Abstract:
The paper is part of an international project examining perspectives and perceptions of democracy in education in order to develop a robust and critical democratic education among pre and in-service teachers and Teacher Education Academics. It begins by outlining the concepts of thick and thin democracy and revisits the state of civics and citizenship education (CCE) in Australia . Using the framework suggested by Barber’s Strong Democracy and developed by Westheimer, Kahne, Gandin and Apple it critiques the neo-liberal (thin) democratic discourse of contemporary Australian academic research that suggests that the CCE project only requires some augmentation with issues like sustainability and globalisation while ignoring social justice issues. It concludes with a description of what a thick democracy might look like in school education.
Key Phrase: Democracy in education, critical pedagogy, citizenship, social justice, comparative & international studies, transformational change.
Key Phrase: Democracy in education, critical pedagogy, citizenship, social justice, comparative & international studies, transformational change.