudes and values that, at the same time, inform and build identity.

With legitimising the European Union as a geopolitical block, the notion of a European identity has come to the forefront again, since always proving to be an issue of continuing challenge (Landberg et al., 2018; Hylton et al., 2018; Ross, 2007). In a time marked by high trends of migration, reflections on borders and the rise of far-right movements, this call is interested in the problematization of citizenship education and European identities, with particular attention to those who are usually marginalized, namely, migrants, minorities and at-risk groups.

Acknowledging the uncertainty that marks young peoples’ trajectories (Freires et al., 2023), we are interested in papers that contribute to thinking about the potential of citizenship education, and school in general, in responding to issues of inclusion and social justice (Sainz & Jacott, 2020a; Jacott et al., 2024) while supporting the (re)imagination of European identities.

We are particularly interested in studies which methodologies privilege young people’s voices (Freires & Pereira, 2018; Sainz & Jacott, 2020b; Ross, 2015; 2020; Ross & Loughran, 2024).

Topics of interest
  1. Citizenship education policies and curricula responsive to social justice issues
  2. European identities and sense of belonging of young people on the margins;
  3. Pedagogies addressing controversial issues;
  4. Narratives or case studies of young people on citizenship education
  5. European identities and social justice
Deadlines
  • Abstract submission: until February 15, 2025
  • Full text submission: until May 15, 2025
  • Review: until June 30, 2025
  • Publication: September 2025

Articles should be sent to the following email: rle.citizenshipeducation@gmail.com

Guidelines

Languages for submission: Portuguese, French, English, and Spanish.

Bibliographical references
  • EC/EACEA/Eurydice (2017). Citizenship Education at School in Europe – 2017. Eurydice Report. Luxembourg: Publications Office of the European Union.
  • Freires, T., Dotta, L. T., & Pereira, F. (2024). Young People’s Construction of Identity in the Context of Southern Europe: Finding Leads for Citizenship Education. Societies, 14. https://doi.org/10.3390/soc14010009
  • Freires, T., Faria, S., & Silva, S. M. (2023): Understanding the public participation of young people in border regions of mainland Portugal: youth as local development agent. Journal of Youth Studies, 1-18. https://doi.org/10.1080/13676261.2023.2271857
  • Freires, T., & Pereira, F. (2018). Living in between: schooling processes of working-class students in Northern Portugal. Educar, 54(1), 31-47. https://doi.org/10.5565/rev/educar.918
  • Hylton, P., Kisby, B., & Goddard, P. (2018). Young People’s Citizen Identities: A Q-Methodological Analysis of English Youth Perceptions of Citizenship in Britain. Societies, 8. https://doi.org/10.3390/soc8040121
  • Jacott, L., García-Vélez, T., & Cunningham, P. (2024). Learning Cañada Real: Responding to marginality, resistance and social justice through course development. In J. A. Spinthourakis (Ed.), Young people on the margins (pp. 1-11). Report of Working Group 8 of the Jean Monnet Network Project: Citizenship Education in the Context of European Values: CitEdEV.  https://doi.org/10.14712/9788076034679
  • Landberg, M., Eckstein, K., Mikolajczyk, C., Mejias, S.; Macek, P., Motti-Stefanidi, F., Enchikova,  E., Guarino, A.;,Rammer, A., Noack, P. (2018). Being both—A European and a national citizen?  Comparing young people’s identification with Europe and their home country across eight  European countries. European Journal of Developmental Psychology, 15, 270–283.  https://doi.org/10.1080/17405629.2017.1391087
  • Ross, A. (2007). Multiple identities and education for active citizenship. British Journal of
  • Educational Studies, 55, 286–303. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-8527.2007.00380.x
  • Ross, A. (2015). Understanding the Constructions of Identities by Young New Europeans: Kaleidoscopic selves. Routledge.
  • Ross, A. (2020). Young Europeans’ constructions of a Europe of human rights. London Review of Education, 18(1), 81–95. https://doi.org/10.18546/LRE.18.1.06
  • Ross, A., & Loughran, T. (2024). Young People’s Understanding of European Values: Enhancing  abilities, supporting participation and voice. Report of Working Group 1 of the Jean Monnet Network Project: Citizenship Education in the Context of European Values: CitEdEV. https://doi.org/10.14712/9788076034709
  • Sainz, V., & Jacott, L. (2020a). Design and Validation of the Social Justice Representation
  • Questionnaires for Secondary Students (SJRQSS) and for Teachers (SJRQT). Revista Internacional  de Educación para la Justicia Social, 9(2), 351-381. https://doi.org/10.15366/riejs2020.9.2.017
  • Sainz, V., & Jacott, L. (2020b). What Do Secondary Education Students Understand About Social Justice? Students Representations of Social Justice in Different Regions of Spain. Interchange, 51, 157–178. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10780-020-09389-y