Preparing Early Childhood Students for Future Active Citizens

Abstract

Students and teachers learn about citizenship through the identification of the world they live in, injustices of life, and joint actions to create the right conditions for democratic life. Early childhood education can play a key role in the development of a child's citizenship. However, factors such as the insufficient training of teachers in matters of citizenship education in combination with the unclear goals in the early childhood education curriculum make this task particularly difficult and make it hard for early childhood education teachers to decide to engage further, as shown by findings from a previous study.

The purpose of this article is to analyze the concept of citizenship on its theoretical basis and specifically to highlight how citizenship education is outlined in early childhood. We examine practices for the age group of 4-6 years, where in the Greek educational system they attend kindergarten. We developed a series of activities that can take place in a kindergarten for citizenship education, on issues regarding decision making, behavioral evaluation, rules, dispute resolution, management of material and natural resources, democracy, tender, dialogue, peaceful coexistence, and contact with different cultures.

These activities can serve as a guide for early childhood education teachers, who feel insecure to introduce the concepts of citizenship in the early childhood education area, and we hope that they will be a trigger to realize that in a playful and easy way they can approach these demanding concepts.