Aims and Objectives

Aims:

1. To examine the implications of different theoretical constructions of ‘national’ citizenship (drawing holistically across the domains of education and naturalisation, and on UK and international examples) for citizenship education and naturalisation policy and practice.

2. To critically explore how societal context differentially affects national or (state level) constructions of citizenship, with particular attention to the forces of devolution and ethno-religious conflict.

3. To contribute to theoretical understandings of how different constructions of ‘national’ citizenship shape experiences of belonging and participation in diverse societal contexts that potentially ‘challenge’ such national (state-level) framings.

Objectives:

To critically examine:

1. relevant contested concepts such as ‘citizenship’, ‘diversity’, ‘democracy’, and ‘national identity’, situated in relation to different societal contexts (e.g. devolution, ethno-religious conflict, as outlined previously).

2. discourses on devolution, religion and ethno-religious diversity and how these discourses are framed in relation to citizenship and citizenship education.

3. different models for inclusive and participative citizenship, and to map their policy and practice implications in different societal contexts.