ABSTRACT

Citizenship emphasises the role that individuals play in expressing their thoughts and beliefs about their ways of living, their responses to developments in social and political fields, and even changes in their understanding of the human condition itself. This wide, multifarious vista provides a daunting landscape into which individuals – adults or children – must enter as part of the societies in which they live. Such is the all-embracing nature of this social, political, existential landscape that there is a vital need to confine views of citizenship to make the area of study both manageable and intelligible. Without such refinements, the bases for analysis and study become too many and the pupil is pulled hither and thither by differing emphases, which vie powerfully for attention. This chapter deals with

assessment in citizenship and is based on the premise that the definition of citizenship is historically rooted and is a part of human beings living in societies. The chapter moves from broad considerations of citizenship in historical and international contexts to an assessment of some principles of assessment. It concludes with some reflections on how such broad principles might be applied to citizenship in the national curriculum.