A historical study of citizenship education in British Columbian social studies guides

I analyse Social Studies guides released during the twentieth century in British Columbia, focusing on their conceptualizations of “good citizens” and associated pedagogies. I study citizenship education, as this has been one of the primary aims of Social Studies, since the course was conceptualized in the United States. Further, citizenship education is currently topical, and I was interested in the connections between power and knowledge (Foucault, 1980), as Social Studies curricula (knowledge) are released by Ministry officials (power). My study is historical, for our understanding of the present is deepened by our exploration of the past (Collingwood, 1956). I discover six major revisions to Social Studies curricula in BC. These occurred in 1930/37, 1950, 1968, 1985, 1997, and 2005. I describe each revision in framing historical contexts and compare my findings with those of Evans (2004), Sears and Hughes (1996), and Osborne (1996). I conclude that BC’s Ministry of Education aimed, primarily, to mould citizens under Sears and Hughes’ (1996) conception B (liberal). Ministry officials appear to have held consistent views of the type of citizens they endeavour to foster. I speculate this might be a “schematic narrative template” (Wertsch, 2002). The most substantial changes in curriculum guides centre around how good citizens are to be educated: by the progressivist program in the 1930s and the New Social Studies in 1968. I describe a number of contextualizing factors that aim to explore why these two major transformations occurred. After discussing my findings, I draw conclusions. I use these conclusions to make recommendations on how curricula in BC might be developed in the future, in a manner consistent with the spirit of good citizenship.