Schratz, MichaelCaetano, Ana Paula, 1962-Muhammad, Shaima2021-06-142021-06-142020-032019-12http://hdl.handle.net/10451/48504For the past few decades, there has been a worldwide interest in teaching about democracy and the provision of citizenship education in schools as a response to several global and societal challenges. The current discourse on citizenship education is characterized by a lack of research on teachers’ perspectives and experiences. While numerous studies have investigated how students understand and respond to citizenship education, little research has been conducted on teachers. Informed by the need to critically understand the perspectives and experiences of teachers when teaching for citizenship education, this study explores how a sample of teachers in Austria and Portugal respond, interact and conceptualize notions of citizenship and how they navigate their teaching and practices in today’s European classrooms. Inspired by Critical Pedagogy and situated within a transformative learning framework, the study looks into teachers’ views and experiences when teaching for citizenship and puts forward a framework for thick and transformative citizenship education that links democracy with social justice. Data was collected from in-depth semi-structured interviews, documents and classroom observations and a qualitative content analysis was used for the analysis. Data reveals the essential role of teachers’ personal beliefs, identities and dispositions in teaching about citizenship, which is not often addressed in teacher education. Findings also reveal an apolitical approach to citizenship, mainly represented by a tendency to emphasize a personally responsible conceptualization of citizen, which, in turn, undermines the citizen-in-context and overemphasizes the rational and linear approach to citizenship. Findings also highlight a lack of teacher preparation in this area of education as well as various challenges that teachers face in teaching for citizenship in increasingly diverse classrooms, persisting structural injustices and technical, test-driven educational policies and practices. The findings also suggest a lack of coherent and consistent discourse on citizenship, often causing a gap between policy and practice. The study proposes a transformative and social justice oriented framework for teachers and teacher educators to approach teaching for democratic citizenship as a political enterprise that reconsiders and challenges unjust mindsets and practices as well as a learning enterprise that views teachers as lifelong learners and researchers whose identities and dispositions take an integral part in the process. This framework also acknowledges and embraces the complex, the unpredictable and the risky endeavor of education.engeducação para a cidadaniapedagogia críticaaprendizagem transformadoraformação de professoresdemocraciadoctoral thesis101614195