Moments of Possibility in Politics, Policy, and Practice in New Zealand Citizenship Education

Abstract

The history of citizenship education in New Zealand has entailed several key moments that have been subject to contested historical, social, political, and economic forces. While there has never been a stand-alone citizenship education curriculum in New Zealand, the social studies curricula remain the primary vehicle for citizenship education delivery since its origins in 1944. This chapter examines the development of citizenship education, through New Zealand’s social studies curricula, as an “education ensemble” in which five historical moments of “politics, policy, and practice” (Dale, The contradictions of education systems: Where are they now? Address to the School of Critical Studies in Education, The University of Auckland, New Zealand, 2017) emerged. Examining these moments against a critical theoretical lens, this chapter considers the possibility such moments held for the development of more critical and active citizens. The authors analyze the more recent emphasis on social inquiry and social action as two further moments of possibility for enhancing critical and active citizenship. This analysis attests to the potential for critical change through curriculum reform, but also, in contrast, the potential for an enduring minimal, content-heavy, and neoliberal approach to learning citizenship in the absence of seizing a curriculum moment. In doing so, the chapter contributes to wider debates about how citizenship curricula are positioned within an ensemble of competing political agendas, practitioner influences, and policy frameworks.