If you’re like me, you’ve been watching the events in the US with a fair amount of anxiety. I want to know how this could happen – and who could let it happen, or even worse, encourage it. What is the role of social media and mobile technology in this? And what responsibility do extremists and politicians who support them bear?
I then wondered whether this could happen in Australia, too. The answer is, of course, that it could. Indeed, it could happen anywhere. Our version of democracy is so desperately fragile.
And of course, being a teacher, my next thought was: how can we prevent this happening? How can we teach young people to value the principles and fundamentals of democracy? And then I remembered I had written a book about all of that!
Let me introduce you to: Activist Citizenship Education: A Framework for Creating Justice Citizens. This book is based on my PhD, and describes my framework for teaching young people to be active community members. Importantly, it has a key focus on critical literacy and participation in the public sphere.
So, if you’re interested, why not check it out? You can get a copy here: https://www.springer.com/gp/book/9789813346932
