英国中小学公民教育中的政治教育——治疗政治冷漠的良方?

Political Education for Primary and Middle School Students in the UK: A Remedy for Political Apathy?

21世纪以来,针对公民政治冷漠的现象,政治教育成为英国公民教育改革的重要举措。本文介绍当前英国推行政治教育的社会背景,并以英国议会教育服务机构开发的青少年政治教育材料《你获得了权力》为例,分析当下英国政治教育的特点。本文发现,总体上英国政治教育强调:掌握政治知识、技巧,培养积极参与政治的态度。但是,对这一套材料的分析,也反映出英国政治教育的问题,即较少鼓励学生参与社会、政治实践,以及培养批判性思维。这令人怀疑仅仅局限于政治通识的教育,是否是解决政治冷漠难题的良方。

Since the beginning of this century, political education became the focus of British citizenship edu- cation with the expectation that it would be a cure to political apathy. This article first briefly introduces the back- ground of UK＇s innovation in political education. Then it presents two major findings regarding UK＇s political edu- cation based on an empirical analysis of a series of political education resources created by the UK＇s Parliament Education Service. This paper finds that political education for 7 ~ 18 year olds in the UK focuses on cultivating political knowledge, skill and active attitude toward politics, but pays less attention to encouraging students＇ criti- cal thinking, active participation in all aspects of political and social life. This article concludes that stress on po- litical literacy alone may be unable to solve the difficulties cased by political apathy.