Nº CÓDIGO UD RESUMEN PRECIO EN LETRA IMPORTE

The introduction of any subject into the curriculum has always had some practical implications for teachers and teacher educators. Social Studies is one of the subjects that pose challenges for educators and hence it pushes for new questions and models from time to time and ways of thinking that can match societal changes.

It is important to highlight from the onset that on daily basis teachers are confronted by complex decisions that rely on many different kinds of knowledge and judgments and that can involve high stake outcomes for learners’ future. This is common in the type of Social Studies subjects which accommodate changes on continuous basis. For teachers to make good decisions when faced with diverse daily issues in their classrooms, Bansal (2009) advises that they must be aware of numerous ways in which learning can unfold in the contexts of development, learning disparities, language and cultural influences and individual temperament, interests and approaches to learning. This advice is understood to wield a huge challenge for teachers in terms of requiring them to be ever ready for emerging issues and as such it can be argued that teachers with a better foundation on citizenship education stand a better chance to deal with those issues.

Vonk (1993) describes the professional development of a teacher as one including a trilogy of personal, knowledge and environmental dimensions. That is, the personal dimension involves self-concept by the teacher and ideas of good practice. The environmental dimension entails teacher interaction with his or her working situations. The knowledge dimension involves pedagogical content knowledge, classroom knowledge and managerial skills. Trainees are also expected to hold the mastery of content in their respective disciplines such as the ability to appreciate the philosophy of their subject, demonstrate adequate knowledge of the subject substance/content, have understanding of various concepts and facts, and be able to acquire, assimilate and apply information in everyday teaching. In addition, the trainees must be able to translate theory that they acquire into practice and show elements of critical and analytic thinking skills and capability.

Similar to Vonk (1993) on the professional development of a teacher, Schulman (1986:5) introduced what is termed pedagogical content knowledge. The concept maintains that teachers

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need to master two types of knowledge in their development namely; content and knowledge of curriculum development. This perspective believes that if teachers are to be successfully in their work, they must wrestle with both issues of pedagogical content and general pedagogy which covers elements of generic teaching principles (Ornstein, Thomas and Lasley, 2000). The researcher believes that the theory of pedagogical content knowledge is a balanced approach as it covers both content and methodological issues. For this reason colleges of education in Botswana could adopt the principles of pedagogical content knowledge in their teacher training programmes so as to produce well rounded and knowledgeable teaching force. One other important feature of pedagogical content knowledge is the notion that teachers have special knowledge about their learners. Shulman (1986) puts it that, Pedagogical content knowledge also includes an understanding of what makes the learning of specific topics easy or difficult: the conceptions and preconceptions that students of different ages and backgrounds bring with them to the learning of those most frequently taught topics and lessons.

It is observed that Social Studies for citizenship education in Botswana at all levels is taught by teachers who have either specialized in the likes of history, geography, environmental science, sociology and development studies. One wonders the competence levels of some of these teachers and educators on citizenship education. This study will provides light on that. The study will therefore examine how colleges of education train teachers in order to equip them to effectively transmit citizenship ideals to learners for the eventual furthering of sustainability of democracy.

Relative to citizenship education, Fiji and Nabobo-Baba (2009) interpret citizenship to mean those who have the record of speaking the truth, are hard workers and attend all customary obligations. This study observes that the quality of a citizen described by the scholar need a specially designed progromme. This is the citizen who is well knowledgeable on national and international issues, who possesses certain desirable values and functional skills that can be of profit to his or her livelihood and the community at large.

The question at this juncture is whether the Social Studies primary teacher training curriculum has the capacity to produce the citizen described above in the form of a well-rounded Social

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Studies teacher who can upon completion of training join the teaching fraternity and propagate citizenship education ideals effectively. This study argues that without a deliberately designed curriculum for citizenship education for teacher training, the goal of producing active and democratic citizenry through Botswana schools might be an illusion. This argument implies the need for primary teacher training college curriculum to be repackaged to give teacher trainees room to fully participate by allowing their voices to be heard in the construction of knowledge. Student-teachers active participation in knowledge construction will inevitably allow them to develop as active citizens who can later create democratic classrooms while at field.

In addition, the need for partnership with other bodies responsible for curriculum development for teacher education and training is a necessity. There is need on constant basis for teacher training colleges to collaborate with varied stakeholders in order to get ideas and help from them. These include the University of Botswana, Colleges of Education (secondary), Ministry of Education, Primary schools, local community and authorities, and Tertiary education council. They should also educate themselves on the mandate and ideals of citizenship education that are more aligned to the needs and aspiration of the people of Botswana. The continuous education and enlightenment of curriculum developers, lecturers and administrators on the latest issues relative to citizenship responsibility will without doubt enable them to design, develop and implement relevant and functional programmes for citizenship education that address the current needs and aspirations of Botswana society.

In reference to the partnership for citizenship education, Fito’O (2009:25) posits that the main attribute of citizenship education is its ability to purposely promote values, knowledge and skills in the school system and build relationships among people of different ethnicities. This proposition is relevant for Botswana who has over 26 different ethnic groups that need unification through a purposely and not loosely developed curriculum package. Botswana also has various minority groups and people underprivileged and this should put pressure on the Ministry of Education and Skills Development to develop a framework of citizenship education that includes values, knowledge and skills relevant to address the social, economic, and political and development aspirations of the larger society.

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A move to develop a purposely made citizenship education package to promote national unity and propel participation by citizens is favoured by this study because it is in line with one of the theories of citizenship that inform this study. That is, the republican theory of citizenship which intends to help integrate diverse populations into a single national culture through its fundamental principles of liberty, equality, fraternity and human rights.

2.9 Conclusion

This chapter has offered a detailed discussion on the theories that underpin citizenship, citizenship education and teaching in general. The constructivist perspective was deemed more relevant for this study because it provides more flexibility in the classroom and greater student engagement in knowledge construction. These elements were seen akin to democratic citizenship education. The chapter also brought to surface deeper elements on the concept citizenship and how it developed over time. The development of citizenship education has also been highlighted to indicate the value of citizenship education to any nation. It emerged from literature that citizenship education is perceived differently by different nations and this has implications on the curriculum, teacher training and methodologies.

A light was cast on the approaches to citizenship education. In the light of this, the chapter contends that for effective transmission of citizenship education tenets, there is need for institutions to use more appropriate ways to the transmission of citizenship education. This stance is espoused by the last section on the implications of the theoretical underpinnings of citizenship education on teachers. It can be gathered from these deliberations that teacher training for citizenship education needs more active approaches that would build up trainees as constructors of knowledge. The next chapter is more specific as it explores citizenship education in Botswana.

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Chapter 3