Teaching Citizenship

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Commentary: Teaching Citizenship with Conflictual Issues Dialogue—Hopeful Pedagogies in Times of Crisis

This chapter discusses the theory and pedagogical examples, each exploring how to teach with conflictual issues dialogue in classrooms, presented in the chapters by Judith Pace; Li-Ching Ho and Keith C. Barton; and Gabriel Villalón-Gálvez, Maria Isabel Toledo Jofré, and Alicia Zamorano-Vargas. I situate this commentary in the context of global poly-crisis, to highlight how such pedagogies can enable educators and learners to challenge neoliberal ideologies and structures undermining democratic citizenship agency and peace, through four themes:

• Committing to peacebuilding in conflictual contexts of poly-crisis

• Nurturing justice through affect, critical thinking, and relationality

• Skillfully problematizing existing enacted or mandated curriculum

• Teaching, scaffolding, and sustaining capabilities and habits for participation in collaborative peacebuilding.

The chapter contends that such robust support for educators to engage in conflict issues dialogue creates hopeful pedagogical possibilities in contexts of rising authoritarianism, disinformation, fascism, and violence.