What does Civic Agency look like among youth today?

What are the roles of schools in supporting civic agency?

Last week I attended a mini-course on Civic Education with Carrie James and Adam Strom. Adam used this case study during the workshop.

Civic agency is moving from academic (civic education) to participatory action. It has been described by Danielle Allen as “the activity of co-creating a way of life, of world-building.” It involves sharing and listening to different perspectives, imagining the new or different, and advocacy/activism. It is multifaceted and we should be paying close attention to the strategies being adopted by today’s young civic actors. In the digital world, old civic action requires rethinking.

Hot button civic agency topics include: migration, economic inequality, war and terror, xenophobia, gender equity, climate change.

There are six proven practices for civic education: classroom instruction, current and controversial events, service learning, extra-curricular, school governance, and simulations of democratic practice.

We are moving from institutional politics to participatory politics. The core practices of participatory politics are: investigation and research, mobilising change, production and circulation, and dialogue and feedback.