Should Teaching about Citizenship be the same?

Has Covid-19 changed citizenship education? At first, this question may seem odd. After all, while we are aware that the consecutive lockdowns shattered the normalcy of not only education, but of social life at large, what impact should it bear on citizenship education? A crisis, it is suggested, is not merely a moment of hardship. In terms of schooling and education, some consider this moment as an opportunity to re-think how and what to teach. Given that the Covid-19 pandemic is also a moment of political crisis should encourage us to re-examine some conventions about how to educate future citizens and what political education ought to look like. Our project on citizenship education includes working with civics teachers on re-thinking citizenship education and re-phrasing the questions that should guide civics education. In our paper we aim to present preliminary findings from this project, with a particular focus on how to break the divide that separates the classroom from the world outside.