A Time for Change: integrating social justice-orientated citizenship education into Key Stage 3 History.

As a secondary school subject, History can play a pivotal role in teaching citizenship education. Despite this, its potential has predominantly been explored through developing young people’s civic knowledge rather than fostering critical engagement with social justice issues (Chia & Beard, 2019; Kush & Mert, 2023). This research project seeks to harness history's potential by integrating social justice-oriented citizenship education (SJCE) into Key Stage 3 History, with a specific focus on the transformative 19th Century—a period marked by social and political reform. By offering an innovative approach that integrates SJCE (Egan-Simon, 2021) within the existing KS3 history curriculum, this research aspires to not only enrich students' understanding of history but also equip them with the critical faculties necessary for meaningful active civic participation. This research project is particularly timely. Recent shifts in England's citizenship education towards character education, financial literacy, and volunteerism have marginalised critical engagement with social justice issues (Egan-Simon, 2021; Kisby, 2017; Starkey, 2018). There's a pressing need for an educational framework that not only confronts these challenging times but also empowers young people with a critical awareness of inequality, injustice, and undemocratic practices. This project directly addresses this gap, proposing a model for SJCE grounded in historical enquiry that is both reflective of and relevant to the challenges of the 21st Century. Employing a case study methodology, this project will utilise qualitative methods, including participant observations, semi-structured interviews, and analysis of student-centred work. Collaborating closely with history teachers, we will design an historical enquiry that highlights the 19th Century's relevance to contemporary issues of social justice. Specifically, the project will investigate if these historical narratives can cultivate the knowledge, skills, and dispositions necessary for students to emerge as critical, democratic, and active citizens. Aims: To explore the integration of Social Justice-Oriented Citizenship Education (SJCE) into Key Stage 3 (KS3) British 19th Century history curriculum. To assess the impact of teaching SJCE through KS3 British 19th Century history on students' knowledge, skills, and dispositions. To identify the perceived benefits and challenges of implementing SJCE in KS3 British 19th Century history classes Objectives: Develop a curriculum framework that incorporates SJCE principles into KS3 British 19th Century history lessons. Design and implement a series of lesson plans and teaching materials focused on social and political changes in the 19th Century. Use qualitative and quantitative methods to evaluate the impact of these lessons on students’ knowledge of history, critical thinking skills, and dispositions towards social justice. Gather feedback from teachers and students to identify challenges and areas for improvement in the curriculum. Disseminate findings through academic publications, conferences, and a dedicated website for educators. Proposed Impact: Provide young people with the knowledge, skills, and dispositions necessary to actively and critically engage in democratic processes, addressing social and political issues through individual and collective action. Improve teachers’ knowledge, confidence, and proficiency in teaching SJCE through secondary school history. Create a website, lessons, and resources for secondary school history teachers to incorporate SJCE into their curriculum. Publish findings in academic journals and disseminate knowledge through international conferences on citizenship education. Provide a framework for researchers to explore how justice-oriented citizenship education can be taught within schools using pre-existing curriculum frameworks like KS3 history.