Citizenship Education, Schools and Social Context: Breaking the Mould in South Africa

This Paper builds on our previous research into citizenship and civics education among South Africa’s first post-apartheid generation. We use an original 2012 survey of 2,518 11th grade students in metropolitan Cape Town to examine the views of South Africa’s first post-apartheid generation toward democracy and democratic citizenship and, here, focus centrally on a number of important socio-economic factors that constrain students’ attitudes and the efficacy of civics education programs designed to impart support for democracy and citizen engagement with it. Thus, we assess both the impact of South Africa's new Life Orientations civics school curriculum and the constraints of ongoing social, economic and security contexts for students and the schools they attend, deriving a number of significant lessons about the impact of South Africa’s civics program as well as the constraints of socio-economic context of the schools and the students to whom they seek to impart the norms and responsibilities of democratic citizenship.